Matt Lewis - Baked occasions : desserts for leisure activities, holidays, and informal celebrations

CONTENTS

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO OUR FATHERS.

INTRODUCTION

THE THINGS WE DIDNT KNOW: ALASKA AND NUTELLA

There is an inherent madness required to own and operate a bakery. We knew this before we opened Baked. We knew owning a bakery was, by and large, a low-margin business with masochistic hours. We knew it was going to be a bumpy path marked with occasional recipe failures, oven malfunctions, employee tears, and achy, weary bones. We knew all these things and more. But we dove in regardless. We opened a bakery because it was inevitable. It was predestined. We opened a bakery because, well, we were young (or youngish) and nave, and we both really like chocolate cake.

We opened our Brooklyn bakery in 2005. The entire first year of business was propelled by a combination of mania, fear (fear is a strong motivator), and pride (we really liked our chocolate cake). Each day was a mini life lesson. Each hour was a master class. It was a lot to absorb and disseminate. We made many of the classic freshman-year missteps. We never fully completed a business plan, and that business plan draft was short (one page, double spaced), full of adjectives and aspirations, and lacking substance and numbers and a healthy dose of reality. We also made many bad hiring decisions because we were wild-eyed with exhaustion and desperation. We hired random warm bodies without any reference checks and pretended to ignore their shortcomings and bizarre quirks.

We also learned a great deal. We absorbed things that can only be taught while in the midst of the madness, the trial by fire. This is the stuff that is absent from traditional how to books and sterile business classrooms. For instance, we learned that anything and everything sells better if you put salted caramel in it, on it, or next to it. Literally, anything! We also became aware, very quickly, that Brooklyn is a borough of lovely and sweet procrastinators (ourselves included). Our customers like to order birthday cakes last minute and Thanksgiving pies on, well... Thanksgiving. We adjusted our baking schedule accordingly.

But, in hindsight, it was the entirely unexpected customer devotion to all manner of holidays that surprised us most. Of course, we expected more orders from the traditional holidays. We anticipated an avalanche of pies for Thanksgiving and an assembly line of sugarplum dreams (and their assured profits) for the month of December. We even predicted (with a whiff of overconfidence) slight bumps for Valentines Day, Easter, and Mothers Day. What we didnt anticipatewhat we never could have anticipatedwas the fascination and excitement surrounding seemingly inconsequential holidays. Simply put, before opening Baked, we were not aware of World Nutella Day or Alaska Day. Now, a few years in, not only do we celebrate them, but they are etched upon our subconscious.

HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE CALENDAR

As bakery owners and dessert Pied Pipers, we are (now) hyperaware of the calendar. It is a wild, thrashing, untamed beast spilling out and over. It is, at once, both a reminder of immense possibility and promises unfulfilled. So many holidays, so little time.

It wasnt always like this. There used to be fewer holidays. They used to be more genteel, more reflective, and they were generally based upon religion (Easter) or great national moments (adoption of the Declaration of Independence). Now, for better or worse, there are holidays commemorating polar bears, chocolate chip cookies (yes!), and candy corn.

Social media (hand in hand with widespread Internet access) has certainly propelled some of these less cerebral holidays beyond perfunctory status. For example, way back in 1984, President Ronald Reagan (yes, Ronald Reagan) proclaimed the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. We were blissfully unaware of this until recently. Actually, until recently, everyone was blissfully unaware of this, except for maybe a few members of some random dairy association. Now, on or near the end of July, National Ice Cream Day mentions clog our Twitter feed, and our smartphones are alive with images of banana splits. Its now a holiday, fully formed.

At first, we were cynical. We were typical Grinches anchored by a touch of arrogance. We felt a little bit above all of the various national put your favorite foodstuff here days. Then, eventually and slowly, we gave in. We joined the party. We loosened the belt and gained a waist size. We went to a birthday party for Elvis (without irony) and truly enjoyed it. True, we treat these less significant holidays with a lighter touch than Christmas or even Mothers Day, but we celebrate nonetheless. Bring us a holiday, we will bring the cake.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In the end, this is our holiday collection as shaped by our own perverse sentimentality. We felt it was our duty to make it wholly representative of us. These are the holidays and celebrations we enjoy; these are the dates highlighted and circled in red on our overflowing calendar. Obviously, we included several holidays shaped by family rituals and hazy nostalgia (Christmas, Halloween, andin Renatos caseFerragosto). We embraced many more (National Wine Day, Julia Childs Birthday) simply because we couldnt help ourselves. The calendar is awash in unusual, mundane, and campy holidays, and we cherry-picked at will.

Youll notice this book is not an all-inclusive everybody/everything holiday cookbook. Those booksand there are plenty of themare overly bland, overly broad, uninspired, or worse (Google Sandra Lees Kwanzaa Cake). If we skipped a big spiritual holiday, it is only because we were both brought up as twice-a-year Catholics. We felt uncomfortable and slightly disingenuous taking on major religious holidays we were unfamiliar with. To be sure, we are an entirely inclusive duo and aching to expand our horizons. (Wont somebody please invite us to take part in their familys special or religious holiday feast? We will bring dessert.) We will continue to experiment beyond the familiar, and we expect our holiday-baking repertoire to grow and change as we learn and research. By the by, we dropped a few big crowd-pleasers from the book as well. While we absolutely understand the groundswell of excitement generated by the Super Bowl, we would be lying if we told you we could identify any NFL team by its jersey. We also debated treats for an Oscar bash, but alas, it is an event that is too gay even for us.