Cake Mail with Sarah Archer

This feels related, we have a recipe my mom got from a lady at our church back in the day that is just listed as "Edith Dalton's blueberry cheesecake". It's a no bake, graham crust and frozen blueberries, cool whip and cream cheese situation and it's delicious and tastes like summer to all of us. My sister in law is particularly obsessively fond of it. Years ago at a funeral she finally met the woman herself, and upon being introduced announced "THE Edith Dalton???" like she was meeting royalty, bc to her, she was. Edith was startled but amused. I think Edith drove a school bus, if I recall correctly. But to my family she is the queen of summer no bake desserts.

I made wacky cake! I was craving a chocolate dessert and had no eggs. I used a very liquid-y chocolate ganache to top it. Delish!

Ditto on the vitello tonnato, it's very good and we definitely still eat it in Italy too, although I wouldn't consider it fancy. Speaking of celery, one of my favourite snacks is dipping stalks in herby garlicky cream cheese. It's really good! Especially in winter when celery is in season and extra juicy.

My earliest encounter with cake pops was through Angie Dudley (aka Bakerella). I've only made them once (meh), but I can appreciate the thrifty vibe of salvaging and overbaked or broken cake and making something out of it.

lol was anyone else reminded of the Reddit 0 calorie tic tac post because of this

Speaking of Helen Rosner and Veal Tonnato, she wrote an article for The New Yorker in June 2022 called Tomato Tonnato Is the Sauce of the Summer. I haven't made it (yet), but I can't get enough of saying Tomato Tonnato. 🍅🐟

SARAH, 1000% agree with your comment about taking care of ourselves and nourishing ourselves before we get all precious about making things homemade. 💛

Anyone else with misophonia really triggered by this episode? 😅

You are making celery sound so much better than it is lol.

I too love looking up “world’s largest” things! My hometown once held the record for the world’s largest pancake (1987) and so they have (one of?) the world’s largest pancake griddles on display. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/largest-pancake-griddle-in-the-world

Happy early birthday to me! As a July 4th baby, I haven't much liked my birthday this past decade or so. This year I can just make all the cakes for my family! Thanks Sarahs!

Julia Child includes a recipe for braised celery in Mastering the Art of a French Cooking…I made it once a very long time ago and was surprised by how delicious it was!! I guess I’m throwing celery under the next chicken I roast!

This has nothing to do with this episode. This is me liking, commenting, and subscribing for a Jack Ruby deep dive!

I loved this so much (except for the celery love, raw celery is something I don’t like. I’ll eat it in stuff as an adult but as a kid, I’d spit it out of someone sullied chicken or tuna salad with it, I tolerate it now raw, but only barely). I love food and cooking, and I love anything that’s a process, like fermenting or the like! I also ordered Sara A’s Midcentury Kitchens book!!

crunching celery into a microphone???

"I'm 77, so I'm solidly a Xennial" I definitely thought you were saying you were 77 years old and I was cackling

From someone born and raised in the South, Deb @ Smitten Kitchen has the absolute best cornbread recipe

I wanted to comment on the celery under chicken thing and I was interrupted by needing to leave to make it to our town's Pride march. I'm so glad it came up more than once because I would have forgotten. I was a cook in the Coast Guard for a very long time and would often cook turkey meals for 15-25 people on boats. (BTW turkey meals and lasagna meals were so gratifying to make well because it was so much work, but the appreciation always came back In at least a 1:1 ratio.) I would get so sick of (and sometimes sea sick from) cleaning the racks that went inside the roasting pan. One day (around 19 and 99) I thought, why don't I just use the ribs of celery to keep the turkey off the pan. It was SOOO good i never stopped doing it until my wife became vegetarian and the kids moved out and who are we going to cook that much food for and anyway - I am so glad multiple people invent these things over and over again. As Sarah(guest) mentioned, it makes me feel closer to the whole globe. <3

The Sarahs! What a great listen while knitting cotton dishcloths. I am a vitello tonnato stan, it sounds weird but it's really delicious. Pro tip, it works really well with turkey breast instead of veal.

As a former baker and cake decorator , I hate cake pops. You are correct- cake pops are just cake scraps mashed up with icing and formed into a ball. Even with gloves, the whole thing always just grossed me out. And they’re kinda a pain to make en mass. I know they make those special trays for the pops, but that seems like it comes with a whole other set of annoyances. Long time listener, and fellow lover of cake at a distance. Pickles and cheese all the way!

best Saturday notification possible!

Omg! It's not even my birthday! Thanks for the drop! 🎉