Re: Van de Kamp's Holiday Fruit Cake
From: Wendy
Date: 11/6/2021, 1:37 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
On 11/6/2021 1:06 PM, Wendy wrote:
Every year, as the winter holidays approach, my mother gets nostalgic about
her years working at the Van de Kamp's Bakery in Seattle. She was working
there in the mid 1960's. She says that every year, near the holidays, the
bakery would do a special run of Fruit Cake. These cakes would only be
given as gifts to the sales staff and the office staff was allowed to
purchase them for $5 a piece. They weren't sold to the public; they were
a special thank you to the employees. They were a light-colored cake
without citron but had nuts and candied fruit. She can't remember if there
was rum in it or not. They were loaves. She didn't like fruit cake but loved
these cakes. She would buy several and bring them to her relatives and would
get in trouble if she missed someone. I haven't been able to find the recipe
online, but it would be amazing to find it so that I could make it for her
for Christmas.
Thanks!
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
I wish that I could help you. I've been looking for any authentic Van de Kamp's recipes for 20 years now.
I have never found a single one, just a few "taste-likes" or "copycats". I have a special Van de Kamp's
page that contains everything that I know or have been able to find about the bakery and its recipes.
You can read it here:
Van de Kamp's
On the off chance that there might be something new out there about Van de Kamp's since the last time I
checked, I just did a new search. There is still nothing. No authentic recipes are available.
Sorry.
Phaed
