Christina Tosi’s All About Cake

May 11th, 2020 by justJENN

Out of the blue, a miracle quarantine package arrived in the mail from my friend Julie of The Little Kitchen. It was All About Cake by Milk Bar’s own Christina Tosi.

The book is filled with amazing cakes that are beautiful and all sound delicious. The best part about this surprise in the mail was that it was part of a round-robin bake started by Christina Tosi herself.

Inside is a cool library card that has been filled out by baking bloggers so you can see who came before you and what they baked, and there are even notes written onto the book about the recipes chosen. I love bakers who share the same passion for inspiration and experimentation.

To say this book brought me joy was an understatement. If there’s one thing that’s saved me during lockdown, it’s baking. While I baked a lot before, nowadays it’s almost every day. I can’t help it, I have nowhere to go but my kitchen. However I’ve been baking small batch-style, that way we aren’t overloaded with baked goods–not that that’s a bad thing.

For my recipe I chose the Creamsicle Crock-Pot Cake. I’ve always wanted to make a crock pot cake but have been wary of the possible results. Since the idea of a giant slow cooker full of cake sounded a little too overindulgent even in quarantine, I halved the recipe and used my trusty 2-qt Star Wars crock pot–it’s small but mighty.

One liner note about this recipe was that clear vanilla was a must. Despite lockdown I easily found a bottle on amazon and it arrived in a day. The flavor is clean, almost fresh, and perfect for this citrus cake. I can’t wait to use it in other recipes.

The blend of fresh orange and vanilla had just the right kick. As dessert it was a refreshing way to end a meal, and made a great breakfast the next day. Oh yes, I prolonged the consumption of the cake as long as I could. When each day in quarantine feels the same, it’s nice to have a little something to look forward to every day.

The cake baked up easily and the recipe was simple to follow. Though I will say waiting three hours for cake is kind of excruciating, so I may try this again but in an actual oven. All in all the recipe was a fun and lot of fun to follow along. Who knows where the book will end up next?

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