collin street bakery deluxe fruitcake
What festive food to hikers and climbers frequently keep in their packs for long-lasting energy? What holiday treat do past presidents like Reagan, Bush Jr. and Obama have in common? What Christmas cake was featured in The Godfather? The answer: Collin Street Bakery’s fruitcake. But what’s the big deal with this retro dessert anyway, and why is Collin Street Bakery so famous for it?
anatomy of a deluxe fruitcake
What makes a Collin Street Bakery fruitcake so unique? Could it be that they’re made with the finest ingredients and expertly baked? Or that each fruitcake is hand-decorated, baked with love, and shipped in their very own commemorative tin, making it the perfect edible gift for the holidays? Or maybe it's the rich ingredients inside each delicious cake, like pecans, pineapple, cherries, golden raisins, papaya and pure clover honey.

Fun Facts

  • A tin of Collin Street Bakery fruitcake made a cameo appearance in the movie "The Godfather".
  • Hikers, climbers, skiiers and adventurers alike often bring fruitcake along with them on the trail in place of protein bars, since fruitcake is packed with all kinds of energy-boosting nutrients, thanks to the dried fruit and densely-packed pecans
  • Past presidents such as Barak Obama, George Bush Jr., Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. have all purchased a Collin Street Bakery fruitcake.
  • Collin Street Bakery sells roughly 3 million pounds of fruitcake a year, which equals around 1.5 million individual cakes!

The History

Family-owned and operated in Texas since 1896, Collin Street Bakery makes world-famous baked goods, most notable of all being the Original DeLuxe® fruitcake. This treat has been around for a long, long time—since 1896, to be exact. The recipe originated in Germany, and was first baked in the states by a baker named August Weidmann. Gus partnered with a salesman by the name of Tom McElwee, and together they created the Collin Street Bakery. Their cakes became so popular that they had to start shipping them worldwide. Collin Street Bakery cakes are still shipped globally to this day.  While a lot has changed in the last 124 years, the Collin Street Bakery is still headquartered in Corsicana, Texas, and each cake is baked with the same love and attention that Gus Weidmann put into them. If tradition could be defined by a food, it would be this fruitcake.

The Legacy

Now owned by the McNutt family, the owners of Collin Street Bakery understand that it can be hard to turn people on to the idea of a fruitcake, but one bite of their famous DeLuxe® Fruitcake and even the most passionate fruitcake-haters will be impressed. The McNutt family takes pride in their ingredients, sourcing each ingredient carefully and with consideration, knowing that quality ingredients create a quality cake.