Jessica Batalana
speaker
79 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard May 2025
Jessica Batalana’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
So I don't think, you know, there was a time that maybe a sheet cake was sort of looked down upon as less than a layer cake. But I think
sheet cakes have come into their own and I'm happy also because I think the ratio of cake to frosting in a sheet cake to me is like just right about that see it gets a little problematic for me but I do love a sheet cake but am I hearing you correctly for you a birthday cake is a sheet cake I mean I like a sheet cake what is a birthday cake and these are existential questions well for you for you Jessica well if you you want to know what my favorite birthday cake is yeah
Well, it's not a sheet cake. The cake that I request for my birthday is a coconut cake, a yellow cake.
I mean, it's a shame you weren't born in 15th century Germany, you know? You could have the austere cake.
Like to me, what you're describing sounds delicious. It also does not sound like a birthday cake. But then I think like maybe this is the whole point that a birthday cake should be the choice of the person whose birthday it is.
No, I think that's true. Like you should get to choose. I get to pick my birthday cake, coconut. You pick your death cake. And, you know, and that's part of like the joy of it is that you can put in this request and have the request met. And maybe you can do that on other days if you have kinder people in your life. But I feel like you get a guarantee to get your wish on your birthday, right?
Oh, no.
I am not into it. I mean, I appreciate the sentiment, but I think and maybe this is because I'm a person that, you know, makes food for my household, you know, day in, day out. I feel like part of the magic for me of a birthday cake is that it's made for you by somebody who loves you or barring that it's ordered for you by somebody who loves you.
And I actually like I have such like fondness sort of it makes my heart feel squishy to like imagine a very humble sort of poorly executed, slightly wonky, poorly frosted, home-baked birthday cake.
I think I would. I would. Yeah, I think I would.
See, it worked out for you from your first boyfriend to your husband. You know, the through line has been you got a birthday cake.
I did. Yeah. One thing that we haven't fully acknowledged is that making a birthday cake for somebody else can feel like a high pressure situation. And so I wanted to talk to some people who have made a career out of making birthday cakes. So we have Cheryl Day, who ran the legendary Back in the Day Bakery for years in Savannah, Georgia, and Bronwyn Wyatt, the baker behind Bayou St.
Cakes in New Orleans, joining us on the show. And I think together, I don't know, we get into it, but they have baked like, Thousands and thousands and thousands of cakes. So if anybody knows what to do and what not to do, it's the two of them.
Today I am joined by Cheryl Day, who ran the legendary Back in the Day Bakery for 22 years in Savannah, Georgia. She's also a best-selling cookbook author, a frequent guest on television and on podcasts. Oh, excited to be here. And she is joined by our friend Bronwyn Wyatt, the baker behind Bayou Saint Cakes in New Orleans, which she shuttered last year in favor of a new career in food writing.
She writes an amazing newsletter called Bayou Saint Newsletter. And I consider Bronwyn to be a baking trend soothsayer. So I'm really excited to have you here to sort of shed some light on what you see, you know, ahead in the world of cakes. Thank you so much for having us. So how many cakes do you guys, conservatively, how many cakes do you think you've made in your careers? Oh, my gosh.
Southern bakers are known for their cakes, right?
I'm actually curious to know why you think that is, because you often hear about church cakes or Southern cakes as being sort of the archetype of a beautiful, fluffy layer cake.
Yeah. Okay, well, imagine you have like, say you're a beginner baker, say you're a person that's always baked box cakes. And you're like, I want to try to make a cake from scratch. Like, where would you suggest people start? Because I do think there is the problem of people like wanting to run before they can walk, right?
Like they sure, you know, they see something on Instagram, they're like, I'll make that thing.
And when you say ingredients are mised out properly, you mean like you have them like measured or weighed and like ready to use? Exactly. Yeah.
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