Pie, A La Mode: A Campaign to Make Pie Cooler

Every so often, someone will make that grand, sweeping statement: "Pie is the New Cake". Usually, this is someone who owns or is related to the owner of a pie-related business. Unfortunately, in a world which supports cupcake shops opening roughly every five minutes, pie has simply failed to have the same effect in the baked-good market.

So what's the problem? Clearly, it's a lack of media attention. After all, what did Heidi get for Posh on her birthday? What does Katie pick up for a sweet afternoon snack with Suri? Sorry, pie--but cupcakes are most definitely taking that cake.

But we feel for you pie lovers--really, we do. And so, in an effort to lend a helping hand in getting pie the attention it deserves, may we humbly suggest the following tried-and-true tabloid methods to be applied for pie promotion? Here goes:

Stir up some controversy:

Get people thinking about the issues that touch pies' lives:

Dish about fashion faux pas:

But of course--in spite of everything, don't forget to show how pies really are just like us:

Scandalized? Well, they say there's no such thing as bad press; surely these sweet tips are the first step in making pie the true cream of the crop--or at least shaking off some of that wholesome crusty image.

Cake Byte: CakeSpy Featured on Good Food!

What a sweet Valentine's Day treat: CakeSpy was featured on KCRW's Good Food! Our Head Spy Jessie was interviewed about her recent cupcake art installation in Seattle by the amazing Evan Kleiman. It was such an honor to be featured on the show--in our opinion, it's one of the best food shows out there!

You can download the show at the Good Food website, and here's a link to the cupcake art installation post.

And of course, don't forget to support KCRW and Good Food!

Cake Poll: The Winner!

Well, that's it, people: the Cake Poll is now closed. And after nearly 300 responses (via comments and email) who is the winner?

It's Cheryl from Detroit!

Cheryl is undoubtedly a deserving winner of sweet CakeSpy art, what with a serious sweet tooth and shop full of sweets on Etsy (one of her designs featured at the top of this post!) herself! 

Congratulations Cheryl, and to everyone else--Happy Valentine's Day and thank you for participating!

Cake Poll: Love and Chocolate!

How time flies! It's been a while since our last Cake Poll, so we're making up for it by offering a very sweet treat: an original (not a print!) Cakespy watercolor! The watercolor (shown top) will come in a 4x5 inch frame and will go to just one lucky winner. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your responses to the below poll, centered around the star of all February sweetness: chocolate! Here goes:

1. Chocolates for Valentine's Day: cute or cliché?
   
2. The chocolate box: which flavor would you rather leave for others?
3. Milk chocolate: amateur hour or respectable citizen?
4. Chocolate in savory foods (mole sauce, etc): awesome, or awful?
5. Hot chocolate: with or without marshmallows?
   
6. Chocolate-flavored or scented body products: ooh, or eww?
7. What's your favorite chocolate dessert?
   

The poll is open for anyone (US and international!) to enter; the deadline is 12 p.m. PST on Saturday, February 14. The winner will be announced shortly after! Of course, if you can't wait, you can shop for original artwork here.

Sweet Factory: Behind the Scenes at Little Rae's Bakery in Seattle

Recently, our Head Spy Jessie was invited to take a tour of Little Rae's Bakery, a wholesale bakery here in Seattle (and, one of the nation's few completely nut-free bakeries). If you live in the Seattle area, you're undoubtedly familiar with their natural, organic baked goods--they're sold at nicer supermarkets and coffee shops all throughout the city, and even made national headlines with their recent First Family Cookies.

Having grown up fascinated with that spot about how crayons are made on Sesame Street, and as an avid watcher of Unwrapped, there was no doubt about a response--the word "YES!" couldn't be uttered quickly enough.

So, what goes on at a factory of sweetness? Here's what she saw:


First off, everything is big. Big, big, big. From an enormous Hobart mixer to a big machine which divides dough into individual portions, the machinery is heavy-duty (see Little Rae's owner James next to one of the machines for a size comparison).

They're also baked in ginormous ovens, which trays are loaded into and rotate in a circular motion to bake evenly.


Of course, the most magical part (to me) was the point at which they were out of the oven--when the aroma of fresh, sweet baked goods was rich in the air, and the employees set to frosting and decorating them. Several employees were delegated to these tasks, and moved at warp speed, icing, frosting and adding sprinkles to the cookies. Really, I could have watched them do this all day.


Finally, once allowed to dry or set, the baked goods are packaged--all of the packaging has fun pictures of the employees-- and put out for deliveries.

Of course, I'd be lying if I didn't mention that one of the best parts of the tour was the box of free goodies I got at the end of it, including my favorite, their iced shortbread cookies:

Moreover, I was impressed by the fact that even though they are baking these treats in larger quantities, the process isn't really all that different than baking at home--just a lot more sterile (no licking the spoon here!) and with a lot bigger machinery. It was especially exciting to see that even at a larger scale, this company isn't adding anything scary to their baked goods--it's all fresh and organic, and it's clearly a labor of love for owner James, who oversees all daily operations. And of course, having seen the process, it made the cookies all that much more delicious to eat afterward.

Want to learn more about Little Rae's Bakery? Visit their website at littleraesbakery.com. Not in Seattle? Don't despair--you can still enjoy their baked goods via mail order.