How Carvel’s Fudgie the Whale became a Father’s Day icon

Bourbon, steaks and ties are all typical gifts for Father’s Day, but one specifically made for the holiday takes the cake: Fudgie the Whale.

Whiskey, steaks and ties are all typical gifts for Father’s Day, but one specifically made for the holiday takes the cake: Fudgie the Whale. Carvel’s vanilla and chocolate-flavored ice cream cake has been a holiday staple since 1977, when it it was first created as a Father’s Day promotion, and nearly five decades later, it has earned its place in the pantheon of recognizable fast food characters. Fudgie the Whale wasn’t initially produced to be a mascot for the 90-year-old brand. It was made to fill the freezer cases that founder Tom Carvel had made for his shops. Ice cream cakes quickly flew off the shelves, first created in the mid-1950s, and twenty years later he thought of making a cake for Father’s Day. Fudgie was a play on the phrase (more commonly said back then): a “whale of a dad,” according to Carvel’s Chief Brand Officer Jim Salerno, which prompted Carvel to mass produce Fudgie using a plastic, whale-shaped mold that he invented. He decided to top it with fudge, because it was one of Carvel’s most popular toppings. To make the cake, soft-serve vanilla is placed into the mold first, followed by chocolate chip cookie pieces better known as “crunchies.” Then it’s topped with soft-serve chocolate ice cream and frozen for several hours. After that, it’s topped with hot fudge with more crunchies on the side. The cakes sell for about $30. Fudgie helped Father’s Day become Carvel’s busiest day of the year for buying cakes, Salerno said.