Thursday Food is delighted to share that what started as an idea, a small seed planted has bloomed into a cookbook with a twist called Cake Therapy: How Baking Changed My Life by virologist and celebrated baker Dr Altreisha Foster.

Foster appeared in Thursday Food in 2021 when ABC‘s The Bachelorette hit a major milestone!

To commemorate the 200th episode of The Bachelor spin-off that premiered in 2003, Jamaican-born Minnesota pastry chef Dr Altreisha Foster created a rose-adorned, six-tiered cake with each tier boasting a different flavour. The cake featured 200 red roses, and a single-stem rose at the centre, representing the franchise’s iconic Final Rose. American weekly magazines People and US Weekly both featured Foster’s cake as they recapped the celebration.

This would be the beginning of an enduring relationship with the Campion College, Howard University and George Washington University alum who would be celebrated at the 23rd staging of the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards for her inspirational food story. A few months later and days before International Women’s Day, Foster released a memoir of sorts, Cake Therapy: How Baking Changed My Life.

“When I decided to write this story I wanted to ensure that whatever the narrative was it had to be accessible to the reader. This narrative of my life was written in prose; after all I do not see myself [as] a poet. Aside from that I believe it is more accessible to the reader than any other form of writing. I included recipes for desserts because baking desserts is my new vocation which has been helping me heal from my trauma,”she said.

Foster introduces recipes of her favourite desserts throughout the 190-page book.

Today, we share a dessert dedicated to Dr Marguerite Neita’s advocacy. “When I entered Howard University she facilitated the payment of my tuition. She gave me a roof over my head that summer in 2001 that solidified how my story of today and now came to be. This is her favourite dessert — The fruit tart,” Foster shared.