We’re not usually in the habit of browsing ice-cream company PR sites here at The A.V. Club, except for the week after our colleagues got to go to the Sweets & Snacks Expo and we didn’t. We are, however, in the habit of making Simpsons references whenever possible, and it’s in this spirit we wish a happy 40th birthday to Carvel Ice Cream’s Fudgie the Whale cake.
Originally introduced in 1977 as a way to celebrate Father’s Day while making a low-key fat joke, the cake, which originally came with the message “For A Whale Of A Dad,” can now be emblazoned with any text the people who work at the Carvel store can fit on the cake. Fudgie “represents memories of pure joy and togetherness, all the way down to his core of irresistible crunchies,” according to a Carvel press release. To Simpsons nerds, of course, it also represents memories of the season eight classic “A Milhouse Divided,” when Homer gets a heavily pregnant Marge a Fudgie-esque wedding cake at a truck stop:
Fudgie has also been featured on Saturday Night Live, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and Family Guy, but we shall not speak of those here. Instead, we’ll make note of the fact that, throughout the month of June, donations of $10 or more to Save The Whales will enter you to win free ice-cream cakes for a year. Exactly how many ice-cream cakes constitutes a “year”—One per week? Per day? What if you already finished that day’s ice cream cake, and it’s only noon?—remains to be determined. Donations of $25 or more also get you a Fudgie stuffed toy, if shameless gluttony isn’t your bag.