Cake friends,
First off: Thanks to the many hundreds of you (!) who pitched for our next issue, Forbidden Fruit. We are working our way through all the emails and hope to get back to everyone soon, but please be patient with our small, volunteer team. We’ll respond as soon as we can.
Today in the newsletter, we’re sharing something sweet: A Daily Bread recipe from Kayla Wong for a fluffy, flaky cinnamon raisin swirl qiang bing. Kayla is a talented New York-based pastry cook and food stylist who honed her chops at the legendary Gage and Tollner, where she made many Baked Alaskas and trays of fluffy Parker House rolls. Her recipe is inspired by an iconic childhood treat: Pepperidge Farm Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread.
“Making bread can be intimidating and time-consuming, which is why I wanted to develop a recipe that comes together in a few hours. I landed on a sweet play on the qiang bing (羌饼)—a fluffy and chewy leavened flatbread originating from the Shanghai region that is typically layered with fragrant scallions and encrusted in sesame seeds,” writes Kayla in the issue. “My version features the traditional crispy exterior, only with swirls of gooey cinnamon sugar filling and pockets of sweet, sticky raisins (which you may exclude, to my dismay).”

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Bake: A rhubarb crumble with PB&J vibes that’s perfect for Passover if you’re not team chocolate flourless cake.
Listen: “Fruitcake in Space,” a fascinating history of fruitcake in the NASA space program by baker and Cake Zine contributor Bronwen Wyatt on the Southern Foodways Alliance podcast Gravy.
Read: Chef Sean Sherman and writer Mecca Bos on the complicated legacy of frybread in Native American cooking.
Sign Up: One Love Community Fridge rescheduled their fridge packing day at Rockefeller Center to next Saturday, April 19th. from 10 a.m.-12.p.m.
Watch: Would you eat tiramisu from a Citibike basket? Honest question…