I don’t watch a lot of Food Network. I like cooking, but I really don’t watch much TV anymore, and when I do, I want to see people fighting and then making out, not stirring things. The point is, I don’t really watch the Food Network, but I once saw about 15 minutes of Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee and it pretty much made me lose all hope in humanity. She was all, “Buy a cake! Spread insane amounts of icing on it! Your kids will love it!” I’m sorry, but do we need a show to tell us that? No, we don’t.
Anyway, today I was reading this article about this guy who made a meal of all Sandra Lee recipes and it was so gross. And he mentioned that Lee is famous for making a Kwanzaa cake that Anthony Bourdain called “a war crime on television.” So then I had to watch that video, and really, it is appalling taken to a degree I didn’t even know existed.
And after watching that I wondered if maybe Sandra had any Passover recipes because wouldn’t that be hilarious? And also, it would kind of point out exactly what’s wrong with the way people cook for Passover, right? But sadly, though the Food Network has 76 articles about Passover (including one called Creole Farfel Kugel) none of them are courtesy of our girl Sandra. Bummer.
But then I realized: The Kwanzaa cake is made with angel food cake, which is already Kosher for Passover. The other ingredients are: icing, cinnamon, cocoa, apple pie filling, and nuts. All of that stuff is fine to eat on Pesach! You could make this cake and serve it at your seder, but–and this is very much not in the spirit of Sandra Lee–you would probably have to make the cake from scratch, and the icing, and probably even the apple pie filling, too. Instead of semi-homemade, it would be actually homemade. Which might make it good. You should try it and find out! And if you do, please take pictures and send them to me.
PS- Oh Holy God I just found Sandra’s Star of David Angel Food Cake. It involves pearls.
