EP 064
April 18, 2023
Natasha Pickowicz on why she bakes for pleasure and community.
Show Notes:
This week, Angie’s joined by pastry chef and writer Natasha Pickowicz for a conversation on why there’s so much more to cake than meets the eye. Her long-awaited debut book of recipes, "More Than Cake: 100 Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community," is out now from Artisan Publishers.
They discuss Natasha’s experiences crafting glorious pastries for places like Flora Bar at the Met Breuer museum and Café Altro Paradiso, the relationship between community organizing and baking, embracing imperfection in the kitchen, collaborating with her mom (a successful contemporary artist for decades) on artwork for the book, and her upcoming book tour, featuring plenty of baked goods along the way. Natasha also shares a memorable lesson she learned while attempting to incorporate the natural flora of Wyoming into a mutual friend’s wedding cake…!
All the details on Natasha’s book and tour are available at her website, natasha-pickowicz.com.
Natasha recommends:
—Kitchen Arts and Letters, 1435 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10128
—Brooks Headley's Fancy Desserts
—Ten Vineyard Lunches by Richard Olney
—Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu
Follow Natasha Pickowicz:
More Than Cake
by Natasha Pickowicz
$37
BUY NOWNatasha Pickowicz is a creative force in the world of baking. Her pastries are uniquely delicious and surprising. She’s picked up three James Beard Award nominations for her time as a professional pastry chef. Her buzzy bake sales for Planned Parenthood and other nonprofits have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now she shares her recipes and baking know-how in a debut cookbook brimming with the energy, passion, joy, knowledge, and spirit of generosity that define her work.
The recipes are fresh and uncomplicated, drawing on the author's Chinese and Californian heritage. She pairs nectarine and miso in a tarte tatin and makes a layer cake with olive oil, mascarpone, and fennel. Black cardamom gets tucked into pecan sticky buns, and galettes go savory with kabocha squash.
And she’s a born teacher. Of course pastry requires a real focus on detail and technique, but the author is here at every step with invaluable tips: underbeat meringue; boil your plum stones to extract even more plum flavor; look for “first-press” yuzu juice; for the flakiest pie dough, first freeze your butter, then use a grater to get perfect shreds.
More Than Cake means baking to bring people together. It calls on you to prioritize pleasure. As the author writes, “Dessert is beyond simple calories and nutrition. . . . It spreads delight in a way that no other kind of dish can. This is something I think people really need—it’s not optional.” It’s a philosophy to live by.
Natasha Pickowicz is a creative force in the world of baking. Her pastries are uniquely delicious and surprising. She’s picked up three James Beard Award nominations for her time as a professional pastry chef. Her buzzy bake sales for Planned Parenthood and other nonprofits have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now she shares her recipes and baking know-how in a debut cookbook brimming with the energy, passion, joy, knowledge, and spirit of generosity that define her work.
The recipes are fresh and uncomplicated, drawing on the author's Chinese and Californian heritage. She pairs nectarine and miso in a tarte tatin and makes a layer cake with olive oil, mascarpone, and fennel. Black cardamom gets tucked into pecan sticky buns, and galettes go savory with kabocha squash.
And she’s a born teacher. Of course pastry requires a real focus on detail and technique, but the author is here at every step with invaluable tips: underbeat meringue; boil your plum stones to extract even more plum flavor; look for “first-press” yuzu juice; for the flakiest pie dough, first freeze your butter, then use a grater to get perfect shreds.
More Than Cake means baking to bring people together. It calls on you to prioritize pleasure. As the author writes, “Dessert is beyond simple calories and nutrition. . . . It spreads delight in a way that no other kind of dish can. This is something I think people really need—it’s not optional.” It’s a philosophy to live by.