Mention the words "Fruit Cake" this time of year and you're liable to see people fleeing in panic in the opposite direction and mothers holding their hands over their children's ears.

Fruit Cake has gotten a bad rap.

Now, if when I say "Fruit Cake" you think of the traditional leaden brick covered with gooey, translucent, candied things that might have once been fruit but are now sporting colors that can't be found in nature, then you're not thinking of real Fruit Cake. The candy-coated ingot of wheat and other unknown, heavy ingredients is an insidious doppleganger that has framed true Fruit Cake with the bad reputation that it has been saddled with among the general population.

The notion of what "Fruit Cake" is for me changed forever on December 15th of 1999 when an episode titled "It's A Wonderful Cake" aired on the Food Network show "Good Eats".

In this episode, host Alton Brown demonstrated a recipe for Fruit Cake that avoids what he called "tooth-achingly sweet nuclear gummy fruit" in favor of real dried fruits.

Christmas has never been the same.

Unlike the anchor-worthy block of inedible ingredients that passes for Fruit Cake in the general consensus, this recipe produces a cake that is more reminiscent of a nut bread than a cake, and is truly "A Wonderful Cake".

Alton calls his recipe "Free Range Fruitcake", and while I will not repeat the recipe here, googling for it will bring you to the actual recipe.

One of the interesting aspects of this recipe is that, while the original recipe yields a great and tasty cake, it's perfect for substitutions.

As long as the total volume of dried fruit yields 4 cups, you can play fast and loose with ingredients depending on what you can find at your local grocer's.

One variant that I concocted and that I am particularly fond of is a "Tropical Free Range Fruit Cake", in which I substitute Macadamia nuts for the pecans, and use a mixture of the following dried fruits:

• papaya
• mango
• pineapple
• dates
• raisins

You can varying the proportions of the fruit to your tastes, or make any substitutions you want, as long as the amount of fruit is 4 cups.

Oh, and for this variant, I spritz the cooked cake with spiced rum in place of the brandy.

I urge you to give the Free Range Fruitcake a try. I doubt you will be disappointed. Just be sure not to call it "Fruit Cake" prior to serving it to your guests in order to avoid the stampede that is likely to leave your home in shambles.