Michelle Obama's Favorite White House Food Tradition Is So Wholesome

Former President Barack Obama and his family may have left the White House in January of 2016, but it wasn't until 2021 when the White House pastry chef Bill Yosses revealed via Delish that former First Lady Michelle Obama wasn't devoted to nutritious eating 24/7 and that in fact, she occasionally enjoyed some sweet foods. While Yosses admitted that most of the desserts served up during the Obama Years were pies, which the former president favored. Michelle Obama had favorite cakes too, and one of those was red velvet cakes blanketed with cream cheese frosting, which Yosses said was often served at birthday parties. 

And while we'd just assumed that the pastry chef made up all the cakes in the White House, thanks to a visit and a reveal during the Drew Barrymore Show, the former first lady revealed that not everything was sent up from the White House kitchen.

During her appearance at the Drew Barrymore Show, Michelle Obama revealed that her mother Marian Robinson was able to keep one family tradition going during the Obamas' eight years at the White House. "My mom used to bake homemade cakes for us for our birthdays. And my mom even did this when she lived with us in the White House, and I remember getting to lick the mixer," Obama said, per People.

Recall that when Robinson moved to the White House to be with her daughter and son-in-law, it was for a particular reason. Robinson told CBS, "I felt like this was going to be a very hard life for both of them, and I was worried about their safety," Mrs. Robinson admitted in 2018. "And I was worried about my grandkids — that's what got me to move to D.C." Given this, her role in the Executive Mansion was to keep the Obama girls Malia and Sasha as grounded as possible. Robinson even insisted the girls learn to do their own laundry; now we know that she made birthday cakes too.