South's basement source of CDS desserts

Ever wonder where Wilder's famous cookies come from? Not many students know there is a bakery in the basement of South Hall. It remains, as one South resident put it, "kind of an illusive thing."

Darlene Trimble, Dorothy Poore and Jan Flynn are Campus Dining Service's (CDS) three full-time South Bakeshop employees. All three have had previous training in grocery stores and are responsible for baking the breads, rolls, cakes, cookies, and dessert bars for Campus Dining Services. They also make birthday cakes that parents order from Wilder as well as wedding and special occasion cakes which can be ordered through Conference Services. Generally, busy times in the bakery are during shutdowns, which is just before students leave for vacations, and when Catering Services gains contracts.

Trimble asked, "Can you tell me something? Why have students been eating so much dessert this past week? We have been running out ... I don't know if it has something to do with the cold?"

In any case, Stevenson can go through 100 dozen cookies, Dascomb 50 to 60, and Wilder 32 dozen in one day during lunch. "They could use more, but we don't have the oven space," said Trimble.

The bakers' day starts at seven in the morning as they make the rounds of the dining facilities and check out what's left from the previous day so that they don't overproduce or under produce. "We like to keep our product fresh," said Poore.

First they make the breads because the bread wrapper comes in at one o'clock. Then they make the Wilder cookies, which the student helpers often turn out onto baking sheets during the midday shift. Cakes, cookies and rolls are made next.

Wilder cookies, which are either Peanut Butter, M&M, Peanut Butter and M&M or Chocolate Chip, are made from scratch but the dining hall cookies arrive frozen and are cooked every day. The sheer quantity of cookies demanded prohibits making them from scratch.

There are generally five or six birthday cake orders per week. Designs on cakes are drawn freehand in icing. "Sometimes we bring in a picture from a magazine and we have to make it look like that," Poore said. Some memorable designs, pictured in a photo album on hand, were the Queen of Hearts cake made for a lady that played bridge on her 75th birthday and the hatbox wedding cake decorated with purple ribbon and icing violets.

Trimble said the South Hall bakery does turn out low-fat desserts. However, overall, Trimble believes that the fat is what makes dessert good. Trimble said she still enjoys the desserts she helps to make. She said, "You'd think I'd get tired of it, but I don't. I still bake at home."

Poore related how students sometimes follow their noses down to the bakery. Trimble said, "The smell of chocolate first thing in the morning about drags them out of bed. The smell of fresh baked bread drives them crazy."

There are six student helpers who work in the bakeshop. Poore said that they have had student workers from all over the world and they often receive letters from former workers who have graduated. "We even meet their Moms and Dads," she said. Trimble chimed in, "They like to come back if they can. We're like their adopted mothers."

Sophomore Ethel Morgan started working in South Bakeshop three weeks ago but hasn't eaten any cookies while on the job yet. "The women who work here are really nice," said Morgan. She said that working in the bakeshop is fun.

Trimble and Poore agree that their work is enjoyable. Trimble said "There's a real satisfaction to working in a bakery. You learn to work as a team." Teamwork is especially evident as the women worked on their jobs and continually checked the ovens at just the right times. Since "all the ovens bake so differently," as Poore said, they don't set any timers. They just know when the cookies are ready.

Trimble said that student opinion has a lot to do with what they make. She said, "If you want a change, write a comment card."