Jasper Mirabile, Jr. recently interviewed Assumption Abbey’s Father Cyprian on his ‘Live! From Jasper’s Kitchen’ radio show and wrote an article about the interview on kansascity.com.
He writes that "only eight monks, tirelessly and lovingly work at producing these cakes each day" and that "the task begins early each morning when one of the monks begins cracking 265 eggs."
What makes the cakes so good? Mirabile writes that the fruit is first soaked in burgundy wine, added to the batter then baked. Then the monks inject each cake "with over 1 ounce of rum and then soak them in corn syrup." After each cake if finished, the monks gather and pray over each cake.
This is a quote from the Abby's website:
"O GOD, CREATOR OF ALL THINGS
BLESS NOW THESE CREATIONS OF OUR HANDS.
THAT THESE CAKES MAY BE RECEIVED
AS TOKENS OF YOUR LOVE
AND SHARED WITH FRIENDS AS HINTS
OF YOUR EUCHARISTIC FEAST...."
If you're not a fruitcake lover, this dark, rich, traditional style fruitcake will make you one! Each cake is made with raisins, pineapple, currants, citron, walnuts, and wine and laced with rum.
The monks of Assumption Abbey produce 125 fruitcakes a day! That's almost 25,000 cakes per year. You can order you cake here: Assumption Abbey Bakery It comes in a decorative, re-useable tin and weighs about 2 lbs.
A good fruitcake is aged. If it contains alcohol and is wrapped in alcohol-soaked linen before storing, it could remain edible for many years.
Tell me about your fruitcake experience in the comments!
