Socializing with smells coming from the kitchen, a glass of wine from Cantina Indigeno, and a warm cookie in my hand. On December 6th last year, in a warehouse wine bar, I mingled with artists, journalists, and chefs in honor of an independent NY-based literary zine. Cake Zine was in London for a few days to celebrate the launch of their 4th issue: Tough Cookie. On this evening, Aliza Abarbanel and Tanya Bush got us to try extravagant cookies from Forno E84RP, Bake Street N16 7SR, and the trio See You Soon. Those appetizing aromas did not disappoint. The chocolate puffed rice spelt cookie was a delice and the crème brûlée cookie was truly iconic but the salted duck egg yolk won me over. While enjoying myself in the dim light, sipping my £11 orange wine, and listening to Moving Still’s tracks in this fancy garage, I quickly wanted a piece of that Cake Zine collection.
I must admit, after overhearing that the recipe for the crème brûlée cookies was in
the new issue, I swiftly got my hands on Tough Cookie. My meager student wallet
frowned at me when I contemplated getting the two other issues on display. I was
skimming through the pages while my friends deliberated whether to order the
famous ‘filet-xo-fish’ burger or the coffee-crusted duck. They eventually ordered
both but I was already out, I grabbed a pork chop bun at HOKO E1 6SA and
jumped on the tube to finally get to it.
Delighted, I devoured it. Not the bun but the zine.
On this tube ride, I stopped at a Canadian Oreo factory, a Ukrainian bakery, and a Wall Street investment bank’s kitchen.
Along the way, I encountered some hungry sharks, obnoxious web cookies, and horny vorarephiles. Those cookies were well-traveled,
useful,
and therapeutic
but also extravagant, stubborn,
and mischievous.
Downed a glass of milk while texting some of the recipes to my mom and
imagining blowing my partner's tastebuds with the carrot and dulce de leche
alfajores of Chef Paola Velez. Needless to say, those 95 pages were spicy with a
solid dose of culture, history, and dessert. Cake Zine can mix sweetness with some
tradition, sex and, rehab and bake out entertaining content: a concoction of fiction,
memoirs, and reports from renowned cooks, writers, and culinary creators.
Let’s just say that people at Cake Zine have great taste and not just in food!
Their issues are nothing else than krispy, tender, and fresh out of the oven.
On Me Days, I like to get brownies at Fortnum&Mason before strolling through
passersby in Green Park, while Etta James massages my temples. It is my way of
connecting with the world on a full stomach, similar to how Cake Zine does it.
You know something is good when it makes you want to share your secrets: go to
Les Petits Mitrons in Montmartre and try their cookies. You will thank me later.
I would like to express my gratitude to Carolina Laguna for introducing me to
Cake Zine.