Print Issue: December 5, 2002

A Spirit-Filled Treat Monastery Fruitcakes Back For The Holidays

Brother Basil Arsenio, OCSO, bakery manager, stands by the tools and ingredients used to make the fruitcakes at Our Lady of Holy Spirit Abbey, Conyers. (Photos by Michael Alexander)

By Rebecca Rakoczy, Staff Writer

CONYERS - It's a spirit-filled concoction, a moist treat to eat now or store for summertime consumption.

Can this be fruitcake?

Yes, if it's the tremendously popular cake made by the monks at the Abbey of Our Lady of Holy Spirit in Conyers. Last year Brother Basil Arsenio, OCSO, created the recipe for the golden cake filled with selected fruits, such as pineapple, cherries, dates and raisins, and pecans and injected with a 50-50 mixture of peach brandy and sherry. Longtime bakers of simple breads for their own Cistercian community and local stores, the success of the fruitcake took the monks by surprise.

It was an immediate hit, with orders coming from across the nation. Brother Arsenio estimated that the monastery bakers produced and sold between 3,500 and 4,000 cakes.

Now with the Advent season again in full swing, the monks have been baking more than 250 cakes a week for several months, plowing through cases of pecans, gallon jars of honey and almond paste, sacks of all-purpose and bread flour and, of course, cases of peach brandy and sherry.

Consulting with a local chef, Brother Arsenio said he has refined the recipe by replacing the dark brown sugar with a light brown sugar, using golden, instead of dark, raisins, and increasing the amount of apricot glaze spread on the fruitcake's surface to give it a more golden color.

The cake still packs a spirit-filled wallop - in addition to soaking the fruit and nut mix in the brandy and sherry, the monks inject the cakes with the liquors six times, using a veterinarian injection gun. "Fruitcakes normally have the liquor spread on the top. We put it right in there," Brother Arsenio said.

This year they expect to turn out 10,000 fruitcakes, which will be sold in the Abbey store, at nationwide Honeybaked Ham stores, and through the monastery Web site.

The fruitcake is packaged in a decorative white tin designed by Brother Alberic Farbolin, OCSO, on which a drawing of the monastery is printed in green, surrounded by the words "Abbey of Our Lady of Holy Spirit-Fruitcake From Brother Basil's Kitchen." Although the label says two pounds, the cakes are each pushing 2.5 pounds, Brother Arsenio said, due to their lavish ingredients.

This year the monks are offering the fruitcake at a special price to St. Vincent de Paul conferences, who will be able to sell the fruitcakes and use the profits for their ministry.

HoneyBaked Ham stores are offering the fruitcakes at local outlets and through their catalog for $29.95. Purchased through the Abbey Store, the fruitcakes sell for $22. To order a fruitcake, either visit the Abbey Store, located at 2625 Highway 212, SW, in Conyers or visit their Web site at www.trappist.net. Fruitcakes can be purchased by calling (800) 592-5203.

Father Steven Scherrer, OCSO, left, and Brother Nicholas Slette cover the finished fruitcakes in cellophane wrap. As Christmas approaches, the monks are baking 250 or more cakes a week.