The Clement Street institution run by the Wenzel brothers since 1995 is selling more Swedish princess cake than ever — and the chef most credited with the national trend learned her trade in SF.

The Swedish princess cake is having a national moment. At 521 Clement Street in the Richmond, Ralph Wenzel has a response: about time.

Schubert's Bakery has been in continuous operation on Clement Street for more than a century. The Wenzel brothers — fourth-generation German bakers who joined the shop in the 1980s and took it over in November 1995 under Wenzel Bros. Inc., now re-filed with the City as Wenzel Brothers LLC — have watched the prinsesstarta go from a reliable birthday staple to something closer to a Bay Area institution. "If there's a birthday, there's going to be a princess cake, and it's going to be from Schubert's," Angel Davis, owner of Millay wine bar in Mission Dolores, told the SF Standard.

Ralph, 67, is still at the bakery daily. He told the Standard that Schubert's now sells up to 200 whole princess cakes and 250 slices a week — more than any prior decade. He's not particularly tracking the trend: "I'm sorry, I don't get out that much."

There are SF fingerprints on the national surge. Hannah Ziskin, whose Los Angeles bakery Quarter Sheets is most widely credited with the current princess cake boom, spent eight years in the Bay Area working at Chez Panisse, Bar Tartine, and Cotogna before moving south. She's a Schubert's fan. Ziskin told the Standard that the pandemic accelerated demand: "There was definitely a big cake moment during the pandemic, when people wanted to eat cake and celebrate everything."

Schubert's version uses white sponge, housemade raspberry filling, Kirsch-enhanced custard, and Lubeck marzipan imported from Germany — which skews chartreuse rather than the mint-green of the Swedish original. Available in round domes and rectangular sheets in multiple sizes. Ralph doesn't know who developed the recipe. The form predates him. He just keeps making it.

San Francisco has other princess cake options — Victoria Pastry (also 100-plus years in business), Fillmore Bakeshop, and Miette among them. The Richmond was ahead of the trend. The trend finally noticed.