Sanders: The Hot Fudge That Built a Detroit Empire

Ask a Detroiter of a certain age about Sanders and watch their face change. For generations, the Sanders candy-and-soda-fountain counter was as much a part of the city’s streetscape as Hudson’s department store, and its hot fudge, bumpy cake, and hot fudge cream puffs are still held close to a lot of hearts.

It started with a German immigrant named Fred Sanders, who opened a candy shop on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit in 1875. (He’d had a shop in Chicago first, but it burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, so he headed east.) Here’s a claim worth handling carefully: Sanders is one of several people credited with inventing the ice cream soda, around 1875–76. The story goes that his cream had gone sour, so he dropped in ice cream instead — and it was a hit. Other cities make the same claim, so it’s best called a charming “maybe.”

What’s not in doubt is the bumpy cake — a devil’s-food cake with thick ridges of buttercream under chocolate ganache — and that famous hot fudge, made from a family recipe. At its peak Sanders ran more than 50 stores around the Great Lakes. The company nearly disappeared in the 1980s, but the brand was rescued, and you can still buy that hot fudge today.