While Speaker John A. Boehner was trying to get the House to swallow his version of a tax bill that many of his colleagues found unappealing, another member brought his own version of a notoriously unappealing holiday treat for his co-workers.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., brought homemade fruitcakes to the Speaker’s Lobby as gifts to his fellow House members on Thursday, an annual tradition.

The cakes were delivered along with an essay titled “The Zen of Fruitcake.” It’s the story of how Blumenauer, after tasting an unexpectedly delicious version of the fruitcake — a concoction he had always known as infamously inedible with a concrete-like texture — began making the cakes for friends and family. He begins the baking over Thanksgiving and now hands out more than 100 cakes during the holidays.

“The Zen of the Fruitcake includes far more than the ‘high’ I get from baking,” Blumenauer writes in the essay.

Blumenauer spokesman Arran Robertson said each fruitcake comes with a card ensuring the cake is a “certified handmade” creation from the congressman.

“It’s a chance for him to, one, make something with his hands, and, two, to renew connections and reach out,” Robertson said.