The last danish left the building on April 28, 2018, leaving many Berkeley and nearby residents without their favorite place to shop for pastries, desserts, breads, and especially the famously decorated cakes for birthdays, weddings, and other special occasions. The Virginia Bakery had stood on the northwest corner of Virginia Street and Shattuck Avenue, garnering a loyal clientele from the neighborhood and beyond since its opening in 1934.  It was considered by some as the southern end of the “gourmet ghetto,” but it had been serving customers for decades before Alice Waters sliced her first heirloom up the street.

For many of its customers, the Virginia Bakery retained the appeal of an old-fashioned, traditional bakery, with its wide variety of baked goods, ranging from long-time national favorites, such as Boston cream pie and layer cakes, to its highly praised hot cross buns, Irish soda bread, Christmas stollen, and dinner rolls.  The cornucopia included cupcakes, a variety of cakes and pies, cheesecakes, coffee cakes, croissants, tiramisu, and sandwich bread. But above all, the bakery was known for its tiered and decorated specialty cakes. While conducting business throughout the sixties and other turbulent times, the bakery maintained its good taste by refusing to provide x-rated decorations. It did, however, create many custom designs, including a decoration modeled on a CT scanner.

A cake of the month became a standing tradition, and the “farewell” cake was a popular favorite: Strawberry Delight, a chiffon cake topped with strawberries, custard, and whipped cream.

The bakery was established by two immigrants from Germany, Ewald and Elsa Poeschel. The Poeschels sold the business to Charles Erdmann in 1953, and the bakery remained a family-run business for the next 65 years until its closure.

The members of the Berkeley Historical Plaque Project have a special reason for joining those who mourned the passing of the Virginia Bakery.  During the long evening meetings of the Project, the Bakery had been a continuous presence, as a bear claw or other pastry tempting us from its honored place on the table. When inspiration waned or grammar baffled, a few bites would put us in mind to carry on with our work.