Corsicana – When it comes to Christmas confectionery, there are all sorts of sweets that one can savor here in the Lone Star State. There is one cake that keeps people coming to Corsicana, and it goes hand in hand with the holidays, Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana.

“This is a part of Texas history,” Sarah Keathley said. “It’s unique. The world’s greatest fruitcake.”

Since 1896, the Collin Street Bakery has been getting a rise out of customers by providing carbs that are well worth craving.  Back in the beginning, baking bread was the business’s backbone, but after too many bakers starting popping out of the oven, the Collin Street Bakery took a different approach.

“They sold all of their bread equipment and made this decision just to go and gamble on this product that nobody heard about,” Hayden Crawford said. “They did it and it was a home run.”

Hayden’s family bought into the business in the 1960’s back when Corsicana’s craving for fruitcake started to become a fruitful fixture during the holidays.

“Historically, the fruitcake has always been a celebratory cake,” Hayden. “It was a product of the fall harvest with the pecans and some of the fruit, and then this was all put together in a delicious cake. [It] was put back in the root cellar and held back until Christmas and pulled out so that everybody could enjoy the bounty of the harvest.”

Today, the fruitcakes are a bit fresher thanks to a bounty of bakers that help make one million fruitcakes every year!

“So what you see is freshly shelled native pecans, big decorative halves to decorate the top of the cakes,” Hayden said. “We use pineapple from our Costa Rican farm. We have the largest organic farm in the world. Cherries from the pacific northwest, raisins from California, all go into this fruitcake to make one of the finest Christmas products in the world.”

Each cake is carefully topped, baked, and prepared to be enjoyed by somebody.

“I’ve been coming to the bakery ever since I was a kid but believe you and me fruitcake was not always on my favorite list,” Steve Keathley said.

Despite what you may think of fruitcake, you just never know how good it is until you try it.

“We’ve put free samples everyday because we have to prove to people ‘hey this fruitcake is really a quality product’ and people walk in and the worse thing I ever heard them say is ‘Hey this isn’t bad,’” Hayden said.

Turns out what was once equivalent to getting coal for Christmas is now cool again, and people are going nuts for fruitcake.  

The captains of industry, leaders of nations,” joked Hayden. “Everyone loves to enjoy fruitcake.”

With Christmas upon us here in the Lone Star State, filling your face with fruitcake in Corsicana is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

“Because it is the world’s finest,” Hayden said. “There’s no other product like it. It’s just a combination of pecans and fruit all bound together with local clover honey. It’s a fantastic product. Everybody needs to try it before they kick the bucket.”