In mid June I had a book signing for United Cakes of America at the PG County Hyattsville branch library. A lot of great people came out to talk about cake and enjoy some samples from CakeLove. Tyler was particularly kind and attentive—along with the rest of his family. He asked if he could visit me at CakeLove and in early August we spent the afternoon together at CakeLove U Street. It was a lot of fun!

Tyler loves to cook and bake. He had a lot of great questions and ideas on pairing flavors. Here’s a recipe that we created together. After we baked them he handed them out as samples at Love Café and had a box of goodies for his siblings!

What I like about it was that we found a work around for not having brown sugar for cookies—usually a critical ingredient for us. Instead we took raw honey and paired that with super fine granulated sugar. Give it a try, I think I like it even more than our regular recipe. (see our recipe via podcast on our site under classes).

    Chocolate Almond Spice Cookies

2 ounces of almonds slices, roasted
8 ounces of super-fine granulated sugar

1 tablespoon raw honey

5 ounces of butter (melted and cooled)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 egg

11 ounces of flour
½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of ground ginger
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt

6 ounces chocolate chips

2 ounces sliced almonds, roasted

1.    Roast almonds, set aside to cool and divide. Melt butter, add vanilla extract and set aside to cool.  

2.    Combine sugar, honey and almonds in stand mixer with flat paddle on low speed.

3.    Slowly drizzle in butter.

4.    Add egg.

5.    Meanwhile, measure flour through salt and whisk to combine. Scoop into mixer.

6.   Fold chocolate chips and remaining almonds into dough.

7.   Scoop out and pan on parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly flatten with a soft press and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger.

8.   Bake in pre-heated oven at 300 to 325 for 13 to 15 minutes.

9.   Remove when cookie edge barely resists when poked. Cool and serve while still warm.

Hey - if you’re on Groupon then check out the CakeLove special that got extended for an additional 24hours! Definitely check it out for some of the best bargains at CakeLove!

A big thanks to those who came out to the signings at Border’s in Silver Spring this past Saturday and Barne’s & Noble last Tuesday. It’s always great to meet people who are enjoying the book!

Happy baking!

I’ll be signing copies of UCA from 2 to 4pm at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on the National Mall! (14th and Constitution) It’s this Saturday June 5th! I’m just looking forward to being in the museum itself and making a small contribution toward U.S. history by chronicling the great cake recipes that we all have in common!

I’ll also be outside of Philadelphia on June 4th (tomorrow) at the Chester County Book Store from Noon to 2pm. (975 Paoli Pike Blvd, West Goshen Center, West Chester, PA). If you’re in the area please swing by!

I’m thrilled to announce the release of my second cookbook, United Cakes of America. It’s got an awesome cover with a cut-out of the continental U.S., beautiful pics throughout the book, and recipes celebrating the culture, folklore, and local harvests from every state. I’ve been doing a some touring with it over the past few weeks and look forward to more through the summer.

United Cakes of America is my look at the U.S. through the lens of a cake! There are so many wonderful American cakes out there, but it’s hard to know about all of them unless we put it all in one place. These are the traditional favorites with my own twist, plus I dropped in a few new creations that I hope you’ll like. Most of all I wanted to break down the recipes into simple steps so anyone can follow them and have an easier time getting good results.

I hope you have a chance to pick-it up and share it with your family and friends!

You can see some sample pages through a link on the CakeLove website or the CakeLove mobile App — a free download through the itunes store.

but it’s got everything to do with getting some force behind the Gulf oil spill clean-up.

There’s loads of difficulty in cleaning up a mess that’s 5,000 feet under water.  It’s kinda crazy to have started drilling there anyway since it’s so hard to deal with the clean-up, but until it’s cleaned up, why don’t we BOYCOTT BP? That way they’ll surely get the message: it’s not OK to fumble and bumble your way to a resolution that they you haven’t yet found, and don’t seem likely to. That they had no real plan B is really clear. That’s reason enough, isn’t it?

But also consider that BP doesn’t even stand to lose much money over this. Direct clean-up costs will be high of course, but relative to their profits it’s not much pain. The $75 million damages cap is laughable. Any big oil company would very logically calculate and conclude that drilling in deep waters is worth the financial risk. And, don’t forget insurance–coverage for this type of scenario sounds more like their Plan B.   Congress’s attempt to revise the liability cap to one billion plus are totally going to be challenged in the courts and, if my cob-webbed brain remembers ex-post facto rules correctly, changing the rules of the game after the damages have occurred will not be looked upon very favorably.

So, I think it’s really up to the consumers in the US to send a message that BP, and the rest of the industry, will hear very plainly: take your mess seriously, clean it up, and be quick about it. I’m surprised no one has brought it up–or at least I haven’t seen it reported. I think there is plenty of reason to be angry at what BP and their rig operators did, and it’s just made worse by the lack of planning and readiness to deal with a problem like this. A boycott will tell them people are disappointed and just don’t trust them.

Boycott BP until the spill is capped, perhaps even cleaned. And then decide if their worthy of your hard earned cash.

I was lucky enough to be a speaker at TED x Potomac yesterday. I enjoyed it and had great fun, but I was blown away by one of the speakers. Josh Sunquist.  http://www.joshsundquist.com/ You just have to check out his site and his story.

What he shared made just about everyone want to cry, laugh, and feel alive again. Please go see what he has to say about doing one more thing, one more time!

!!!!!!

Check it out!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/daily-interactive-networks/id371031813?uo=6.

it’s free!

it’s recipes!

and shortcuts and hints!

It’s a way to post pics of your own cakes in our cake community.

Watch videos of me baking while you’re in the kitchen!

Have fun with it!

For waaayyy to long we’ve had Buzz Balls and Crunchy Feet off the menu. Well, we’re bringing “em back and it’s been a lot of fun visiting with old friends. Already I’m hooked again on the chocolate buzz balls!

What’s a Buzz Ball - cream puff filled with chocolate or lemon custard. I’ll tell ya, when I eat ‘em, I’ve got a routine. I bring ‘em home and toss them in the oven for 5 min at 300F. (same goes for the eclairs, too) Everything turns into a wet, gooey mess and it’s great.

What are Crunchy Feet - cakes baked in brioche pans, topped with buttercream. We’re even doing the Red Velvets as Crunchy Feet!

Glad to have the old faves back in the line up. Get ‘em fast, they’re in limited quantities and do go fast!

-WB

Happy to say I got asked to give my two cents on business issues with AOL Small Business. Who would have thought cakes would lead to all of this? The link is here…

http://smallbusiness.aol.com/

And check out the cool promo for this conference I’m speaking at on Thursday in DC –TedX -Potomac. It’s on GW’s campus so it’s like a homecoming of sorts for me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4bvDB6E7Ns

hopefully the link works, it busted on me a few times.

Peace out - WB