LETTER FROM THE BAKER
Hey friend,
I have eaten ~30+ cake slices in the last 48 hours. A lot, even for my own standards. But, I can’t stop and I want to share some with you. I know, its been awhile. I have cake slice boxes this coming Saturday (order form). For the love of cake, I MUST.
Why am I eating so much cake? Where did it all come from? I hosted my dream event this weekend in San Francisco and am still reeling from all of the smiles, sunshine, sugar, and butter highs. It could not have been more perfect. Still reeling and processing all of it.
If you missed it - the full story: earlier this year I had the idea of hosting a CAKE PICNIC in San Francisco. My original invite said,
“I want to host an Alice in Wonderland type of sweet gathering. Imagine a full picnic table full of whole cakes. All of the cakes in all of the shapes, sizes, and colors. It'll be a feast for the eyes, cameras, and our taste buds. It'll be a grand, sweet time. I just want to be surrounded by cakes and I hope you do too. Join me in this (1st annual?) CAKE PICNIC! Let's play, let's bake.”
Somehow the event went really, really viral and peaked at 357 RSVPs and 165 Maybes. Is this real life? Was I going to see *357 whole cakes* at this thing? People really wanted to play and bake it seemed. It went from “cake picnic” to “cake PANIC” to “CAKECHELLA” very quickly (shout out, Joyce!). As the weeks rolled on I wasn’t sure how many people were actually going to show up. But, hey, if 20 people showed up with cake that would still be a dream-come-true.
Saturday came and went very quickly! I feel like I blinked and woke up with a sheet cake with ~25ish slices of different cakes. It happened. It really happened. ~190 cakes in San Francisco. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! It was such a gorgeous event full of Alice in Wonderland whimsy design by Earth & Events and florals from ZaddyBlooms. From saying hi to everyone waiting to register their cake, asking folks which cakes to eat, taking photos of my CAKECHELLA wristbands, to frolicking in the park… I could go on. I’m on cloud nine over here. I won’t sugarcoat it – if you missed it, I’m sorry. You truly missed out. But, I think it’ll be an annual event soooo see you next year?! If I throw a cake party, you must come.
In the meantime, check out the amazing event coverage:
Cake Picnic Is the Sweet Event You’ve Always Dreamt of as a Kid, EATER SF
‘Cakechella’: Photos show the delicious 180-cake picnic you wish you hadn’t missed, San Francisco Standard
Thank you to the most amazing crew of volunteers who helped to make this sweet dream a reality: Alexis Golino, Amelia Chen, Iris Shieh, Janet Ng, Joyce Lim, Kristen DeVilholm, Maria Isabel Vega, Sara Aubery, Savitha Viswanathan.
Going to my cake stash to eat a bite of cake,
Elisa
MAY 2024 CAKE SLICE BOX
Double french fry cake. I hope you followed along with my french fry baking experiments earlier in the year. It was so much fun. If you haven’t baked it yet because you’re too afraid of it, let me do it for you. See what the hype is all about then talk to me about what you think.
Banana miso butterscotch cake. I will always be about banana so it will highly likely be on any menu I make. I pair it with miso and banana here. A match made for all of the time.
Thai milk tea coconut cake. If you’re not new here you know my Instagram feed is currently in the orange chapter. To celebrate my breaking-free from yellow, I excitedly present this cake! It’s hard not to drool when I bake this cake because of how good it is.
Pick-up will be at Marigold Cafe (2681 21st St, San Francisco, CA 94110) on Saturday, May 4th 2-3PM. See you there!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Paid subscribers for my newsletter received the following newsletter editions.
why do I bake by colors? and banana, fennel, & dulce de leche cake recipe
experimenting with french fries and chocolate malt fudge cake and french fry buttercream recipe
My April newsletter will focus on my reflections and thoughts about dreaming up, organizing, hosting, and finishing off a successful CAKE PICNIC and what the plans are for the LA and NY editions coming up. Will likely send this out tomorrow!
If these sound interesting and you want to receive future paid-only newsletters, please consider subscribing. It truly helps support my baking adventures and work. Thank you for being here.
super excited for this, will you be putting out the recipe for the Thai tea cake 🥹