Carrot cake and a book review !

An element of surprise wasn’t a particular trait that I was aiming through this post.

Scratching your head? Do through this before you continue reading.

Now that we are on the same page, the book chosen for the month by the members of This Book makes me Cook was- “My Life from Scratch” ( or also known as –“Starting over one cake at a time- One woman’s journey from movie executive to macaroons”) by Gesine Bullock-Prado.

Being the first book of its kind that I have read, I do not have much of a benchmark to go by. When I mean “its kind” or genre, the book can be described to be more like a memoir/auto-biography/cook-book. It is about a woman who follows her inner calling and goes on to do it quite marvelously. The woman Gesine, who also happens to be the sister of Sandra Bullock, leaves her Hollywood career to set up a bakery in Vermont. Why? Because that’s what she has been dreaming about for her entire life. In the book, she states how her true joy comes from the act of baking and not in the recognition she has gained from it.

The book is a very easy read and is extremely inspirational for those who are looking to set up their own bakery/business especially in the food industry.

One unique characteristic that I liked was the way she classified the book into various chapters as hours in her life at the bakery right from her waking hours till the daily closing of her bakery. Additionally, it includes a wonderful collection of authentic recipes at the end of every chapter like her mom’s/orgasm cake, focaccia, apple pie and traditional German recipes.

Other noteworthy attributes include the excellent vocabulary and her way with words. They just fit in perfectly especially in her descriptive narrations. Also, I admired the manner in which she administered the smooth transition from her life in the bakery to her earlier life at Hollywood and back.


The book is interspersed throughout with various tit-bits from her childhood in Germany and her earlier career at Hollywood. One of the most hilarious moments was her childhood Oreo stealing incident from her neighbour. I also particularly liked her anecdotes on the warm relationships she shared with each one of her family members be it the auspicious 3 pm Cake & Coffee time shared with her mom and her Omi (Grandma) or be it her star sister, who instead of honeymooning helps Gesine in the opening week of her bakery or her bonding with her dad due to the love of “forbidden foods”. But, it is her mom whose presence/absence is omnipresent throughout.

Both she and her husband, Ray not only shared close relationships with their employees but even with their regular customers including people from all age groups and all walks of life. The incident of the lady who requests for a chocolate mousse which was the first thing she ate after five years of her treatment for throat cancer, was heartrending.

She also perfectly answers some questions which naturally arise in any one’s mind or atleast which did in mine. Doesn’t this whole routine get monotonous?  To which, she beautifully says-  I’m making the same things as yesterday but it’s not monotonous. It’s a chance to make things better, or to transform the same old into something new. I find myself thinking about the people I love. And how I’ve loved them the same few people for most of my life but, like baking the identical things every morning, those relationships never get boring.

I purchased the e-book at kobobooks.com and am pretty glad that I also learned quite a bit on purchasing e-books and the whole experience of reading them. Well, I reserve the details for another post.

Moving on to the recipe.

I have chosen a Carrot cake, which Gesine baked for her friend’s birthday and the cake was loved by Sandra so much this cake went on to become her grand wedding cake as well, which obviously Gesine made.

I did not take the recipe from the book and instead used this one from Edible Garden by Nags. Used the exact same recipe except for the walnuts (only because my other half depleted our stock so promptly the day before I decided to make the cake!?!?!) and the cream cheese frosting (didn’t want to pack on further calories; but would definitely try it the next time around !).

Here are a few clicks of the same.

Pardon me for the utterly sub-standard pictures as I used my mobile phone to click the same.                                                           

Our Verdict:

It came out just as described in the original post- soft, moist, dense and uber-yumm !! My hubby detested the use of carrots in cake but as I had expected /desired (evil laugh !!!), he went on to finish the majority. To call it an improvement over my first carrot cake, would be an under-statement !