A dessert of ice cream served with one or more toppings, such as flavored syrup, dessert sauce, nut, whipped cream, fruit, etc. It is said to have originated in Massachusetts when a law prohibiting the sale of all soft beverages on Sunday was passed. An enterprising soda jerk combined ingredients of an ice cream soda but omitted the carbonated beverage to make a "sundae". Back to the top

ice cream served with a topping

a kind of dessert, which is a kind of food

Ice cream topped with syrup, nuts, and whipped cream. In the 19th century, moralists decried the drinking of carbonated beverages--including ice cream sodas--on Sundays. Vendors removed the soda, added toppings, and changed the spelling.

One of the most familiar ice cream desserts in the United States, the sundae typically consists of a scoop of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup (often chocolate, caramel, butterscotch, or strawberry), and in some cases other items such as chopped peanuts, whipped cream, or maraschino cherries. Although earliest documentation points to Ithaca, New York, as the birthplace of the treat, a number of cities lay claim to its paternity.