Fudgie the Whale has, over the years, become a beautiful treat for birthdays and celebrations. I can definitely give Fudgie five stars. It has a beautiful crumble and is one of the best things that Carvel makes. I highly suggest you try one.
Fudgie the Whale was created in the 1970’s, and it was soon followed by Cookie Puss.
Cookie Puss is a demented clown. Or at least it’s supposed to be a clown. When it first was released it was a space alien from Planet Birthday—how cheesy can you get? He was first called Celestial Person. In my opinion, it sounds very unappealing to eat an alien. The initials C. P. became Cookie Puss in 1972.
It became famous enough that members of the Beastie Boys would prank call Carvel and ask if they could speak to Cookie Puss. These calls later inspired their hit song “Cooky Puss.”
I first heard of Fudgie the Whale a few months ago when my godfamily got a Fudgie the Whale for my godfather. Normally they’d write something along the lines of “Happy birthday, Joe!” but because my godfather loved the Fudgie the Whale ads, they wrote “For a Whale of a Dad!” which is the slogan for the advertisements.
Back to Cookie Puss: The clown also has some extra toppings. People who eat demented alien clowns must also like beer, so Carvel was smart enough to make the outrageous product known as Cookie Puss Beer.
There is the birthday beer which I am totally sure an innocent, naive seven year old would love! They also created Fudgie the Beer, which the ads describe as “smooth creamy cocoa notes with a roasted crunchies finish.”
Boy, does that sound like the beer is literally melted Fudgie the Whale that they accidentally left out of the freezer.
🍦
A recent guest at my house (“G”) worked at Carvel when he was a teenager and agreed to answer some questions.
Tobey: What are some interesting stories that you can share from your time working at Carvel?
G: I worked there for one summer. My older sister had worked there and she suggested I apply for a job. It seemed terrific to be paid to work in an ice cream parlour. There was a lot to learn and most of what you do is in front of the public. Scooping ice cream, making cones, making sundaes.
T: Were there any flavors you thought weren’t amazing?
G: So the store, like any business I suppose, tried to save money where it could, so under the soft serve machine there was a refrigerated bucket and you would drop the soft serve mistakes you made so they could be served as hard ice cream later. In the ice cream case there was a special bucket reserved for the biggest kinds of mistakes. Even if that mistake was a whole banana split, or a chocolate shake, or a sundae. If you made a mistake, you would empty the contents into this bucket. And the ice cream in the bucket, and the mistakes in the bucket were sold as a flavor called Treasure Island.
T: Did people know that it was just the mistakes?
G: I guess a few might have known and found it funny but also all the flavors sounded very appealing to some.
T: Did you ever make a Cookie Puss or a Fudgie the Whale?
G: Well yes, one of the last things I learned how to do was to make ice cream cakes, and you would make vanilla or chocolate and the crunch was really just in the middle or top. And there were three molds: One big circle, one small circle, and the mold that made Fudgie and Cookie Puss and Santa ice cream cake. There was also a book in the back which showed different types of artwork that was in the cake. I could only do frosting, but I don’t know what it was made of. Anyway, you would spread the frosting with a triangular cone and it would make little burrows and that was on all of the cakes.
T: Thanks for answering these questions! ❏
Tobey Robbins is a rising fifth-grader who enjoys animating.
