The Best Foodie Birthday Gift

The day I celebrated my 50th birthday turned into a day that will forever live in my heart. I got a very special gift. The gift was something I thought about, longed for and dreamt of for more than 20 years. It was also something I thought I would never have again in my life.

My family got me a Dressel’s Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake!

As I took the first bite, childhood memories flooded my mind. I remembered walking down Wallace Street with my uncle Jack on those wonderful visits to the Dressel’s Bakery. I reminisced about sitting at the long dining room table in my grandparent’s home with my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins at the birthday celebrations in my youth, always with my favorite, a Dressel’s Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake. This was THE best birthday gift I could have received and it was a total surprise!

The cake I received on my 50th birthday tasted almost exactly like those from so many years ago; the creamy soft chocolate frosting, the moist chocolate crumb, the light and fluffy white whipped cream finished with the finely chopped nuts on the outside of the cake. The new Dressel’s-style Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake is made by 3241 W. 95th St. According to the Wolf’s Bakery website, they have been making these cakes since September 18, 2009.  The cakes are 7 inches in diameter and serve 6 to 8 people. The current price is $15.95. Wolf’s Bakery recommends calling a day ahead to order. Without the original recipe to follow, Wolf’s Bakery has done an outstanding job recreating the famous Dressel’s cake. 

I discovered some interesting history about the Dressel bakeries in an article from the Chicago Tribune entitled “What Ever Happened To” by Vicki Ortiz Healy which appeared on January 8, 2010. According to the article, the Dressel family came to America from Germany in the early 1900’s. The first Dressel bakery was started in 1913 by brothers Joe and Bill Dressel at 3254 S. Wallace in Chicago. When he was 14 years of age, younger brother Herman J. Dressel also went to work in the family bakery. The Dressel’s opened another bakery in Cicero and a manufacturing facility at 66th and Ashland in Chicago. Joe and Bill retired in 1963 and sold the Dressel bakeries to American Bakeries.

In 1987 the Dressel bakeries were sold to a French company which went bankrupt in 1995. Herman worked until he was 82 years old and died in 1997. To this day many people still talk about visiting the Dressel bakeries and especially share memories of the wonderful and unique Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake.

I am delighted that this Chicago treasure is available to us once again in Evergreen park!