So, we got talking about holiday cakes, and decided it would be fun to hash it out, arena-style. Everyone is invited to take part. Simply post your favourite holiday cake - be it panettone, pandoro, stollen, kringle, babka, fruitcake, or something else - along with your reasoning why it should be THE holiday cake. Alternately, if your cake choice is already posted, then you can simply vote for it. I will maintain a list of all the cakes nominated here, along with a tally of their votes.

Let mortal kakebat begin!

Boston Brown Bread
Cozonac
Date-Nut Loaf
Ginger Cake with Hot Lemon Sauce
Lemon Drizzle
Little Debbie Holiday Cakes
Melomakarona ♥
Mohnstollen
Pecan Pie
Princess Cake
Russian Teacakes ♥
Russischer Zupfkuchen ♥♥
Traditional Cheesecake
Trifle
Vanocka
Weihnachtsstollen
Yule Log

Russian Teacakes

Not exactly a "cake" recipe (cookies, more like) but "cakes" is in the name, plus Russian Teacakes are filled with buttery, nutty goodness too, and that's why I'm nominating them here. We have had them at just about every one of our family Christmas gatherings... they're fantastic.

Be warned: this recipe calls for a whole cup of butter, so it's not exactly a diet recipe. ;)

I didnt think you were such a fan of nut butter. Learn something new everyday! O_____o7

This looks a hell of a lot similar to (scroll down a bit for their recipe -and also note it's kind of hard to find recipes in english for greek food that isn't moussakas or something...). There are also melomakarona (here's a [url=http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2010/12/22/my-perfect-greek-melomakarona-step-by-step-pictures/]step by step recipe), and I personally prefer those ones. As for cakes, well, cakes aren't greek in concept/origin (so I wouldn't have anything original for you anyways), not to mention I don't like cakes much anyways (cheesecake is the only exception -but then it isn't a holiday cake...)

Little Debbie Holiday Cakes. They're fast, fun and festive!

The ultimate holiday cake: Traditional Greek <span class="bold">Small honey cakes</span>

They combine honey, orange zest, cinammon & walnuts in a small but mighty "package". It's sweet, it's sticky, it's tasty, it's full of syrup inside, yet you can hold it in your hand without getting messed up (just don't put it in your pocket like the lady I saw stealing some from a stand the other day!).

It is THE ultimate holiday cake because *presses re-play button* it combines honey, orange zest, cinammon & waln....

There is no way I can put out my opinion without having first hand knowledge of said cakery. Therefore I demand that a representative, perhaps two, of each crumbly goodness be sent to me forthwith.

I have to go with the cake I associate with Christmas:

Date-Nut Loaf

We used to always buy the Dromedary canned variety when I was a kid, but now a lot of bakeries and groceries make it fresh. It's sublime with cream cheese. And it has a degree of Christmas authenticity, in that dates are a common food from the ancient Middle East.

I'll go with a old swedish classic:

Princess Cake

Marzipan, vanilla custard, raspberry jam and whipped cream.
Simple, but great!

PS: could not post a link for some reason.

This reminds me of a great line from a terrible movie:

I fucked up the quote. :P Here it is:

I'll fuckin' finish you off faster than a fuckin' birthday cake at a fat chick's fuckin' birthday party!

The movie I got it from is a terrible Australian zombie flick. Lots of potential and it just goes to hell.

Like most zombies flicks. It's very hard to do a good zombie flick.

Seconded!