I don't know how you managed to get a pumpkin eating porcupine from spinning fruitcake but that was funny, thank you 
I make and decorate the old fashioned fruit wedding cakes (opposed to the popular mud cakes these days), and as long as you have alcohol in them, they will keep for a few months then you can freeze them if you want. Quite a few people keep a tier for their first anniversary or use as a christening cake. I use brandy for a wedding cake and sherry if it is going to be eaten quicker.
For those who don't consume alcohol, when alcohol is cooked, the alcohol burns out and just leaves the flavour.
When I was a child back in the 50's, my mother would make her fruitcake in October.
The ingrediants were very expensive for our budget, and she would worry that somethig would go wrong and the fruitcake would have to be thrown out.
It always turned out OK, but was never a favorite of mine.
Not like her seafoam/divinity candy.
For every batch that turned out, another batch was "spoon candy". 
