Louise Carroll: Fruitcakes are for friends

The Friends of the Fruitcake, a local group dedicated to defending the fruitcake, meets the second Thursday of every month at 11:30 a.m. at Mike's Bar & Grill. There is no agenda, no dues, no business meeting; we just meet, buy our lunch and talk and we sing the Fruitcake Song. We do not discriminate. If you don't like fruitcake, you are welcome to join us, but you may not badmouth the fruitcake while you are at the meeting.

Some people don't like fruitcake because they take the jokes about it seriously. The most quoted is Johnny Carson's infamous quip, "There is only one fruitcake in the entire world and people keep sending it to each other."

Chuckle, laugh or snicker, it doesn't change the fact that fruitcake is very much an American tradition and more than 2 million fruitcakes are sold each year. There are also countless thousands made at home from treasured family recipes.

If you are determined not to like fruitcake because you got a piece that wasn't good I probably can't change your mind, but I have to try.

Many people follow what the Royals are doing; the news reports every time they go somewhere or do something. Of course, with Queen Elizabeth's recent death, they were in the news constantly.

There were many documentaries about Queen Elizabeth's life so I will take the liberty to write about Queen Elizabeth's wedding cake when she married Prince Philip in 1947.

The four-tiered royal wedding fruitcake was 9-foot-tall. Honestly. I can imagine all the cake decorators standing on stools or ladders to create the masterpiece. The nuptial fruitcake was covered in white icing, which came to be known as royal icing and ornately decorated with sugar sculptures of the bride and groom, as well as cupids, turtle doves, orange blossoms and sprigs of myrtle. Obviously a thing of beauty.

The fruitcake was so valuable that in 2015 a slice was sold at auction for 500 pounds, which is about $578. It was bought by an anonymous bidder from Los Angeles. The cake, still wrapped in its original baking parchment, has been kept in its original box by an unnamed woman from Hove, in East Sussex. The woman's father had been a guest at the royal wedding. The slice, which is still edible due to its high alcohol content, is in an ivory-colored box decorated with a silver E and P, and the words "Buckingham Palace 20th November 1947." There was also a small card inscribed "With the best wishes of their Royal Highnesses Princess Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh."

That fruitcake was sold 68 years after the couple was married. It proves fruitcake is valuable and increases in value as the years go by. What other cake can claim that?

That huge cake was nicknamed "the 10,000-mile wedding cake" because its ingredients were flown to England from South Africa and Australia.

Fruitcake is the traditional wedding and birthday cake in England and is also very popular at afternoon teas. Queen Victoria is said to have waited a year to eat her birthday fruitcake because she felt it showed restraint, moderation and good taste. A year is nothing for a fruitcake.

Fruitcake was also the traditional wedding cake in the United States until the middle of the 20th century. It makes sense for a couple of reasons. For one the brandy or rum acts as a preservative and in the days before refrigeration, this was very important. Fruitcake was also symbolic of the guests' wishes for the couple's marriage ― sweet and long-lasting. In the day things like dried fruit, alcoholic spirits and spices were expensive so the cake also represented prosperity and wealth.

Just think about it. If the fruitcake is the choice of royalty it is worth considering because they can afford whatever their regal hearts desire.

If you got a piece of fruitcake that wasn't good I hope you try again. Fruitcake like any cake can be moist and tasty or dry and gritty.

Fruitcake can be good or bad but everyone in our group is the best you will ever meet ― Patty, Kathleen, Dennis, Guy, Sam, Barb, Paul, Pat, Kathy P., and Kathy M., Tammy, Diane, Dave, Molly, Judy and me.

The best thing about Friends of the Fruitcake isn't the cake its the friendship. Stop in. We look forward to meeting you.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Carroll: Fruitcakes are for friends