Sweet History
AT HOME (ST. LOUIS MAGAZINE)
By Rose Martelli
July/Aug 2008
Pfeifer's? Miss Hulling's? Lake Forest? The Businesses have long been shuttered, but the spcialties survived
Baseball fever may be St. Louis' most obvious epidemic. But there's another, more subtle but just as addictive obsession harbored by many of us dyed-in-the-wool St. Louisans, and that is our shared sweet tooth for the cakes and pastries of yesteryear.
Luckily, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Much like the old Busch Stadium begat the new Busch Stadium, a number of local stores today are committed to carrying the signature sweets from other, now-defunct shops.
For example, anybody remember Pfeifer's, the regionally famous bakery on Clayton Road between Hanley and Brentwood? (Hint: It was where the Kitchen Conservatory is located.) The mom and pop bake shop closed its doors in the late 1980s. Since 1996, though, son Rich Pfeifer has been employed as the lead baker for the Straub's chain of grocery stores, whipping up his family's famous shaved chocolate cake, cinnamom nut loaf, butter streusel and various tea breads, all from the original recipes.
The junior Pfeifer's wares sell best in the downtown Clayton outpost. "It's so close to his dad's old place," says Straub's bakery manager Diane Cantwell. "And it's usually the older clientele who ask for his products by name, especially his shaved chocolate cake, because they actually remember going to Pfeifer's."
Straub's also sells Miss Hulling's split layer cakes, another blast from the past. Miss Hulling's Cafeteria was practically a downtown landmark for 65 years before shutting its doors in the mid-1990s, and its famous foodstuffs included not just desserts, but culinary curiosities like carrot salad and sour cream noodle bake. Straub's contracted with a local wholesale bakery to produce the cakes, after Steve Apted - Miss Hulling's grandson - passed the recipes along.
But there's more. You can pick up a Lake Forest Gooey Butter Cake - yep, just like they used to make 'em at the much-loved Lake Forest Pastry Shop - from Clayton's Bakery and Deli in Des Peres, thanks to an owner from the former who moved over to the latter. And if you're really, really a lifelong St. Louisan, then you'll want to head over to Ladue Market for some Junior League cinnamon rolls, which are actually made, rolled out and iced by local Junior Leaguers. (You might need to ask your grandmother for the back story on those much-coveted pastries.) Ain't history sweet?
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