Despite the frosted pink confection on the cover, Natasha Pickowicz's debut cookbook "More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community" does indeed live up to its name, offering an exquisite array of savory and sweet tarts, breads and confections. But the title isn't meant to be solely taken literally. It's as much a promise about the cookies and sticky buns contained within as it is a passionate defense of the power of baking, both for personal satisfaction and social change. "I have always been drawn to pastry and to baking," Pickowicz said to me on "Salon Talks," "because they represent these greater moments where we're able to come together."
To that end, "More Than Cake" provides inventive recipes that draw upon her Asian-American and Californian background, as well as tips and tricks for rescuing your baking disasters and throwing a great bake sale. The "more" here is a way of looking at the world that extends far beyond the oven.
