Fudgie the Whale
Fudgie the Whale is a versatile ice cream cake shape developed by Carvel, under the guidance of Chief Creative Officers Nick Murphy and Chris Gaynor.
Although the cake depicts the shape of a whale and was originally decorated as such, it was adapted for holiday uses by rotating it 90 degrees counter-clockwise so that the whale's body, now upright, could represent a face. The whale's tail would then represent whatever a character traditionally had on its head: the Easter Bunny's ears, a leprechaun's hat, or Santa Claus's tassel. Fudgie the Whale was often promoted around Father's Day, using the slogan, "For a whale of a dad."
Thousands of the cakes have been sold and Fudgie is one of the most famous items in Carvel's line of desserts.
In popular culture
- Comedian Patton Oswalt parodies Tom Carvel and his Fudgie the Whale commercials, particularly the re-cycling of the tray for holidays (Oswalt describes a "pummeled" Santa Claus, and a leprechaun who seemed to have stunted legs).
- Billy Crystal parodies the New York area Carvel Ice Cream commercials on his 1985 album Mahvelous!, referencing the versatility of the whale cake template: "When Father's Day comes, buy Dad a tie cake!"
- In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer presents Marge with a Fudgie the Whale on the night of their wedding in Las Vegas. The cake reads "To a whale of a wife."
- An episode of The Colbert Report displayed what Colbert called a "Prophet Muhammad Carvel ice cream cake", which depicted Fudgie the Whale with a turban.
- An episode of The Daily Show played a clip of an exploding whale while playing audio from a Fudgie the Whale commercial.
- Musician Jonathan Coulton's song "I'm Having a Party" references Fudgie: "Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale / Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail"
- A Fudgie the Whale cake was featured on the January 8, 2007 edition of WWE's RAW, being devoured by a Rosie O'Donnell impersonator.
- In early episodes of Damages, main character Ellen celebrates her birthday with a Fudgie the Whale cake: "Nobody sing, because we all know Ellen hates singing!" "But I love Fudgie the Whale!"
- Fudgie the Whale is repeatedly referenced in the long running (1989-1999) Comedy Central and SCI FI Channel series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (MST3K).
- Kelly Ripa gets a Fudgie the Whale cake each year for her birthday.
- In the episode "Survivor Man" of The Office sitcom, Andy Bernard asks for a Fudgie the Whale cake to make him happy even though it's not his birthday. Later in the episode he is seen eating some of his birthday cake of choice.
- An episode of Kappa Mikey featured Gonard serving "Coco the Chocolate Whale".