For generations of Eastern Shore families, a stop at Punta Clara Kitchen has meant fudge, pralines and the feeling of a special treat. The Point Clear candy and bake shop has been making sweets since 1952, when Dorothy Pacey started baking cakes to help support her family. Seven decades later it remains a family-owned business run out of a historic house built by her German immigrant grandparents, and it has never needed an advertising budget to keep customers coming back.
A Family Business Born in 1952
Punta Clara Kitchen began modestly. Dorothy Pacey baked cakes to supplement the household income, and her baking soon found an eager audience. Dorothy was the granddaughter of Edward and Rosina Brodbeck, who immigrated from Germany in 1897 and built the house that is now home to Punta Clara Kitchen. The kitchen moved into the family house decades ago, and the old home has since become part of the shop’s identity, a place where visitors can browse candies and preserves in rooms that carry more than a century of family history.
The name itself is a nod to local heritage: Punta Clara is Spanish for Point Clear, the bayfront community on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay where the shop has always been.
Today Dorothy’s son, Paul Pacey, and his wife, Susan, serve as the patriarch and matriarch of the business. Every grandchild has worked there at one time or another. “Each one of them learned how to get out of bed and work a schedule, scrub floors, whatever job needed to be done,” Paul said. But he is quick to point out that his daughter, Kim Clay, a registered dietitian, is the head honcho.
Point Clear’s Sweet Tradition
Point Clear has been a resort destination since the 19th century, when families from Mobile and New Orleans began summering along the bay. The Grand Hotel, with roots on the point dating to the 1840s, anchors the community, and Scenic Highway 98 winds past historic cottages, live oaks and the bay itself. Punta Clara Kitchen fits naturally into that setting, a small, homegrown shop that has become a stop on the itinerary for locals showing off the Eastern Shore to visiting relatives.
The shop’s relationship with the Grand Hotel is one reason it has never had to advertise. “It’s all word of mouth,” Paul said. “The Grand Hotel sends people down here all the time.”
As for growth, Paul keeps the philosophy simple. It is a closely held family business, and “the goal is to make more money than we spend,” he said.
Weathering Hurricanes, an Oil Spill and a Pandemic
Few businesses on the Gulf Coast survive 70 years without facing a few disasters. Kim said the only real downturns the shop had experienced as of 2022 came after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which kept many tourists away from the coast. When storms knocked out power, a small generator kept one room of the old house cool enough to keep the chocolates from melting.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Punta Clara adjusted its hours but never closed. That Easter, the kitchen made chocolate bunnies wearing masks, and customers went crazy for them. “Our sales were significantly higher after Covid,” Kim said. “People even told us they were spending their Covid relief funds to support us after Hurricane Sally. That’s just how people are around here.”
Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores in September 2020 as a slow-moving Category 2 storm, bringing damaging winds and flooding rains to Baldwin County. The community’s response, spending money at local businesses to help them recover, was a familiar story across the Eastern Shore that fall.
Cakes, Pralines and the Menu
The Punta Clara praline recipe was developed by Paul’s father in 1950. Pralines, the creamy pecan-and-sugar candies with roots in French and Creole cooking, are a Gulf Coast staple, and a good one is a matter of patience and precise temperature.
Candy making at this level is as much science as tradition. Both pralines and fudge depend on cooking a sugar syrup to the soft-ball stage, roughly 235 to 240 degrees Fahrenheit, and then controlling how the sugar crystallizes as it cools. Stir too early or too much and the candy turns grainy; stop too soon and it never sets. Humidity, a constant on the Gulf Coast, adds another variable, which is one reason experienced candy makers guard their methods and trust recipes that have been proven over decades.
Cakes are made by special order, and the kitchen needs two days’ advance notice. Among the family favorites:
- Golden Layer Cake with lemon filling and seven-minute “fluffy” icing, Paul’s favorite
- Carrot Cake
- Devil’s Food Cake with Peppermint
- Caramel Cake, a Southern classic and a customer favorite
Seven-minute icing is an old-fashioned Southern frosting, a glossy, marshmallow-like meringue made by beating egg whites and sugar over simmering water until it holds stiff peaks. It pairs especially well with tart fillings like lemon.
Fruitcakes are popular and sell out quickly. When the kitchen was visited in September 2022, it had just baked 128 pounds of them. The cakes must rest and age before they are ready to sell, which is why fruitcake production starts well ahead of the holiday season.
Supply Chains and Rising Costs
The post-pandemic supply crunch hit small food makers hard. In 2022, items such as jars for jellies and preserves, candied pineapple for fruitcake and even fruitcake mixes were difficult to get. “We bought 300 pounds six months in advance this year,” Paul said. Ingredient prices, he said, had risen 60 to 70 percent over the previous two years.
Figs, Watermelon Rind and Homemade Preserves
Among Punta Clara’s most distinctive products are its preserves and pickles, many of them made from local produce.
The fig preserves are a standout. Paul said he once could simply buy figs, but now he has to know someone locally who grows them. “We have a list of people, and we pick them in mid-June and July,” he said. Fig trees are a fixture in older Gulf Coast yards, and fig preserves are a treasured Southern tradition, though fresh figs are too delicate to ship well, which makes local sources essential.
Watermelons arrive in May, and nothing goes to waste. “We use the whole watermelon for watermelon rind pickles and watermelon jelly,” Paul said. “I don’t know anyone else that sells watermelon rind pickles.” The sweet-tart pickles, made from the firm white rind, are an old Southern thrift recipe, and they go well chopped into chicken salad.
The shelves also hold a wide selection of gourmet jams and jellies, homemade candies and candied nuts.
Holidays, Easter and the Catalog
Holidays are the heart of the business. “About a third of our business is during the Holidays,” Paul said. Easter is also big, thanks to chocolates and panoramic sugar eggs, the hollow decorated eggs with a tiny scene visible through a window at one end.
In fall 2022, the family planned a few appearances on Studio 10, the Mobile television morning show, to boost holiday sales, and its new catalog went to more than 2,500 addresses in mid-October. Punta Clara will also handle holiday gift orders, including shipping, making it an easy option for anyone sending Gulf Coast sweets to friends, family or clients.
A Collector’s Secret Weapon
Punta Clara’s reach extends further than one might expect. A Daphne man known for a remarkable sports memorabilia collection, including a signed baseball from every member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Muhammad Ali’s complete boxing attire with gloves, shoes and cape, and a signed original Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue cover, credits the shop with part of his success. His strategy was to get to know the equipment managers and coaches’ assistants of major sports teams and send each of them a box of Punta Clara chocolates, pralines and candies. In return, they sent him signed jerseys, helmets, gloves and more. Pretty clever, and a fine testament to the persuasive power of good fudge.
Visiting Punta Clara Kitchen
For anyone planning a stop, a few pointers:
- The shop is on Scenic Highway 98 in Point Clear, a pleasant drive south from downtown Fairhope along the bay.
- Cakes require at least two days’ notice, so call ahead for birthdays and gatherings.
- Fruitcakes and holiday items sell out, so order early in the season.
- Sample the sweets set out for tasting, pick up a catalog and ask to join the mailing list for updates.
Seventy years after Dorothy Pacey baked her first cakes to make ends meet, Punta Clara Kitchen still runs on the same simple formula: family labor, local ingredients, old recipes and customers who tell their friends. On the Eastern Shore, that has proven to be more than enough.