Divine Desserts Of The Trappist Monks Of Ava's Assumption Abbey
November 23, 2016 | 1 min to read
The much-maligned fruitcake has earned a reputation as the holiday gift nobody wants to receive. But in the rolling hills south of Ava, the Trappist monks of Assumption Abbey (888-738-0117, trappistmonks.com) are making fruitcake converts around the world with their handmade creations.
“I never liked fruitcake until I ate this one,” says business manager Michael Hampton, who oversees production of the cakes. “I just never cared for it. I’d just never had anything that was any good. This one is different.”
Based on an English-style recipe from pastry chef Jean-Pierre Augé, who once worked for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the fruitcakes are essential to funding the abbey’s operations. “The monastery probably wouldn’t be here without the cake,” Hampton says. The monks previously supported their prayerful lifestyle by making cement blocks but switched to baking in the 1980s when the cement enterprise became too laborious and its profit margin too slim.
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