Online - March 15, 2005

Easy Bake

Cherrybrook Kitchen Cake Mixes

Deprivation can breed hostility, instability, and crime. But try to imagine how you’d react if something vital to your very existence were suddenly taken away from you.

Imagine, in other words, a world without cake.

That’s exactly what Patsy Rosenberg was facing when she developed adult-onset food allergies. But rather than succumb to despair, self-pity, and bank heists, Rosenberg channeled her energies into Cherrybrook Kitchen, a line of dry dessert mixes that are peanut-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.

The delicious (really!) baked goods come in those decadent chocolate- and yellow-cake varieties, with easy-to-follow baking instructions. Cherrybrook also offers mixes for cookies (chocolate chip and sugar) and gluten-free icings (Belgian chocolate and all-natural vanilla).

The ingredients are natural. The batters are tested for allergens. The sweets are vegetarian, kosher, and lactose-free. In a blind taste test given to criticallly astute judges (i.e. a bunch of hungry 14-year-olds), not a soul missed the “traditional” ingredients.

Moral of the story? Don’t resort to crime. Take a bite out of it.

Available online at cherrybrookkitchen.com.