Cake-Pop-Joe

Hollywood Insider: How an ordinary man was behind the scenes of the most famous artists, musician and actors of the last two decades

Written by Josephine Baker

When watching our favorite shows, movies and artists, do we really know all the details and hard work that goes into making entertaining this encompassing? Thank goodness for puff pieces, which I imagine, for Joe, the owner of PopUps, would call it puff pastry, who would not ever want his name on anything except a recipe, we can finally know how extraordinary this man actually was.

“He always found a way to make me and my entourage feel safe. Encouraging us to smile and love each day. And, those cake pops! Ahh-mazing,” Zooey Deschanel had said of Joe Pascani, the man who had never officially been in the industry. He was a caterer, a baker, an everyday man who worked at behind the scenes shows, film sets and other music festivals to feed the hungry entertainers, support staff and camera crew.

He made the most common of treats, the cake pop. But his was special. He had full-size pieces as pops, and also small ones that you would see at Starbucks, but his were from scratch and fresh.

“He made me this naturally rich orange flavored cake pop that had a crazy amount of orange zested buttercream, to accentuate my infamous up-do,” Conan O’Brien said. “It was wild! He made it look like my hair.”

Always wild and creative, Joe would constantly invent new ways to make creamier, more decadent and delicious creations.

“My mother taught me baking. She’d put all the dry ingredients on a paper towel, we would measure the salt, baking soda and sugar, flour, and then pour it by placing both hands on each side and letting it flow in the big glass bowl,” Joe had told us in an interview last month in his hospital bed. “It’s a memory I can’t forget.”

The cake pop genius has created such great treats as the pumpkin pie pop, tiramisu pop, chocolate cream pie and the fan favorite, the homemade peanut-butter chocolate cake pop with an assorted, coated roasted in-house nut coating (walnuts, pecans, peanuts). He also made gluten-free, vegan and “healthy,” pops.

The late master of his trade had made a social media presence amongst celebrities and the normies, as he called them, alike. About two months before his passing, one of his friends had asked him how he felt about his terminal lung cancer diagnosis.

“Well, I felt fine before I knew about the cancer!” Joe had a cunning tongue that always joked, making everyone laugh and grin.

“The memories that last the most are when you come off a long day of shooting and Joe is there holding your favorite snack and a big cup of Good-Morning America as he called it,” Selena Gomez stated of the popular baker. “He always made you instantly warm up and smile.”

His funeral was attended by a staggering 400 attendees. Many had been touched by Cake-Pop-Joe in different ways. A widow who had recently lost her husband had spoken in the wake: “I was having the roughest day of my life. I didn’t have much money on me, but when I walked into (PopUps), he gave me a fresh pop that really made me feel like I was going to be ok. I miss my husband so much. He loved sweets. It almost made me feel he was there.”

There was nothing Joe couldn’t do. He raised awareness for homelessness in LA and often had fundraisers, gave to homeless shelters and hospitals and even donated food and money to schools and underprivileged families. He always put people over pride. Love over money. Good food with quality ingredients over cheap fast mass produced products.

Even big name Hollywood stars would go into Joe’s to have a treat. Joe Pesci. Brad Pitt. Wes Anderson. Stephen King. Chappel Roan. Lady Gaga, to name a few!

His love of film showed in his craft. For Wes, he created a pop that had decorations that were perfectly symmetrical, like the scenes in Anderson’s films. He even made a Lynch style pop, called, “The Perfect cup of Joe,” for Lynch’s affinity for having the perfect cuppa coffee.

The most important thing about Joe: “His love for the community, his passion for baking, and his family. I can tell that no matter what, he wanted every single person he knew to feel special. Loved. Cared for,” his sister Jenna said of her brother.

Zooey Deschanel was upset about Joe’s passing, telling us in an interview, “I remember the show I did for Conan, the one where I sang, I put a spell on you,” She says with a sniffle. “My throat was sore after. He had a honey cake with this soothing cream that really helped me after. He always had a solution. He was Magic.”

We leave you with Joe’s best recipe, something he wanted to share with everyone. In fact, he infamously had pictures of hand written recipes all around the store, which was his favorite decoration. It is for his peanut butter chocolate cake pop.

“Take three cups of roasted peanuts and sea salt to taste, blend until smooth in food processor. That’s for the peanut butter.

Other ingredients:

▢ 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour

▢ 2 cups (396 g) sugar

▢ 3/4 cup (63 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

▢ 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder

▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) baking soda

▢ 1 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt

▢ 1 teaspoon (2.3 g) espresso powder, homemade or store-bought

▢ 1 cup (227 g) milk, or buttermilk, almond, or coconut milk

▢ 1/2 cup (99 g) vegetable oil, or canola oil, or melted coconut oil

▢ 2 large (100 g) eggs

▢ 2 teaspoons (9.4 g) vanilla extract

▢ 1 cup (227. g) boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Add in wet ingredients and mix together, then slowly pour in dry ingredients on medium-high pace (electric mixer), reduce speed to slowly add boiling water. Use two 9 inch cake pans and butter generously and place batter evenly in pans. Add swirls of your homemade peanut butter. Keep some on the side for buttercream.

Bake 30 minutes or until clean with a knife, tooth pick (don’t use for teeth first!) or fork. Roast pecans, walnuts and peanuts at 325 for 20 minutes. Add 1/2 pound of room temperature, unsalted butter, rest of peanut butter and 1/4 teaspoons of Almond extract, 1 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract to mixer and blend until creamy consistency. Frost cake and top with nuts. Slice a generous amount, put a stick In it, eat!”

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Author note: this is entirely fictional. I had a dream the other night and Joe came to me with his cake pop madness. The person is entirely made up in my head. Yeah, it’s weird. Oh well. The memories of baking with mom are my memories. I’m hungry for cake.