Christmas 2013: top picks for fruit cake

The English boiled fruitcake started life as a porridge made with prunes that was eaten to break the fast on Christmas Eve. Eventually flour replaced oats, dried vine fruit replaced prunes and "oriental" (Arab) spices were added. When ovens became common household items in the 19th century, the whole lot was baked with butter and eggs to create the Christmas cakes we know today.

The panel was looking for moist, rich and firm cakes with plenty of fruit and a nice little punch of mixed spice. As with any Christmas baking, the panel brought with them the memories of Christmases past and weighed the cakes against them. It seemed the cakes couldn't stack up to nostalgia. In fact the lack of the fragrance of spices across all the cakes in this category led one panelist to declare, “They stole the Christmas spices!”

Rankings:

First: Di's Rhubarb and Fruit Cake
750g for $20 (plus postage) ($27 per kg), farmhousedirect.com.au

Made by Di McDonald, a rhubarb grower on the banks of the Goulburn River. McDonald is a stickler for quality and it shows in the rich, moist, dark and dense cake, leading one panelist to declare it delicious. What was missing was the enticing aroma of mixed spices.

Second: Phillippa's
1.2kg for $50 ($42 per kg), Phillippa's stores in Melbourne and Thomas Dux stores

An attractive round cake topped with a pattern of nuts packaged in a squat plastic cylinder. It was nicely dark yet didn't have the moistness that the panelists were looking for, with one remarking that it was "a little crumbly". It was suggested that this would be excellent with a cup of tea.

Third: Guernsey Street
1.4kg for $46 ($33 per kg), guernseystreet.com

Unfortunately this Christmas cake, although made with the choicest ingredients such as over a third in volume of Australian vine fruit, polarised the panelists. Those who liked it, however, liked it a lot and enjoyed its moist dense texture and the even distribution of fruit.

Fourth: Blooming Marvellous Fig and Almond Cake
$36 for 1kg, bloomingmarvellous.com.au

Proving that one man's goose is another man's gander, this pale, incredibly moist and fruity cake was packed full of rich, moist dried figs. For one panelist this was their absolute favourite with them passionately espousing its dense nature and fat chunks of dried fig. For those who didn't like figs, this was its downside.

Fifth: Coles' Finest
$15 for 1kg, Coles supermarkets

A big square and dark looking cake that sliced well and held together well but lacked a lot of what makes a Christmas fruit cake – the fruit. There was less fruit in this cake compared with the others and a lot more dark crumb. It was remarked by the panel that not only did it lack the aroma of mixed spice but it had what was described as a 'fake aroma'.