I have just returned from my local Farmer’s Market (which also just happens to be the best Farmer’s Market, ever) where I was lucky enough to score a piece of Maria Solakovski’s amazing organic Spiced Fruitcake. I’ve been buying Maria’s cake for the last few holiday seasons and while I have tried other fruitcakes I can say with all certainty that Maria’s is by far the best I have seen. Here’s how Maria describes them:

“All organic vegan incredibly spiced fruit cakes are unlike anything you have tasted. Densely packed with dried fruit…apricots, figs, prunes, sultanas, hot hot crystal ginger, brazil nuts and tons of handmade lightly syruped citrus peel — lots of lemon and some orange likenesses. All of this soaked, for some time, in plenty of dark jamaican rum and the lemon juice from those skins.

I mix this jewel like fruitiness with a wee bit of stoneground spelt flour, some flax seed and a hint of vanilla infused evaporated cane juice and kicking spices like black pepper.

Aren’t they pretty? I bought a few extras last year to give as gifts but I think we ended up cracking them open when people came by for visits instead.

In addition to baking delicious fruitcake, Maria is also a chef (using the name “Guerilla Gourmet“) following in the tradition of the slow food movement who hosts small brunches and dinners serving only organic food available locally and seasonally. I was warmly treated to one of Maria’s dinners last spring and can’t say enough about the experience. Eating one of Maria’s meals is not like eating out in a restaurant. It’s an educational and interactive social event in which diners are invited into Maria’s home and spend an evening together at a large table learning about the food they are consumming and interacting a group of strangers they might not otherwise meet out in the world. Each course is a mystery until it is served, but you can be guaranteed that you’ll come away inspired and having learned something new.