Lilly Zaks
Online Editor

The bells ring as people stroll through the streets of downtown Winston-Salem, adorned with sparkling lights, red ribbons, and festive reefs. Nowhere is more magical than our very own Old Salem at Christmas. 

Settled by the Moravians in 1776, Old Salem is a testament to Winston-Salem’s history. During the holiday season, the people celebrate Christmas in its traditional fashion with baked goods galore. A sugary smell drifts from the home of the famous Moravian sugar cake, Winkler Bakery. 

“The Winkler bakery started being built in 1799 by the Butner family, who was commissioned by the [Moravian] church,” Deborah Crews, the manager at the Winkler Bakery, said. “They opened in the year 1800. They did what they could, but they were not master bakers, and they were very far in debt. The church commissioned Christian Winkler to come from Lititz, Pennsylvania. He was a master baker and walked with his horse in hand. In November of 1807, he arrived.” 

For the past two centuries, the Winkler bakery has undergone many changes from its humble beginnings to where it is today. Yet, it has remained rooted in family tradition. 

“Christian Winkler was introduced to Elizabeth Danz, and they were married in less than three weeks,” Crews said. “In the bakery upstairs, they worked the business and got it completely out of debt, and it prospered. They had four boys and two girls. It was passed down to a son and his wife and children, then to his son, his wife, and eleven children.”

The bakery continued to be passed down through generations. After the death of Winkler’s grandson, Charles Maple, his wife, Alice Winkler, continued the legacy.

“Charles passed early, she went before the church and got permission to run the bakery,” Crews said. “She ran the bakery from 1893 until 1913 and raised those 11 children and lived to be 91 years old. This was passed down to her daughter and her husband, and it stayed in the same family until 1927.” 

Around the onset of the Great Depression, it was sold to a group of men who rented the shop for a few years before it was closed down, but the Winklers were still involved. 

“We actually had descendants of the Winklers that lived upstairs until close to the year 2000, and a lot of people don’t realize that today,” Crews said. “Upstairs, where the bakers lived, is a wonderful gift shop. We have Moravian items and lots of other things. There is a big porch with rocking chairs, picnic tables, and benches that was the front of their home, and the front door was the front of their business.”

While the quintessential sugar cake has been a core feature of the Winkler bakery since its creation, it has existed long before Moravians arrived in North Carolina. 

“The sugar cake recipe came over the ocean from Germany and the new Czech Republic with the Moravians, and it’s still baked in Europe today,” Crews said. “They came in the ports up north to Lititz and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Then they came here to what is now Salem. The sugar cake is the oldest recipe that is done here in Salem.” 

The key to this delicious dessert is the quality of its ingredients. 

“We use real, fresh mashed potatoes, a very high quality of flour, Saigon, which is cinnamon from Vietnam, brown sugar, dry yeast, flour, eggs, and, of course, salted butter,” Crews said. “In Germany, Europe, and most places still today, they will use white sugar with the cinnamon just because they don’t have access to the brown sugar. Brown sugar is preferred so we’ve sold it at the Winkler bakery for all of these years.”   

While the recipe remains the same, Winkler’s sugar cake has expanded beyond the small town of Old Salem. 

“After the pandemic, we made short TikTok videos that show all of the venues, all of the buildings, and the history,” Crews said. “We did that so people from all over the world can tour Old Salem. We have a sugar cake mix that’s put together with our ingredients from our bakers, and we do not ship sugar cake, but we do ship sugar cake mixes, which will make four, just add eggs and butter.” 

This holiday season, make sure to pay a visit to Winkler Bakery and try this famous sugar cake for yourself.

“Tear it off, dunk it in coffee, hot tea, or just eat it like it is,” Crews said. “People eat it for morning, noon, and night. You can put in your casserole dish with the beat-up eggs and let it sit overnight. On Christmas morning, you can tuck it in your oven, open presents, and have the best meal ever.”