The Original Fruitcake, Did It Taste Better?

My aunt called and asked for my grandmother's fruitcake recipe. After digging through several recipe boxes, I found three of my grandmother Rachel's, and one from a magazine. I remember helping make a table full of fruitcakes for Christmas. We spent all day cutting the 16 cups of fruit and 7 cups of nuts that when into the cakes. Then we poured the heavy batter into tin cans, such as green bean or soup cans, and even coffee cans. Those with a wider diameter had toilet paper rolls placed in the center. The recipe said to bake them 3 hours and 45 minutes. Wow! That's was like baking a large turkey. None of the recipes gave a yield of cakes. I can't remember who my family gave the fruitcakes to, but they were always loved and devoured. Perhaps we have changed in our tastes or maybe good desserts are so available to us that fruitcakes are not appealing. Or maybe the ones mass produced are not really as good. I know that I will NOT be making any from scratch so that I can compare. I wonder if any of grandmother's fruitcake recipients still have a cake or two?