In France it is traditionally a ‘pièce montée’, a tall conical tower of choux buns stuck together with spun caramel. In the UK, we like a three-tiered cake to the recipe of the newly-wed’s choice. I tell my students that a typical British wedding cake is a rich fruit cake and that it was the custom to keep the top tier to eat when the first baby was born. They cannot believe that a cake can be kept without going mouldy. Because of the high butter content, it can be stored for 6-9 months and actually improves in flavour.
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French Windows 
Butter does go rancid, so it is not butter which keeps the cake fresh, but the huge amount of sugar and sweetened dried fruit in the cake.
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Hello Christine. Your comments always make me think and reflect. Butter in its natural state would go rancid with time, but in a cake it is cooked. There are many biscuits that contain butter that can be kept for ages and ages. So I would say that with the combination of butter acting as an oil, sugar and dried fruits that are already preserved it is no wonder that yummy fruit cake will keep for a long time. Don’t forget to send me your address and I will send you a commemorative First World War gospel.
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