Chocolate Ganache for Sale
I had arrived too late! The Eat My Blog bake sale at Zeke’s Smokehouse in West Hollywood was scheduled to last from 10am to 4pm and I figured that if I got there around noon I’d still be able to get some of that bacon brownie goodness with bourbon caramel sauce that I kept reading about. But I was so wrong. By noon, most of everything was already sold out!
Cathy Danh, mastermind of Eat My Blog
With over 40 blogger bakers — including founder of Eat My Blog and author of Gastronomy Blog Cathy Danh, Teenage Glutster‘s Javier Cabral, My Last Bite‘s Jo Stougaard and Mattatouille‘s Matthew Kang — and 600 baked goods that is quite a feat.
Thanks to great publicity and word of mouth via Twitter and blogs, there was never a quiet moment at the sale even though its location at the busy intersection of Santa Monica and La Brea wasn’t exactly the prime spot for foot traffic. It was, however, located right next door to a Beverages & More; bloggers do love their booze as was evident by all the after-bake-sale visits.
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was generous enough to provide a coffee/hot chocolate station and a barista for the occasion while Zeke’s Smokehouse not only donated its patio but some tasty brownies for the sale.
By the time I got to the event, pickings were slim but I was still able to find some instant favorites like Mattatouilles’s rich butterscotch budino, Pete Eatemall‘s cinnamon chocolate mini bundt cake and Eating LA‘s dark chocolate walnut cookies. But still so sad about the bacon brownies. Le sigh.
Barista, H.C., Esther, Sam Kim.
In any case, the bake sale was a huge success with most everything selling out by 3pm and netting over $3,000 for the Los Angeles Foodbank!
“Eat My Blog was very excited to reach our fundraising goal and we hope to top it the next time around,” said Cathy. “Since this event was such a success we plan to do another one in Summer 2010.”
Score! Cathy had asked if I’d be interested in participating in next year’s sale but I told her I’d have to think about it. In any case I’m more an eater than a baker. Although, maybe I can make a bourbon-based something or other.
BTW, after the jump check out the recipe for Organic Spark’s tasty Maple Walnut Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.
Much like Chester Cookies, this cake utilizes the technique of soaking grains overnight for improved digestion. Don’t be scared away! It is so easy, and it makes you feel like you are mid-science experiment as you head to bed, which is always fun. The cream cheese frosting can sit on the counter for the day, but longer than 8 hours-ish, I stick the frosted cake in the fridge. It chills well and is delicious cold.
* Kefir is a fermented milk beverage that is filled with healthy probiotics. It can be found in most health-food stores, including some larger mainstream supermarkets. The texture is similar to a thin yogurt. If kefir is unavailable, yogurt may be substituted in equal measure.
** Regular whole wheat flour works well, too. The pastry flour makes for a softer cake, but the regular whole wheat flour is denser and heartier. Both are nice. Whole wheat pastry flour is a variety of whole wheat flour that has less gluten. It can be found in most natural foods stores or Whole Foods Market.
