Collin Street Bakery: Fruitcake nirvana in Corsicana
As it does every holiday season and all year round, the famed Collin Street Bakery is rolling out thousands of fruitcakes and other goodies to its loyal customers. (To read more about this 111-year-old Texas institution, see the current Texas Monthly article about Collin Street's president, Bob McNutt.)
The bakery teamed up with former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier in 2004. This year they've produced gifts worthy of a Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. For $50,000, Chef Roland will recreate a White House dessert extravaganza for you and up to 100 guests, at the location of your choice.
Or, for considerably less -- a mere $4,950 -- Chef Roland will offer a cooking demonstration for up to 50 people at the customer's home or club.
If you can't quite afford that, you can still buy Chef Roland's White House Banana Cake or his Pumpkin Cake (the latter was a fave of Presidents Reagan and Clinton), for $39.95 each (plus shipping).
Or, for $32.95 postpaid, you can buy his cookbook, Dessert University, and try to make more than 300 of Chef Roland's specialties, which he served to five U.S. presidents from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush.
Photo: Chef Roland Mesnier and President Bush