Andrea is hot off another successful cookbook club meeting, and has several desserts to report on from the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, Every Day, including a stunning and scrumptious Danish Rice Pudding that she might never have tried on her own, but, thanks to her club, is now one of her favorites.

Much less glamorously, Stefin is cleaning her stainless steel sink with an old-fashioned cleaning agent: Bicarb! (That’s baking soda in the USA.) Andrea reports it works a charm on white ceramic sinks, too. (But both hosts caution you to do a small patch test first to make sure it doesn’t react poorly with your sink.)

Listeners: What old-fashioned yet effective cleaners do you use in your kitchen?

You’ve probably heard of CSAs — Community Supported Agriculture — through which you can sign up to receive a delivery of fresh produce on a weekly basis. But Andrea recently discovered a bread AND cake delivery service, Folk.Bread, with delicious results.

Speaking of delicious, Andrea has a new favorite birthday cake, the Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting from, yes, Smitten Kitchen! (She swears she’s not receiving kickbacks from Deb Perelman.) This recipe isn’t yet online since the cookbook is so new, but Andrea feels this Fudgy Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe (also from Smitten Kitchen) is very close indeed. Next, Stefin cues the violins and the hosts recount birthday treats they pined after as children (Barbie and the Matterhorn is all we’ll say), and both hosts reveal their fondness for grocery-store icing.

Finally, for a sweet finale to this celebratory month, Cate Brubaker, founder of International Desserts Blog, joins Stefin to talk about travel, global food trends, “freakshakes” and quark, and recreating favorites at home.

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