““It’s fruitcake weather!”...”
T. Capote, ‘A Christmas Memory”
In 1953 Grandma found a fruitcake recipe in a ladies magazine and over the years has edited and altered it and made it her own.
Red Tin
Traditionally sold in our red plaid tin… that is when “supply chain” issues do not challenge us…. This year will be the first time we will also be using the simple red tin….
Working with my grandmother I gleaned a knowledge of the science of baking, economics, production and work ethic.
I am the luckiest grandson ever. Tracy Jones
Update: Grandma past in March 2021, 83 days short of her 105th birthday. Christmas and fruitcake weather are poignant without grandma. The stirring smell of orange zest, roasted pecans, and chopped dates, conjure memories and her presence is almost palpable.
No liquor, no stale nuts, no candied cherries (red or green!)….
…A “blonde” cake, oranges, dates, pecans and a citrus glaze.
Available each holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Years Day.
1 lb. cake $25.00
Shipping $12.00 /cake
(within the Continental United States)
Court House Grounds opened on Christmas Eve 1998...
The following Christmas I asked my grandmother if she thought anyone would buy her fruitcake if we made it for sale. I was anxious about asking her, I did not know how she would react to selling something that was so personally her own. I believe that she was flattered because her response was, “I donno, let’s try and see!”
For me nothing says Christmas like the smell and taste of the blonde, orange-based fruitcake that my grandmother makes each year at Christmastime.
Fruitcake has a bad reputation. I blame Johnny Carson who once joked, “The worst Christmas gift is a fruitcake”... and, “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, people keep sending it to each other, year after year.” Fruitcake had been a special gift from my Grandma, but pop culture turned it into a witticism. Grandma Petes’ fruitcake was a fond Christmas memory for me, so initially I was concerned about offering them for sale, that people would reduce grandma’s fruitcake to punch line. That first year of fruitcake production, we marketed them as, “Holiday Cakes” . They sold well. The following year, we billed them as, “Christmas Cakes” . They sold even better. By year three, I decided, “you know what guys? It’s fruitcake!” Bring on the jokes! Customers love them and we sell out every year!
Christmastime at Court House Grounds we decorate, cater, and cook, cook, cook. But most of all we bake Grandma’s fruitcake. For the first 18 years of our business I baked side by side with Grandma Pete, learning her recipe, following her directions, developing the art that is her fruitcake.
Grandma retired on her 100th birthday,
May 27, 2016… It is a bittersweet activity baking without her at my side, but she taught me well and she surprises me with visits to the shop to check that I am following the recipe correctly!
As of this writing she is 104 years old. December 2020