100-year-old fruit cake found in Antarctica 'perfectly preserved'

A fruit cake believed to be more than 100 years old has been discovered among artefacts from Antarctica, looking and smelling "(almost) edible".

The Antarctic Heritage Trust has released images of the "perfectly preserved" dessert which was still wrapped in paper and encased in the remains of a tin-plated iron alloy tin.

It is thought the cake was made by Huntley & Palmers and was taken to Antartica by members of a party during an English expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

"The cake probably dates to the Cape Adare-based Northern Party of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition (1910 – 1913), as it has been documented that Scott took this particular brand of cake with him at that time," the Antarctic Heritage Trust website states.

The tin it was enclosed in hadn't fared too well over the years, but the cake itself was in "excellent condition."

A team of conservators have been working on the Antarctic artefacts from Cape Adare in the Cantebury Museum since May, 2016.

They finished conserving almost 1500 artefects in July this year.

Programme Manager-Artefacts Lizzie Meek said “With just two weeks to go on the conservation of the Cape Adare artefacts, finding such a perfectly preserved fruitcake in amongst the last handful of unidentified and severely corroded tins was quite a surprise.

"It’s an ideal high-energy food for Antarctic conditions, and is still a favourite item on modern trips to the Ice.”

Conservation work is now being planned by the Antarctic Heritage Trust for the the buildings at Cape Adare.

"The huts were built by Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink’s expedition in 1899 and later used by Captain Scott’s party in 1911," the trust's website states.

"The buildings were the first in Antarctica and are the only examples left of humanity’s first building on any continent."

Once the huts have been restored the artefacts must be returned to the site.