I have been conducting a taste test to find a fruitcake that I can place my imprimatur on.
What I've concluded is that the offensive ingredient found in many fruitcakes is the candied citrus rind. Nobody eats orange peels, but sometime back in days of yore when there was no other fruit to be had, someone thought, "...let them fill their bellies with orange rind!"
Here's an EXCELLENT fruitcake that contains no citrus rind and tastes like one of the fruitiest blueberry muffins you have ever ingested. It is so good that one unenthusiastic fruitcake eater and one anti-fruitcake activist both called it "Really Good!"
see http://www.whowomen.com/
They've got more than just good fruitcake going for them: they are absolutely superluminal in their shipping speed, AND they are a charitable organization, not simply a commercial bakery (not that there's anything wrong with that). The group - Women Helping Other Women - provides training and employment for abused and disabled women in North Carolina. They make an excellent product, and they get it to you fast. The are also a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Try one of their cakes and then decide who you want to send additional gift cakes to. I'm in the book.
The testing continues...