Worth the extra dough? The cost of fruitcake is rising, yet people are still buying

There is no mincing words, when it comes to the great fruitcake debate. It’s one of those things people love or hate.

“My grandmother always made great ones for Christmas, but it’s not my cup of tea,” said Emilie Allain of Moncton who gave the European-born dessert a big thumbs down.

Brian Cormier of Moncton, N.B. sits on the other side of the holiday table, “I am on team fruitcake, so far into team fruitcake that I make my own,” he said.

Cormier said he baked 24 pounds of his rum-infused traditional treat this year and is selling half of it to family and friends at $65 dollars a pound.

With the cost of ingredients rising like a well-yeasted batter, Cormier says he was forced to increase his prices.

“Because of supply chain issues, some of the ingredients are much harder to get and more expensive,” he said.

But he says, those who love the historically named plum cake are still willing to fork out more dough to keep up with their holiday traditions.

John Stam, the co-owner of Nick the Dutch baker in Notre-Dame, N.B., says the bakery also had to increase prices due to the rising cost of baking ingredients, but so far, they’ve received zero customer complaints.

“If they were to calculate the prices of a bottle of rum and a box of raisins and if they were to calculate that all together, they tell us of that actually costs less than what I can make it for,” said Stam.

The sticky truth, whether or not you think fruitcake is worth the higher cost or should be used as a door stopper, it’s going to cost more to bake holiday treats this year.

“Sugar has always been a reasonably cheap ingredient, but it’s not so much anymore,” said Stam.

And you can add butter to that costly mix of ingredients.

Jody Savoie of Moncton said she would rather cut back on regular groceries than go without those holiday treats.

“To me it just makes me feel like I am giving back something that my family gave to be as a child, and I love that tradition,” said Savoie who freely admitted that she is not on team fruitcake.

“It is a polarizing thing that divides people,” joked Stam, who said he himself is indeed a fan of the cake with fruit.