Cicada Cakes Coming To Suburban Bakery

HIGHWOOD, IL — Cicada enthusiasts looking to celebrate the emergence of billions of bugs this spring in Illinois can do so with a sweet treat, courtesy of one suburban bakery.

Bent Fork Bakery in Highwood recently announced the return of its cicada cakes after a 17-year hiatus. The cakes, about the size of a cupcake, will cost $3 and be available May 1.

While they look like cicadas, there are no bugs lurking under their ganache coating and chocolate wings — just yellow or chocolate cake.

However, if you’ve got a hankering for actual insects, cicadas are safe to eat, according to the Cleveland Clinic. There are recipes online for candy, soup, cupcakes and cocktails featuring cicadas.

They are sometimes known as “land shrimp,” though, and those with shellfish allergies, people who are pregnant or lactating, those at risk for gout and young children should not eat them, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

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Early cicada sightings had begun about a week ago across the Chicago area. In a rare event that hasn’t happened since 1803, cicada Brood XIII, known as the Northern Illinois Brood, and Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, are both expected to appear this spring in the state.

Cicadas spend most of their lives underground as immature nymphs but surface en masse every 13 or 17 years. Their extraordinarily long life cycle, the longest of any insect on the planet, is part of an evolutionary strategy that has allowed the species to survive for 1.8 million years, or from the Pleistocene Epoch.

Cicadas are about an inch long and have a three-inch wingspan. Their mating calls can be deafening, heralding their arrival above ground with a high-pitched cacophony of buzzing that can reach decibels of 100 or greater — about the same as a subway train, forklift or motorcycle.

Pesticides won’t kill cicadas and are not recommended.