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    How to relieve stress during a pandemic? #quarantinebaking

    by Patricia Escarcega, Los Angeles Times Apr 20, 2020 6 minutes

    Jessica Reed has baked a cake almost every day since the coronavirus crisis upended her daily routine several weeks ago.

    Reed, who goes by "The Cake Historian" on Instagram, is known for designing cakes inspired by history, literature and her personal mental health battles. Lately her output has swelled in proportion to her coronavirus-induced stress.

    "With something like this, where it feels like the whole world is having an anxiety attack, the way I process my feelings is by baking," said Reed, 44, a freelance writer and artist who lives in Portland, Ore., with her husband and daughter.

    In the past month she has produced several desserts sparked by quarantine-related anxiety, including kitchen-sink "chaos cookies"; a rosemary-lemon applesauce "four thieves cake" inspired by a medieval folk tale about the bubonic plague; and a "self-isolating" chocolate stout cake.

    Most of what she bakes is parceled out to friends and neighbors; baking itself, not eating what she's made, is the palliative.

    "A lot of baking that I do is related to

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