The 9 Jan. 2025 National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter, the L.A. fires, and cupcakes are linked in this literary quote: “Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake,” writes novelist Dean Koontz.

Baking Swedish cake for Chef Marcus Samuelsson's birthday after reading his memoir, Yes, Chef.

The cupcakes angle for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day 2022, featuring Sprinkles founder Candace Nelson, author of Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn Your Passion into Profit. Plus Leslie Polizzotto of The Doughnut Project and other women pastry chefs.

Book review of Michaels Desserts: Sweets for a Cause by Michael C. Platt.

Some pundits are changing their tone about once maligned cupcakes.

The Magnolia Bakery cupcake made famous by Sex and the City is named the Carrie. The pink-frosted vanilla cupcake appeared in a July 2000 episode, a seismic moment that still reverberates. Magnolia is currently observing its 25th birthday and part of the celebration involved Carrie Dragshaw, a.k.a. Dan Clay. The renowned impersonator took pictures with… Continue reading Carrie cupcakes, 2021 version

Welcome to the world, The Magnolia Bakery Handbook. This is Magnolia’s debut book under the current ownership, representing the first comprehensive, written look at the approach of owner Steve Abrams and executive chef Bobbie Lloyd. https://youtu.be/CnIyDsOuImo In lieu of a public launch party, there were TV appearances and social media posts to mark the Oct. 27 book release. https://www.instagram.com/p/CG2rNd0p6zN/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CGaNWu2DK3M/… Continue reading A Magnolia book is born

Like democracy, my cake is messy, imperfect, and handmade. This is Watergate Cake with Impeachment Frosting from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson, owner of Baker & Spice Bakery. It’s a pistachio cake representing its era, the ’70s. It not only symbolizes the political moment, but also the industrialization of food production. As reported by WAMU,… Continue reading Cake that symbolizes impeachment

The title of this post adapts that of Candace Bushnell’s new book Is There Still Sex in The City? Bushnell is the catalyst behind my cupcake history book. She wrote a newspaper column, which became her Sex and the City book, which became the HBO TV show. In one episode that aired in 2000, a… Continue reading Are there still cupcakes in the city?

I digested various forms of the black and white cookie in recent weeks, prompted by Magnolia Bakery’s tribute to the 30th anniversary of Seinfeld this month. One 1994 episode includes a bakery scene in which Seinfeld waxes philosophical about black and white cookies, admonishing his companion to “look to the cookie” to solve racial tension.… Continue reading Look to the community

Oooo, molasses. Delicious. I didn’t know how much I liked it until I made my first batch of gingerbread cookies a while ago. Any excuse to bake with molasses works for me. For purposes of National Gingerbread Day, it’s a fait accompli. Two of the three cakes I baked are directly tied to my historical… Continue reading Sugar & spice & history

Some time ago, my “cupcake” Google alert captured this provocative story: “More Philly bragging rights: We basically invented the cupcake.” Well, fancy that. A field trip was in order. I put it on my to do list … and there it stayed. So close, yet I wasn’t dedicating the time to go there. Then I… Continue reading City of sisterly cupcakes

I was making the mental shift to author around the time a new local bookstore opened on Capitol Hill. I followed my instinct to the East City Bookshop grand opening, which included readings by a number of authors I never heard of. One was identified as an NYT bestseller or some other honorific. That was… Continue reading White noise and black tea

Today’s National Chinese Almond Cookie Day conjures memories. When I read L.A. Son by Roy Choi, his passage about Chinese almond cookies stuck in my mind. This is not surprising given my obsession with food as a mnemonic device and the interwoven influence of place. Choi, then, has memories of Chinese almond cookies. Here he… Continue reading Storied cookies