Pookie Crack Cakes sells out every day - Chicago Reader (2024)

As I stood in line on 47th Street, just east of Michigan Avenue, I heard a lady a few spots ahead of me exclaim, “They’ve been selling out every day!” It was a sunny Thursday morning in the middle of a hot July, shortly after 11 AM, the time Pookie Crack Cakes is scheduled to open. Those a bit closer to the woman smiled and nodded their heads in approval, as we all waited patiently for our turn to see what the hype was about.

According to the owner, Dedra Simmons, that’s been the everyday routine at Pookie Crack Cakes for more than a year now. “In the morning, there’s always a line,” she says. “Then once that disappears, they come in increments. It’s like when you see one person come to the door, you’ll dip down to pull a cake out the case, and [then] it’s six or seven more customers in the lobby.” Confirming that what I overheard was true, Simmons says that her business has sold out of cakes every single day since it opened its doors in July 2023. The approximately 600 cakes that she and her staff hand-make daily sell out so fast that the store is typically closing before 1 PM.

Simmons—who started cooking at age six while growing up watching her grandmother make everything from scratch—says the popularity of Pookie Crack Cakes has not been a surprise to her. She knew that if nothing else, the name of the establishment would garner plenty of attention.

“I got a lot of flak about the name,” Simmons says, sitting by the store’s window adorned with the name and logo—a bundt cake with pink icing and sparkles. “That’s why we have the signage up to explain the meaning behind this is nothing derogatory. It’s nothing promoting drug use or drug sales.” On the vibrant pink walls of Pookie Crack Cakes’s lobby are two signs: one explains the word “pookie” is a term of endearment, and the other explains the origin of crack cakes.

“I grew up on crack cakes—this is not something that I created,” she says. “My great-grandmother made these cakes all the time. It’s nothing but a bundt cake; when the cracks form at the top, you poke holes in it and you pour your rum glaze and everything inside, and you let it seep into the cake. That’s all a crack cake is.”

Simmons is a west-side native, but she says her husband, Doug, who doubles as her business partner, is from Bronzeville. “Once I became familiar with the area, and I saw how the Black businesses were over here really thriving, I wanted to be a part of it,” she says. When she decided to look for a brick-and-mortar space, she knew Bronzeville and Hyde Park were among her top choices.

Simmons previously worked full-time in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in quality control. But her early love of cooking never left her, and it became her ambition to become a skilled baker by trade. She began by baking cakes at home for special occasions and holidays. She credits her family for providing continued support that helped her expand her business over the years. When her cakes got popular, her brother, Shundell Johnson, worked as her “street team,” she says. He would “go door to door to different businesses, beauty salons, barber shops, and he would sell the cake. That brought a lot of business our way.” Simmons also used to sell her cakes at various restaurants across the city, but since opening her own storefront, she has stopped doing so.

If you get to Pookie Crack Cakes early enough, you’ll find a case full of small loaf cakes at the store’s entrance. There are at least eight flavors to choose from daily, including her signature, butter pecan praline, the cake that she says started it all. “That was the only flavor that I made for four years, from 2014 to 2018,” she reflects. She created an original recipe for the bundt cake but continues to use her great-grandmother’s glaze recipe to top it off. Along with the butter pecan praline, she also makes red velvet, strawberry lemonade, Chocolate Oreo Dream, caramel, key lime, and lemon cakes.

Simmons says she expands the flavor range based on customers’ requests. “We have special days where we do, instead of a pineapple upside-down, I do a fresh pineapple glaze on top of the cake,” she says. That specialty cake is called the Pineapple Paradise, and it’s only available on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday and Saturday, the Peach Crack Cobbler is on the menu. “I do a peach-flavored cake and then a homemade peach cobbler sauce with the peaches, and I smother it all over that cake,” she says. “That is also a fan favorite.”

Simmons is supported by a team that includes many of her family members, but she says she’s still in the kitchen and is very hands-on with the business. “Because, again, my background is quality,” she says. “So I’ve got to make sure the quality and the integrity of the product is good.”

Pookie Crack Cakes
105 E. 47th
Tue–Sat, 11 AM until sold out
facebook.com/pookiecrackcakes

Keeping control of quality is why Pookie Crack Cakes does not provide delivery services, nor does Simmons want to expand to creating other baked goods. She says that she’d rather “extend my hand to other businesses.” She’s worked to collaborate with local entrepreneurs, allowing them to sell their products in Pookie Crack Cakes, and recently started selling her brother’s Mitch on da Move fresh lemonades.

With the combination of murmurs about the business name and a few viral TikToks, Simmons says that she’s had customers coming from around the world.

Simmons quips, “Now that I have your attention, come and get some of this delicious cake.”

Update Thu 8/8, 9:30 AM:This story has been amended to correct the days on which the Pineapple Paradise and Peach Crack Cobbler specialty cakes are available.