We believe the best food doesn’t need to be complicated. All of our artisan breads and pastries are made with a whole lot of love and care, using traditional recipes, time-honored processes, and flavorful ingredients. That’s why we felt an instant kinship with Dan Pashman, creator and host of the award-winning podcast The Sporkful, named one of the 100 Best Podcasts of All Time by Time magazine. He famously says his show isn’t for foodies, it’s for eaters. Dan celebrates food for what it really is: a source of joy, connection, and everyday delight. Sounds like our kind of philosophy.
So when we found out that Dan and his family count our Lemon Poppy Coffee Cake among their all-time favorites, well, we couldn’t help but beam a little brighter. According to Dan, it’s his wife’s “favorite cake ever,” and honestly, we understand why—it’s the kind of cake that makes an ordinary morning feel like a celebration. Made with Boyajian lemon oil, loads of Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter, and a pile of perfect poppyseeds, it has long been the secret sunrise snack of Bakeshop regulars. Dan’s tip: Microwave a slice for 8 seconds to perfectly warm it up. (Or take a page out of the book of Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weizweig, who likes to griddle coffee cake slices in a well-buttered skillet.)
Of course, Dan’s love of food doesn’t stop at baked goods. From his inventive best-selling cookbook Anything’s Pastable to the creation of Cascatelli, his own pasta shape, he’s made a career out of exploring how food fits into our lives—culturally, emotionally, and deliciously. We’re pretty thrilled that Zingerman’s fits on his list. Dan worked with our partner business, Zingerman’s Mail Order, to pull together a special box of foods that make him smile. You already know that our Lemon Poppy Coffee Cake is a sweet standout, but there’s a lot more inside, including a recipe and ingredients to make his Kimchi Carbonara:
Cascatelli Pasta by Sporkful with Sfoglini – Dan’s iconic pasta shape, invented to optimize “sauceability, forkability, and tooth sinkability”
Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese selected by Cravero – a richly complex, aged cheese essential to any great carbonara
Zzang! Bar from Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory – a small-batch candy bar made with peanut butter-honey nougat, silky caramel, and Virginia peanuts in dark Colombian chocolate
Ready for Dan’s favorites?
Come visit us for a slice of sunshine or order online to have your cake waiting for you
Lindsay-Jean Hard's passion for sustainability and education at the University of Michigan went on to inform and inspire her in many ways from going to extreme lengths to recycle at a post-college job to creating her cookbook, Cooking with Scraps, a labor of love inspired by her Food52 column of the same name. Today, she strives to convince everyone she meets to try eating banana peels and works to build and connect new communities as a marketer at Zingerman’s Bakehouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
