Hello!
Meet the very
jolly.
I grew this.
Wally.
I was going to be Father
Christmas.
He kind of is.
Like Santa he loves nothing more
than giving.
So when his wife Maureen had a birthday just
after moving to a rest home last December.
She was famous
for fruitcakes.
He knew just the festive treat.
It was a
Ernest Adams and I've got it from New World.
We're all
sitting there drooling as you do.
But when he took the knife to
it...
We cut it and it just we couldn't get a slice.
It just
all fell apart.
It crumbled.
A few crumbs might be good for
Rudolph but for Wally, they're a big mistake.
You talk about a
slice of cake, you don't talk about a handful of cake, do
you?
For 6 months, he sent emails to Goodman Fielder who
owned Ernest Adams - and to New World too.
And just said you
guys need to know that your fruitcake wouldn't slice.
Which is a crying shame.
Until Fair Go got involved.
So we have the
vanilla cupcake.
First stop was Bluebell's Cakery in Auckland.
Lemon curd is very popular as well.
Forget the fancies
though.
So we have fruitcakes around our Christmas times.
That's more like it and on hearing Wally's plight they
whipped out the mixing bowl early.
To send him something
fruity and firm.
And with the heat on from Fair Go, getting responses from the
companies involved turned out to be a piece of cake too.
Goodman Fielder said sorry, explaining it was a
communication breakdown due to a change in staff.
While Foodstuffs
for New World said so sorry.
Saying that they'd fix
the problems to do with getting in touch.
Not all of a sudden
they yeah there's a reason why and they're very sorry.
But you
guys do a good job.
I don't know what we'd do without you
you know.
And that's not all from New World.
Is this all for
Wally?
Yes that's for Wally was baked here this morning.
Is it
going to crumble?
No.
Plus two freshly made fruitcakes from
Bluebell's arriving on the Air New Zealand sleigh.
Oh my
goodness.
Come on in.
Fruitcake galore.
Goodman Fielder no longer makes the
Ernest Adams range, so gifted Wally a voucher instead and it
was nice to give to someone who's full of stories of giving
like this.
I was down in the supermarket in Levin and
there's a young mother with a little fella, a little fella
and I, we were exchanging funny faces and when his mother was
going to pay, I leave that to the cashier and said "I'll pay
for it."
Aww.
So, I gave her my card and it was the delight on
her face was worth a million dollars you know.
Well let's
hope we get at least a thousand dollar reaction when Wally
tries slicing.
The Bluebell's Cakery people, the lovely people
there to show us some top tips of how to not have a cake
crumble.
So let's listen to what they have to say.
So make sure you
soak your fruit first.
And then don't bake the cake for too
long so that the fruit dries out making the cake more
crumbly.
The moisture thing is important.
That's number one
rule.
Another number two rule is you gotta throw it on the
floor.
Yeah.
They're dropping it on the ground.
Spreads it or
does something to it.
Yeah.
If you're going to cut it, one of
the best ways is to cut it in a grid.
So, cutting it across in
squares like this as opposed to cutting in a wedge like this.
I
think I'll just do it right in half.
Okay, let's see what
happens.
Man, look at that.
Now, there is a slice of
fruitcake.
There's no way in the world I could have done that
with the other one.
Maureen would like that because it's
it's darker.
And there's nothing Wally would like more
than to share it with Maureen.
But sadly come to March she
passes away.
Biggest hurdle of my life.
I had her in tow for 60
years.
She really was my cobber, my friend.
In her
honor, Wally would like to share her favorite cake with
her rest home friends.
Fruitcake by the slice for all
to share.
Until then, look at that.
Nice red cherry.
Now that's yum.