Hyperfixed - Premium Episode Preview: A Slice of Hope

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

A preview of what you're missing if you aren't subscribed to Hyperfixed Premium! A story about a wonderful mother and daughter and their hunt for the perfect cake. Even if you aren't planning on signing up, please listen. You’ll love it, I promise.To listen to the entire interview: https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/join Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We're living through a pretty rocky present. Maybe the past can help. Check out Radiotopia's This Day hosted by Jodi Avrigan with historians Nicole Hemmer and Kelly Carter Jackson. Three times a week they take you into one story from that day in U.S. history. From Eisenhower's weird vendetta against squirrels to the time we accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on North Carolina, to the women who fought against the right to vote.

It's smart, surprising, and actually fun. This is a big moment for history. Next year is America's 250th birthday and, well, look around, there's lots of history being made. Subscribe to This Day for your historical perspective wherever you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube and Instagram. Hey, everyone. This is Alex.

I am here on an off week for the main feed, because at the beginning and end of these episodes, I am typically telling you how, if you want to support the show, you should join Hyperfix Premium, where you can get access to bonus episodes. But I'm going to let you in on a little secret that I've already shared with the Premium audience. Sort of like a back-of-the-envelope, behind-the-scenes Hyperfix statistic. Hyperfix statistic is such a nightmare to say. Geez, oh, pete. Anyhow, hyperfix statistic, for every, like, I don't know, five, six, maybe even seven

stories that we pursue, maybe one of them makes it onto the main feed, if that. The rest of them either die and get buried in a folder we call the graveyard, or they end up as premium episodes. And this week, one of those stories that's like not quite done, we don't have the answer yet, it's appearing on our premium feed. And the reason that I am telling you on our main feed is because I find this story incredibly enjoyable. And I am also reaching out to you because it is in fact unsolved and we need more brains on this problem to solve it.

So I wanted to give you a little taste of the story, which is a pun that you will get in a second. Can you tell us what in like a couple of sentences, what your problem is? What exactly you're, you're going through right now. Basically, like my family, we order the same cake for every single holiday, birthday, like specifically for my mom. This is Rebecca.

And as you can hear, she's talking about a very special cake that her family loves. It's my mom's favorite cake. She started to like it so much that we had to order it for everything. But then our bakery closed. One day it was open, the next it was closed with no advance notice.

Oh my God, this cake, this cake, once you have this cake, no other cake will do. I'm not lying. It's so light and fluffy. And the buttercream frosting is like just the perfect consistency, the perfect taste, the perfect color. And the hard icing is nice and light and it seals it. And it's so fresh that when you cut it, it like literally like almost folds down. You have to catch it right away to put it in your plate. That last person you heard, that's Hope, Rebecca's mom,

who Rebecca has been trying to solve this problem for for the last year. Rebecca's gone all around New York City, scouring different bakeries, describing the cake she wants to bakers, buying cakes that looked like her mom's favorite cake, presenting these new cakes to her mom, and no matter what she does.

My mom not happy. She's like, I can't believe you spend $65 on this cake that tastes like none. Rebecca has even tried baking the cake for her mom herself. Twice. It was terrible. It wasn't worth it. I don't know. It was awful. How does it feel having your mom sit right next to you and tell you how awful your cake was? You must've put a lot of work into it. Do you know what my mom would tell us as children? She would say every mother cockroach thinks their baby cockroach is beautiful, but have you ever seen a beautiful baby cockroach?

That is Rebecca's mom's way of saying, look, I love you, you know I love you. I love you whether your cake is good or bad, but let's just acknowledge your cake sucked. What would be, would the ideal solve for you to be, to get the recipe or to just find someone who can make the cake for you? Both.

Whatever you can do. We don't know. I don't even think anyone would be able to achieve this goal. So far, Hope has been right, but Hope has also not met the hyperfixed audience. And I know in my heart, you guys can help us solve this one. So over on the premium feed, we have the entire story of this missing magical cake and what we need from you

to help us achieve what Hope has called an unachievable goal. But come on, it's got to be achievable. And you know, if you don't want to help us solve it, has called an unachievable goal. But come on, it's gotta be achievable. And you know, if you don't wanna help us solve it, just come over and listen to this interview because it's genuinely so funny. Hope and Rebecca are in the same room and they are bickering and they just like, they're so charming.

I had so much fun doing this interview. And you know, if you don't wanna help and you don't even wanna listen, no worries. There's a new main feed episode next week. But if you think you might know somebody who would want to listen, why don't you send them to the premium feed? That's hyperfixpod.com slash join. Memberships are legitimately the way that we're going to keep the show going. So, you know, I'm hoping to entice you. But if not, I'll see you next week. Bye.