Making fruitcakes has been an age-old tradition since the Roman times
It was a common tradition during the Roman Empire era to bake altogether pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and barley mash to form a ring-shaped dessert. Its long shelf life and portable size made it easy for soldiers to bring it with them to the battlefields as food rations. Eventually, it was then mixed with honey, dried and sugar-glazed fruits, and spices during the Middle Ages, making it preferable for crusaders' pilgrimages as well as for the tables at homes. Centuries later, the fruitcake reached the shores of Victorian era England where it was then improved by adding in brandy or rum.
Each country where fruitcakes gained popularity has a local version of it. The Germans have stollen which distinctively has sugar powdered on top. The Italians have panettone, a soft North Italian yeast brioche with candied fruit, and panforte, a dense flat cake made with honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied fruit, cocoa, and spices. A softer and airy version of fruitcake is popular among the Bulgarians and Polish who call it keks. While in the Caribbean, the fruits are soaked in rum for months before baking, making it a restricted delicacy for children. In Portugal, its variation comes with a tradition where each cake has a fava bean inside and whoever gets the piece with the bean is expected to buy the fruitcake the following year to give as gift.