Taking it to the Sweet: A Parisian Adventure in Seattle

As it was once said in that classic of American cinema known as Singles, "I like to live my life like a French movie, Steve".

Well, I didn't have a Steve on hand, but I did have a willing buddy (Lisa, who is so fashionable), and recently, inspired by a sense of mischief and a desire to have a moment of escape from the Seattle rain, we decided to go to Paris.

Of course, time and money didn't allow us to actually hop a plane, so instead we decided to channel our inner French girls and see if we could find a piece of Paris in Seattle.

On the appointed day, we both wore black and white striped shirts (Lisa wore a beret, for extra points). Lisa arrived at CakeSpy Shop around closing time, and she had red balloons.

We walked through downtown, past Boulangerie Nantaise to the Space Needle, and pretended it was the Eiffel Tower, tossing out our limited repertoire of French phrases, like "C'est Bon!", "C'est Magnifique!", "Sacre bleu!", and, of course, as a shout-out to that Muzzy commercial, "Je suis la jeune fille!".

Next, inspired by the 80's hit "Riding on the Metro", we decided to take the metro--or, you know, the Monorail.

We arrived to Westlake Center, or Les Halles as we preferred to think of it, and then walked past a grand Marche to get some vin rouge and soupe a l'oignon at Le Pichet. (by the way, the waiter did say, "so what's up with the balloons?" to which I was very happy to say, "We're pretending we're in Paris." He then said something in French to me. It sounded lovely, whatever it was he said).

On our way out of the cafe, one of our balloons spied some American Pie.

We then headed back up the hill, where we poetically and tragically let our balloons go, near a church that we deemed the Notre Dame.

By this point it had started to rain and get windy, to which we commented "It's a good thing we're in Paris because in Seattle, this weather would totally suck."

And so ended an evening that was, if not literally, then very much figuratively, totally sweet.

Just a little reminder to allow yourself some sweetness in everyday life! CakeSpy gives you permission to be delighted.

Taking It To the Sweet: Have A Sunny Side Up Day, Love CakeSpy

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself with several cutouts of breakfast foods, and one of a robot with a stereo ("leftovers" from the photo shoot for my book, coming out this fall from Sasquatch Books). Now, as you know, having a little handful of cute things like this always inspires me to cause some sweet mischief.

And for no particular reason other than I felt like taking a long walk, was procrastinating, and thought it would be a sweet gesture, I decided to leave them around town in hopes that they might give other people's day a sunny-side-up sort of feeling.

Of course, I let them know who was responsible for their nice day.

This little egg was left on the sidewalk;

This little coffee cup (inspired by the classic NY deli design) declared its love for High 5 Pie on this sticker spied by the retail pie shop;

This one hopes all the news is good news;

This piece of bacon was perched on a piece of street art embedded in the sidewalk near the Pike Street Fish Fry;

This little egg made Good Housekeeping slightly more delicious;

...and this little Lloyd Dobler-inspired robot (not breakfast food, but still cute) decided it was Enough.

Here's to hoping you have a sunny-side-up day!

K is for King Cake: A Coloring Book Page Activity for Cake Lovers of All Ages

Have fun with Fat Tuesday with this sweet coloring book / activity page! Not only might you learn something about a traditional Mardi Gras treat, but you can color in your own King Cake and add your own baby! Click on the image below to be directed to a page where you can download the art in a variety of sizes!

Download it for free!

K is for King Cake

The New Orleans descendant of the French Galette des Rois, this yeast-risen cake is characiterized by its rich (usually cream cheese, praline, or both) filling and thick glaze (glaze rather than frosting is ok in this case, because of said rich filling). It crops up in bakeries after the Epiphany, and remains a stock item until Fat Tuesday (a final last hurrah before the restraint of Lent). Oh, and it also has a prize--a feve--usually a little naked baby inside. But approach prize-seeking carefully, ‘cos while whoever finds the prize is declared King, that person is assigned to buy the cake next time.

Shake it: Girl Scout Cookie Milkshake Challenge

Today, we're going to talk about a very important subject: which Girl Scout Cookie tastes best when mashed up in milkshake form?

Seriously, this is no lightweight subject. The thing is, we all have our Girl Scout Cookie preferences. But ice cream adds in a whole new texture and taste sensation. How would your favorite react to smooth, dreamy ice cream? Would the flavor hold up? Be improved? Or would it be dulled by the rich, dreamy, creamy stuff?

Only one way to find out. Break out the mixer, baby.

That's right: it's time for a Girl Scout Cookie Milkshake Challenge. Armed with most (but not all) of the cookie flavors, I set out to see which treat would make for the sweetest shake:

To keep the playing field level, I made each shake in the same way: two large scoops of vanilla ice cream, four Girl Scout Cookies, and cream to thin. 

After the batch was prepared, each was sipped and judged on texture, taste, and was assigned some overall thoughts. Here goes:

Lemon Chalet Milkshake:

Taste: Cool and creamy, and very refreshing. Lightly lemony, but more sweet than tart.

Texture: The cookies broke up fairly smoothly into this shake, and the cream filling was reduced to tiny sugarbombs of flavor. These little bombs of sugar were quite pleasant.

Overall thoughts: This cookie was definitely improved by being served in milkshake form. 

Samoas Milkshake:

Taste: The shake took on a nice, chocolatey-caramel flavor from the cookies; the coconut didn't break up very well, though, so the coconut flavor wasn't very well diffused in the shake. All the same, this did not stop it from being gulped right up.

Texture: Alas, the texture was ever so slightly distracting on this shake. The coconut didn't break up very well at all, and was sort of clumpy in the shake.

Overall Thoughts: Good--solidly good. But the texture kept it from being great.

Tagalongs Milkshake:

Taste: The chocolate added a great flavor to this shake, and the peanut butter added not a shriek but a whisper of flavor, adding a nice, rich, rounded-out flavor to the creamy vanilla ice cream. It didn't have a chocolate peanut butter cup flavor per se, but came across more like a chocolate shake with a certain je ne sais quoi.

Texture: This cookie worked very nicely in shake form; it broke up evenly, with some little lumps remaining, but they were consistent in texture and were quite nice to chew on as they became saturated with ice cream.

Overall Thoughts: Definitely a top contender, and one that I'd make again.

Thank You Berry Munch Milkshake:

Taste: This one was so-so. The fruit flavor didn't translate very well, tasting less like fruit and more like Froot Loops left to steep in milk. Not a terrible thing, but it definitely tasted artificial.

Texture: Good texture. This cookie is one of the crisper varieties, so it gave the shake small crunchy bits.

Overall Thoughts: Very sweet, but not a very intriguing flavor. 

Thin Mint Milkshake:

Taste: Very pleasant--like mint chocolate chip ice cream. The mint worked nicely with the vanilla; it was the more dominant taste, with the chocolate ably backing it up. The ice cream did tone down the flavor of the cookie a bit, but it was just a tone adjustment, not like hitting mute.

Texture: Small crunchy bits and little pockets of chocolate made this a supremely pleasant shake to enjoy; it was nice to spoon these bits to further the pleasure.

Overall Thoughts: A strong shake indeed, one that changed the flavor of the cookie, but in a nice way.

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But before a winner could be declared, I simply had to know what would happen if I put all of the cookies into one super-shake. How was that, you wonder?

 

What, are you surprised that the flavors of a lemon-shortbread-peanut butter-chocolate-coconut-berry cookie shake didn't exactly work harmoniously? I know, me too!

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The winner: All things considered, I'm going to assign top honors to the Tagalongs shake. Now, interestingly, the Tagalong is not my favorite Girl Scout Cookie, although it's definitely in my top three (Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs, if you must know. Just like the National average!). But in shake form, it definitely worked well--the texture and flavor worked nicely, and each flavor was heightened by the ice cream.

Runner-up: The Lemon Chalet! This is a cookie which I usually don't care for that much, but it became far more interesting in shake form, and the lemon-cream flavor was creamy, well-rounded, and delicious. This one surprised me!

Sweet Kisses: Fun and Puns with Hershey's Kisses

Let's kiss.

Hershey's Kiss, that is. These little morsels are not only sweet, but so much pun--I mean, fun. Want proof? OK. 

Here's a batch of mischief I baked up with this fistful of kisses:

Kiss the Sky

Long Kiss Goodnight

Sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g

Kiss and Tell

Forbidden Kiss

Sealed With a Kiss

Hugs and Kisses

Kiss of Death

Rude Kiss

French Kiss

Henry Kiss-inger

Kiss-off

Just Say No: Sriracha Brownies are Not Delicious

I'd like to present two separate facts:

1. Brownies can be delicious with chili powder.
2. Sriracha makes just about everything better.

Unfortunately, I'm sad to say that these two separate facts do not add up to awesome when combined.

That's right. I went there. And I'm not sad that I did, but as a public service, I'd like to announce that I don't recommend you do it.

Don't worry too much: I didn't ruin an entire batch. I just happened to have some extra batter after filling my pie shell for the Brownie S'more Pie I made a few days ago, so I filled a couple of cupcake liners with it, and on a whim, added a healthy dose of sriracha on top of each.

The taste, while not completely offensive, was off mark--the spiciness of the sriracha didn't contrast the dark, rich brownie, but rather conflicted with the flavor. They were simply not harmonious.

The brownie pie, however, was extremely delicious. Here's a link to that baby.

Of course, if you're intrigued by Sriracha cookery, you might want to check out The Sriracha Cookbook (though I haven't tried any of the recipes, there IS a dessert chapter!).

Mix it Up: Funfetti Cakelets in the Toaster Oven

Picture this: you've just filled up a cake tin's worth of cupcakes, and you have a dollop of batter left. What to do?

Now, you may think that the possibilities stop at A) Swipe it with your finger (or a spatula) and eat it...or B) Put it in a cupcake liner and bake it all by its lonesome.

Now, these are respectable options, for sure. But I'd like to present another option: bake it in the toaster oven.

I did this recently, and while I wouldn't call it an amazing success, it was thoroughly eatable, and a great sweet fix in a pinch (or late at night, when these things seem like a great idea). And it sure was fun to do.

Here's how I did it.

Toaster Oven Cakelets

 Ingredients

• 1 dollop leftover Funfetti batter, prepared per box instructions
• a piece of aluminum foil to bundle it in

Procedure

1. Place your dollop of cake batter on the center of the aluminum foil. Bunch the sides up around it, to form walls so that the batter won't seep through.
2. Place the wad in the toaster oven and toast (you heard me, toast) it on medium heat (350 if you have such settings) until it is browned on top, about 15 minutes. Lightly peel away the foil from the side to see if it is baked through. If so, remove from toaster oven, cool, and top with frosting, a dab of ice cream, etc, and enjoy.

The Biggest and Best Cake News Ever: CakeSpy Book Coming Out This Fall Through Sasquatch Books

Dudes. Dudettes. You know how reading is totally sweet and all? Well. It's about to get even sweeter, because it's with extreme excitement that I make this obnoxiously huge-type announcement:

CakeSpy got a book deal!

It's true. In what can only be described as a very good decision, Seattle's totally rad Sasquatch Books (the publisher of such gems as Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home by Lara Ferroni and The Newlywed Kitchen by Ali Basye and Lorna Yee) has taken this sweet spy under their wing to create what I'm sure my mom will tell you is "the best book ever".

And to sweeten the deal, I actually get to work with the people at the publishing house, in person: the Sasquatch offices are within walking distance from my house, and there happens to be a good bakery along the way.

But enough about me, let's talk more about my book. It's gonna be called Seeking Sweetness: CakeSpy Presents Recipes for a Sugar-Filled Life. And well, in case you hadn't figured it out from the title, it's going to be full of recipes--featuring some of my more deliciously decadent, butter-and-sugar packed ones, as well as plenty witty repartee and tons of illustrations of cupcakes, cookies, pies (they're so hot right now) as well as magical creatures such as unicorns, bunnies, and maybe a robot or two for good measure.

And there will be pictures! OMG, there will be pictures of these over-the-top desserts, taken by the lovely and amazing Clare Barboza, and styled by the multi-talented (I suspect she's a genius) Autumn Martin. Additional photos will be taken by the incredibly talented and awesome Rachelle Longe of Sasquatch Books. I can only imagine that it will be a departure from the usual food photo shoot to take pictures of things like Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict.

And it's going to be out later on this year, in time for the holidays. So start saving your pennies, because you'll want to buy one for every single person you know. 

Basically, it's going to be the best thing to happen to butter and sugar since flour (but don't worry, I'm not getting a big head about it or anything).

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Stay tuned for more information about this exciting project! Thank you to everyone who already has supported this great adventure (I'm looking at you, Mr. Spy, SpyMom, Gail Fortune, Jennifer Pooley, to name a few!) and to everyone who undoubtedly will help with the rest of the process!

Slice of Life: Bob Andy Pie Recipe from Dangerously Delicious Pies

Recently, when leafing through the amazing book Killer Pies: Delicious Recipes from North America's Favorite Restaurants, a conflict presented itself: which recipe to try first?

Happily, the answer presented itself quickly enough, when I found the entry for Dangerously Delicious Pies in Baltimore, Maryland. 

The pie in question? The "Bob Andy". 

What's a Bob Andy Pie, you ask? Well, according to proprietor (part time baker, part time rock musician) Rodney Henry, this pie is "really awesome...I call it 'White Trash Creme Brulee.'" I didn't need any more backstory beyond that: I was already headed to the kitchen.

Happily, the Bob Andy is what is considered a "staple" pie, meaning it contains the basic ingredients most people have in their pantry at any given time. 

Unhappily, it just so happened that just returning from a trip, my pantry was somewhat empty, and I found myself with roughly half of the milk and butter called for in the original recipe. But it occurred to me: is it possible to half a pie recipe? After all, I had split a pie in three parts before, why not just create a foil barrier and bake it as a half-pie?

So I gave it a try, and amazingly, it worked. I had a little extra filling, which I simply baked up as custards in cupcake-cups. I can't say it would work for every type of pie, but I was happy with the result.

Bob Andy Pie, Halved

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 unbaked round of pie dough (enough for a 9-inch pie), cut into 60/40 portions, of which you'll use the 60 part (use the rest for pie fries!)

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Prepare your pie dough. Roll it out, and place it in your pie plate. Using a piece of foil, form a barrier in half of the tin, and shape your dough up the side of it, so that you have a sort of makeshift pie semicircle in which to pour your filling.
3. Mix all of the filling ingredients except for the egg whites together to make a custard.
4. With a hand mixer, beat the whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Fold the whites into the custard and pour into the pie shell. Bake for 1 hour. 
5. Remove when it's browned on top, and when (owner's words) "everything moves together. It shouldn't be jiggly like milk."

Silly Goose: A Trompe L'oeil Cake Made to Look Like a Christmas Goose, For Serious Eats

We could go round in circles discussing which treat is the ultimate Christmas sweet—is it cookies? Bûche de Noël? Or perhaps fruitcake?

But instead of engaging in this wild goose chase, why not make a Christmas Goose Cake?

Paying homage to a classic Christmas dinner, this treat isn't meat—it's totally sweet! It's a trompe l'oeil designed to look like a Christmas goose, made from decadent cake crumbled with frosting and covered with rich marzipan. Extra points for serving it on an equally sweet bed of either candy salad or artfully arranged batch of cornflake wreath batter!

For the full recipe and entry, click on over to Serious Eats!