Tour de Sweet Boston: Eat Cake! in Newburyport, November 8

So, I really think you should come visit me in Boston when I pass through on my Tour de Sweet book tour.

On November 8, I will be making a sweet stop at Eat Cake! in Newburyport ( I'll also be stopping in downtown Boston on November 7, at SWEET). They will have books on hand for you to buy and me to sign and draw a cute little unicorn, cupcake or robot in for you.

But I don't want to be too bossy about it, so instead of saying "you'd better come, you!" I'll give you five sweet reasons why it would be a good idea for you to come. Totally your decision though.

1. Eat Cake! is adorable. They have exposed-brick walls and black and white checked floors. Classic!

2. The bakery has a very sweet story--sort of "If you bake it, they will come." Read it here.

3. On their menu is something that goes like this: "The Infamous Dipped Chocolate Fudge: cake dipped in Chocolate with Vanilla (or Oreo) buttercream, dipped in Chocolate again". I want that in my mouth.

4. They also have a "Today's Cupcake" feature on their site, where you can see what is available TODAY--with pictures. I love this.

5. I will be bringing some cute stuff to give away to lucky winners, including notecards, original art, and my famous cupcake-unicorn-robot socks.

This event will take place at Eat Cake!, 9 Prince Street, Newburyport, at 3pm. For directions and more, visit the Eat Cake! website.

Cakewalk: 13 Sweet Moments from CakeSpy's Portland Book Tour

Treats and my book at Saint CupcakePortland totally ruled! Don't believe me? Here's proof: 13 of the sweetest moments from my Tour de Sweet, Portland leg:

TV! How fun was it to be on Fox 12 and demo my cakes made in orange shells? So easy to customize in a Halloween-y way.

Take your Pix: I got to hang out for a few hours at Pix Patisserie, where I gorged on Salted caramel macarons, signed books, and hung out with a bunch of awesome people, including owner of Perch, Willi Galloway.

Delicious Donuts: Finally! After being greeted with the "sold out" sign so many times, I finally hit up this holey spot while they were open (just after 6am on Saturday). The donuts, as promised, were delicious, but the victory of finally trying them was the sweetest part.

Alder Pastry: I learned about this place in one of the Portland weekly papers, and knew I had to visit. I picked up a lovely salty-caramelly kouign amann, and ogled at their other pastries and gelato offerings. Go there!

Tasty N Sons: Le nom nom nom. I ate mostly savories here, but the biscuits were simply amazing, and the "is it sweet or is it salty" apples with pork bits and syrup were divine. Here's their website.

Tinymeat: I got to visit the HQ! How sweet is that! I also picked up a new Unicorn Versus Godzilla wallet, and they told me to visit Salt and Straw ice cream.

Salt and Straw Ice Cream: Several people told me about this new ice cream joint, with its creative flavor offerings, and I was absolutely delighted by the Bourbon Pecan Pie ice cream, which was studded with chunks of rich, delicious pie, crust and all. Also very interesting: flavors such as Pear and Bleu Cheese! Find their website here.

Tonalli's: Sometimes you have to "Just Donut". This place pretty much rules. Find them online here.

Buy Olympia: Guess what? They have my book there. Go there, and buy it.

Two Tarts: Like, OMG. How adorable is this place? With $8 per dozen of their tiny and tasty treats, this is a killer deal and a very sweet spot to visit. Pictured above: a peanut butter cream sandwich cookie. Find them online here.

Papa Haydn: How could one not visit this famous spot when in portland? I tried one of their current specials, the champagne cake, which included layers of buttercream, strawberries, and rich cream cheese. Le nom. Find them online here.

Fizzy Party: At my Saint Cupcake signing, I met the lovely and amazing Tiffany of FizzyParty - check out her totally sweet website posting about our meeting!

Saint Cupcake: This was the best event ever. The treats were delicious, I felt so welcome (there was a cupcake that said "Welcome CakeSpy!" to greet me), and everyone was so amazingly sweet. They had a bunch of cupcakes and bonbonbunbuns (yup, their real name--sort of like doughnut muffins) for me to share. I also got to meet Brigitte Nguyen, who is just as enthusiastic about sweets as me (and more proof that famous people like my book!)! I can't wait to go back. Here's their website.

Bonus: My new favorite person, Becca, came to my Saint Cupcake signing and brought me a sweet treat she'd created just for me: Cuppie Barrettes! OMG!!

Thanks Portland - you're tops in my heart!

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 11: Magic Cookie Bar Pie by Blondie and Brownie

CakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 11 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is one of my favorite blogs, Blondie & Brownie, who are offering up a sweet giveaway and who tested out the wonderful Magic Cookie Bar Pie:

I first encountered Magic Squares in college. Sweet, chewy, and ooey-gooey, they were just the perfect fuel for late night study sessions. I've added crushed potato chips, pretzels, and chopped peanuts to make Kitchen Sink Bars, but it was the Head Spy herself, the fabulous Jessie Oleson, who opened my eyes to the possibilities of a Magic Bar Pie.

As Jessie said in her new book, CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life, "Magic Cookie Bars are, as their name might imply, no ordinary treat. Starting with layer upon layer of unrelentingly rich, buttery graham cracker crumbs, toasted coconut, chocolate and butterscotch chips, and nuts, they get even better when they’re smothered in rich sweetened condensed milk. With all that awesome, some might argue that a small serving is best. But I disagree, and to prove it, I’ve created those magical bars in pie form, which is naturally best served in thick, fat wedges. You’re welcome."

CakeSpy's recipe includes brilliant addition of peanut butter in place of plain chopped nuts which ups the saltiness factor. As much as I love sweet treats, I tend to knock my magic bars down just a bit. Here I substituted unsweetened coconut for sweetened toasted coconut, upped the amount of chocolate chips and took down the amount of butterscotch chips. The result was ab-so-freaking-lute-ly delicious.

For the full post, visit Blondie & Brownie!

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 10: Homemade Toaster Pastries by BGSK Small Kitchen College

Photo: BGSK

CakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 8 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is BGSK, who tarted things up with these homemade toaster pastries. As they sweetly put it in the post,

In her book, Jessie writes, “I strive to bring a sense of fun and fearlessness to baking, and I hope this book will inspire you to do the same.” To encourage such inspiration, last week Cakespy kicked off her first virtual blog tour by inviting different bloggers to comment and try out her recipes. As the ninth stop on the tour, I wanted to prepare something that would appeal to college students’ unique food preferences while also being relatively easy and inexpensive.

Perhaps not as cliche as college students’ relationship with ramen noodles, students love the convenience and cheap taste of pop tarts. In her book, Cakespy includes a recipe for Homemade Toaster Treats that is easy enough for even the baking-challenged. Requiring simple ingredients and just a little elbow grease, the recipe produces buttery and flaky pastries that can be filled with almost anything, and so in my case I chose to fill them with Nutella. Although my attempt at the treats required a little extra milk and a few extra minutes in the oven, the results were scrumptious. As Cakespy says, “this version doesn’t fare as well in the toaster, but it sure has a leg up on either commercial variety in the deliciousness department.”

For the full post and recipe, visit BGSK's Small Kitchen College site!

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 9: Scoopalicious

Scoopalicious tried this recipe!CakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 9 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is Scoopalicious--they not only tried out several recipes but did a super sweet interview! 

When my copy of CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Lifearrived in the mail , I was thrilled. The book is beautiful. It's 100% CakeSpy. And having now followed the CakeSpy chronicles from very early on, I feel lucky to be one of those who can say "I knew her when..." Haha! Seriously though, having watched Jessie develop into this success in so many ways has been such a joy, but it was the publication of a book -- a book! -- that really took the cake (yes, of course pun intended!). We at Scoopalicious are so proud of you Jessie -- so well deserved.

There are so many treats I wanted to try (oh if the time allowed for them all!) but I was especially tickled by all the ice cream recipes included. Pudding using ice cream instead of milk?! Oh. My. God. Wow. Sounds heavenly. And. It. Was.

For the full writeup, recipes, and the interview, visit Scoopalicious!

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 8: Not Martha Loves My Book

Image of my book: Not MarthaCakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 8 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is Not Martha, who clearly loves me and my book (with good reason):

Today I’m happy to be a stop on the blog book tour for CakeSpy‘s new book: CakeSpyPresents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life. Yay Jessie! I live in Seattle and feel very lucky to know Jessie and see how she has grown her business into a real life shop how she manages to spread bits of joy wherever she goes. The book is filled with her sometimes silly and always awesome baked goods reflect her certain style. Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict? S’moreos? Cupcake stuffed cupcakes? Deep-fried cupcakes on a stick? All these wonders can be found inside along with her illustrations. It’s more awesome in one place than you could hope for.

For the full entry visit Not Martha!

Cake Byte: CakeSpy's Book Launch Party Totally Ruled

Photo: Dennis ChaoLike, OMG. If you missed the official CakeSpy Book Launch Party, there's not much to say other than "dude. You missed out." 

I was amazed (and rather humbled) to find that at about 5.30, people started forming a line outside. A freaking line! To buy my book! OMG! 

It was a star-studded affair, with attendees ranging from neighborhood folk, friends, fans, and even some celebrities, including, oh, the editor of Edible Seattle to Cake Central staffers to celebrity pastry chef Neil Robertson to writer and Spilled Milk podcaster Matthew Amster-Burton...as well as my parents and my little sister.

There was also rainbow cake, as well as several other sweets from the book; and New York Cupcakes provided a lovely display of cupcakes, dressed up in Bella Cupcake Couture wrappers--some of which were decorated to look like my Cuppie character!

Cupcakes made by New York CupcakesOh, and there was champagne too, to put people in a book-buyin' mood (it worked).

Here's a slideshow of some highlights from a totally sweet evening! But don't panic too much if you missed it: I have a whole book tour ahead.

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 7: Homemade Candy Corn by Shauna Sever

Image: Shauna Sever

CakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 5 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is Shauna of Piece of Cake, who tried her hand at those tricolor delights, homemade candy corn! As she puts it:

Oh, hey, speaking of crazy, I made my own candy corn the other day. I know, right? What could be more ridiculous and yet so totally perfect right now? In the midst of deadlines and website blah-blah-blahs, I still couldn’t help but get inspired to try this insane culinary experiment. And, as usual, it’s the fabulous Jessie Oleson (you may know her as CakeSpy) who put such an adorably whackadoodle idea in my head. We can all rejoice that the Queen of Sweet Teeth has just released her first cookbook, and if ever there was a compilation of recipes that so perfectly encompassed the persona of its author, its this one. I dare you to read this book and not crack a smile. Can’t be done, people. This book is a stack of sugary joy, plain and simple.

For the full entry visit Shauna's website!

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 6: Candy Dreidels For a Pro Wrestler by Bake and Destroy

Image: Bake and DestroyCakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 5 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is Natalie of Bake + Destroy!, who in addition to being awesome is also the only other member of the only club I'm in: Team Little. She made some dreidels dedicated to a pro wrestler - awesome. As she says:

When CakeSpy Head Spy and co-founder of Team Little (members: me and her) Jessie Oleson asked me to take part in her Tour de Sweet I knew I was going to have a tough choice ahead. For years I’ve been following her cray-cray creative baking experiments, wishing I had the guts to stuff cinnamon rolls with cookie dough or to try mailing a cupcake in an envelope. So with her new book CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life in hand, I did what any rational food blogger would do. I took it into the bathtub with me.

Forty five minutes and a nice, bubbly soak later, I emerged wrinkly and inspired. With easy, but wildly creative directions for making such items as candy salad, Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict and Pop Rocks cookies I can tell this book will be my go-to when Teno and I want to make something fun. But the recipe I chose to share with you all today actually comes not only from my love of CakeSpy, but also from my love of pro-wrestler Colt Cabana. See, when I got to page 139 and spotted a plate full of blue marshmallow dreidels, I immediately thought of Colt.

...Anyway, whether you’re a fan of Colt’s, a CakeSpy follower or just in favor of eating religious imagery, these marshmallow dreidels are sure to please.

For the full post and recipe, visit Bake and Destroy!

Virtual Tour de Sweet, Stop 5: Toaster Pastry Ice Cream Sandwiches by Cookie Madness

Photo: Cookie MadnessCakeSpy Note: My book tour has already begun--online, that is! Marking stop 5 for the virtual Tour de Sweet blog tour is one of my favorite people and coincidentally the writer of one of my favorite blogs--Anna of Cookie Madness! Channeling the also-awesome Peabody she zeroed right in on the Toaster Pastry ice cream sandwiches. Anna had some sweet things to say about the book, and here's a preview:

While Jessie signs copies of her book at bakeries across the country, some of her biggest fans are writing posts on why they like the book and mentioning recipes. As it happens, Peabody and I both went straight to the Toaster Pastry Ice Cream Sandwiches.

For the full entry, visit Cookie Madness!