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.

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

It couldn’t be a nicer day! I’ll be swinging by Fair Oaks around 1 and National Harbor around 4 today. Drop by and say hello!

And, I just got an advanced copy of United Cakes of America! it looks great and I’m really happy about it.  I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves!

There’s another Best of and cupcake competition being sponsored by TWO more of the area’s finest print and online media. We’d love your support with a vote, please click through today!

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/restaurants/bestbites/15158.html

Voting ends tomorrow!

AND

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/

click thru to the “Best Of” to vote for CakeLove: Best Bakery and Best Cupcake!

voting ends March 17th

Thank you!

My wife and I were blessed with the birth of our first baby, Poplar, just 5 weeks ago.  She’s already stolen our hearts and given us tons of joy!

At CakeLove, landed a spot outside the beltway for our fans way west of the city…this will save you from driving into the city for cupcakes. It’s a small, cozy shop, just the way we like it. Drop by and say hi, we’d love to see you.

And don’t forget to vote for us in the Washington City Paper’s Best of reader’s poll. We’d love your vote for Best Bakery and Best Cupcake. My favorite is the Cynthia’s Sin, but unfortunately we can’t vote by flavor

Thank you to everyone who voted for CakeLove as Best Bakery in the Washington Post Express readers’ poll! The results are announced today and I’m very happy and proud to say THANK YOU for voting for CakeLove!

We also took runner-up for Best Cupcake which we’re very happy and thankful to win as well!

As a token of our appreciation, please check out our ad in Express today! We’re celebrating with dollar cupcakes Friday and Saturday for walk-in customers! Get yellow or chocolate cupcakes dipped in ganache and topped with a swirl of vanilla buttercream! (limit 2 per customer).

And- even better- save 10% thru the online store when you enter the coupon EXPRESS at check out–good for purchases made this weekend only. Now’s the best time to buy for Thanksgiving!

Thanks again for supporting CakeLove, serving cake @ room temp, loving that Nothing is Fat Free, and embracing old school, all natural baking from scratch. We’re proud to be your bakery!

Cheers,

Warren

Hi everyone -

Please take a sec and vote for CL for best cupcake at

www.expressnightout.com

please VOTE before Oct 16th!

And while you’re there vote for Lebanese Taverna, too, for best restaurant/take away!

Thank you!

Got a couple of comments in person and on the blog about pursuing sugar free baking on why we’re doing it and is it true to our ideals. They’re fair questions and I understand the questions and the nature of them so let me share some thoughts…

Sugar free products are definitely something people have been asking for–for years really. I wrestled with the matter of whether or not to produce items that possibly use ingredients that aren’t in line with the core CakeLove mission- to bake with all natural ingredients. While I will never stray from that principle for our traditional products, everyone needs love and for CakeLove to ignore, disregard, or look away from this large sector of the population isn’t very genuine on our part and is a bit shortsighted for any business. We want people to enjoy desserts and believe that with enough information our customers can make an informed choice about what type of product they’ll purchase. It’s a change that we’re happy to embrace and look forward to greeting people who need to manage their blood sugar with treats that look and taste great!

We’re on the path for R & D and hope to have products available this fall. Thanks!

Hey - thanks for the comments in about parking - although people are arguing for less parking and less drivers. But I don’t think that the Metro system is one of the best in the world. It closes early, it’s slow, it’s not the safest in the world, and it doesn’t get you everywhere. I have to go to National Harbor today. Metro doesn’t go there and if I did a combo of walk, train, and bus, it’ll take three to four times as long in one direction. And hardly anyone takes metro there anyway.
I understand the argument for less drivers, it would be great to have less pollution from drivers, but driving is a fact of life of course and putting the cars someplace is something urban planners have to contend with if they want to support local business. No storefront that I know of in any community can survive without driving customers.

jeepers…been forever, again. I know. I’m not ur average blogger. Always too long in between. But I’ve got a moment and here are a few updates….

First off we’re taking a bit of a break from our normal routine with the cucpakes. All the regular ones are still being made, but you’ll also find at each bakery new/different/oddball designs or flavors, or a mix & match of things we’ve done before. They’ll look cuter, they’ll have candy or crunchy stuff on them, they’ll be whatever the baker and cupcake toppers are inspired to make right then and there. It’s our own summer break from the regular style. Come check out the “freestyle” cupcakes dished up, now through late August!