03 May 2008

The next fruitcake's name is:

Thanks for the votes. I was leaning towards Holy Transfiguration Skete, and I still think I'll do that one, but I'm going to leave it to the end. They have a sampler that includes all six cakes that they create. Since four of their cakes are variations on fruitcake (traditional, dried fruit, sourdough, and Jamaican black, which a past commenter had brought to my attention), and the sampler contains one-pound versions of each, it seems like a good way to go. However, I don't feel like footing out the $80 to order it just yet. I think I'll leave that one to the bitter end, when we're more in the real fruitcake season--you know, the time of year when normal people order fruitcake. Six cakes at once--that might be the death of me.

In any case, I've decided on a write-in cake from commenter Brian: the fruitcake from Hermitage Big Sur bakery, from the Camaldolese Benedictine monks in Big Sur, California. First, it's a monastery fruitcake, always a favorite; second, it's only one fruitcake, not six; and third, I covet their location. Really, this is where they're located (from their website): "The Hermitage is located at Lucia, off the Pacific Coast Highway, (Highway 1) about 25 miles south of Big Sur village, 55 miles south of Monterey, and 85 miles north of San Luis Obispo." These monks picked a beautiful place to live.

It's on order. I was touched by how my order was completed; after the credit card information was finalized, you're taken to a page that shows the monks praying, with the message "The monks are prayerfully grateful for your order." Y'know, they're prayerful guys--why not reflect that prayerfulness in everything, even your e-commerce website?