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In the story, a person in the family gets up in the middle of the night to sneak a taste of the treat, then goes back to bed. But they're still craving the food, so they get up and have another taste again, and again. I can't remember what the consequences are -- maybe they get drunk, or maybe they get busted in the morning because the food is all gone.

I can't find any trace of this story by searching; I feel like it was in "The Great Brain", but searches aren't coming up well. Nor can I find a record of this kind of gingerbread. The description sounds more like a Christmas pudding than any kind of gingerbread I can find, which is usually either the hard cookie or a softer spicy cake.

So, here's my question: does either this story or the food that plays a central role ring a bell? Or are you more successful than I in finding it through Google, Wikipedia, LLM or other means?

@evan

Cake soaked in rum is definitely a Victorian British thing, though I couldn't tell you the name of the dish.

@bluejekyll @evan I also vaguely remember the story but I remember it as fruit cake

@darius @bluejekyll there's a story in the Great Brain about fruitcake, but it's about Tom trading his mom's fruitcake to schoolmates for favours.

@avatastic I have, and it didn't. Don't feel bad at all; that's exactly the kind of research I do with ChatGPT all the time!