If fruitcakes improve with age, a Michigan family may have the finest in the land. It’s certainly one of the oldest — 147 years! What would possess the seemingly normal Ford clan to hold on to a fossilized dessert for five generations? In a word, love. The cake was originally preserved to honor its maker, Fidelia Ford. Now, it’s being kept in tribute to Ford’s great-grandson, Morgan, who was its biggest champion until his passing in 2013. “He took care of it to the day he left the earth,” said Morgan’s daughter, Julie Ruttinger (pictured). “We knew it meant a lot to him.” Despite the sweet sentiment, the years haven’t been kind to the confection. The round brown slab is as hard as a rock, with a blistered surface. A date and maybe a clove are visible. It’s kept in an antique glass compote dish whose lid has long outlived its usefulness. The smell of rum and spices wafted away a long time ago. It all started when Fidelia Ford, a mother of seven, would whip up a fruitcake that would age for a year before being served the following holiday season. After making the cake in 1878, the 65-year-old matriarch died before it could be eaten. When the holidays arrived, the family no longer regarded her handiwork as food but saw it as a legacy. The family has no doubt that the cake, minus a few divots, will flourish several more generations. There are eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, and several are interested in inheriting the relic.
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| The infamous fruitcake and a photo of Fidelia Ford |
