How to get a book published - Bubble and Sweet I did it my way eventually

So I wasn't sure if you all would be interested in the story about how I ended up writing a cookbook.

This isn't going to be a how to get a cookbook published post, because to be honest I can't help you with that. But what I can tell you is a little bit about my story, my love for baking and where it led me.

I started off this blog because I was boring my family and friends senseless with my interest in cute and yummy food. Sure they were all more than happy to eat it all, but talk about it.....eh, not so much.

A little off topic I was a bit of a True Blood fan and about this time had been reading Fanfiction online and was amazed at the authors willingness to share their artistic souls for free on that forum for little more than feedback and reviews (SeaStarr and Missus T were a couple of my favorites). It was refreshing and inspiring, I wanted to do something similar.

I had a look around at a few baking blogs I was interested in, had a name brainstorming session with my 2 sisters-in-law over a coffee and jumped right in.

My first post was a recipe copied from Martha Stewart, I thought that perhaps it might encourage people to look if they found it while searching for recipes, it was not really inspiring and did not take the blogging world by storm, I had little understanding of search engines and the irony that this type of post would be more likely to be lost in the multitude of similar ones. But I was not deterred and  my second post was something original I had thought up all by myself, marshmallow fondant covered lollipop cookies, the execution was not the best but I did have some lovely photo's that my sister in law had taken of my girls eating the cookies. As I sat loading up the pictures I can remember my husband saying, 'Are you at the computer again typing out recipes that no one is ever going to read?'

Once again the post was not an instant hit but something amazing happened I got a comment on my blog and not just any comment. It was from Not Quite Nigella a very well know Australian Food Blogger. Ha - Don't think I didn't rub that in my husbands face straight away. Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella followed up her lovely comment with her own interpretation of my cookies and a link to my page and it was a huge boost to my confidence.


My love of sweets on sticks was born and although there were quite a few more lackluster posts of copied recipes I branched out and started including some of my own original recipes and many decorating ideas that I came up with myself.

I joined some online baking forums and made some lovely blogging friends. Around this time I created a recipe for Tim Tam Cookie pops which were a huge hit, there were recipes around already but I came up with my own which I am going to be completely biased about and say are perfect. Once again I was making my mark with treats on sticks.

Another turning point was my daughter's birthday party. I never knew how popular kids parties were and the online community surrounding it. Lilli's 6th birthday pink fairy high tea party was featured on a number of US party sites and was quite popular it still receives thousands of visits a week. Then I worked on a project with a couple of inspiring women I knew Elizabeth Murphy and Naomi Vassington to create a photo shoot tea party in the woods. Both of these women had inspired me all through early blogging when I received little feedback, just by doing what they loved with such passion and it was an amazingly fun shoot which once again was featured on other blogs.

I was doing what I loved with a bunch of fun people. I was not selling to the public so I didn't have restrictions on what I could make. I was lucky to be involved in some further photo shoots and my treats were featured in magazines.

and it seemed I loved putting my treats on sticks, cause you know it always makes stuff more fun and cute and the treats I was making were mostly inspired by and for my children.

 They inspire every sweet thing I do............

Ok so fast forward a little bit to earlier last year and I was contacted by a Publisher in the US.

For Real that's what happened, they contacted me and asked me to write Sweets on a Stick..

They thought there was a hole in the market for sweets on a stick that were kid friendly to make. We all know there are a stack of books out there where you have to perfectly double dip a gazillion pieces of candy and then pop them onto your treats with tweezers to make a magical and beautiful masterpiece, but they were looking for someone more down to earth and simple....yup you know that's me.

So there you have it - that's a kinda condensed version of my story which is a long way of saying I was just doing what I loved, inspired by my family and a great group of friends. I learnt to be myself and not copy everyone else.

Collage of recipes included in sweets on a stick taken during recipe testing
 pictures not included in actual book

Anyhoo the result of all of this Sweets on a Stick was released in December and is published by Adams Media. It is a US release so it contains US measurements and ingredients and has a conversion chart for metric in the back. It is a collection of fun and easy to make recipes and ideas that are kid friendly and includes decorated cake pops, decorated cookies, baked cookies, pies, candies, cupcakes, muffins, fruit plus more that you can make with your kids. And they're all on a stick, ever single one.

Hello - it's me Linda nice to meet y'all

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick photos by Terri Vandermeer or Linda Vandermeer
Family photo's by Naomi V Photography

A sweet surprise party for Caketopia styled by Sweet Art

 I have made some lovely friends over the years through my blog.

Many of them are overseas or interstate, like old fashioned pen pals but with new fangled high speed internet chat.

But sometimes they are closer than I know,  one day on my way to drop the kids at their classroom one of the other mums asked me if my name was Linda, and to my surprise I found out that she was a super talented cake decorator the owner of Caketopia that I 'knew' from a cake forum.

Yup right there at the school drop off carpark. Since then we have become great friends as we chat about cakey - and not so cakey related stuff on the long walk up the hill to pick up our young children.

So when Sweet Art Cakes contacted me to ask if I would like to come along to a surprise party celebrating the opening of Caketopia's new kitchen and studio of course I had to come.

Quite a number of people contributed to the dessert table for the party, which was honestly one of the prettiest I have seen. Kellie from Sweet Art Cakes styled the table and I just adored so many of the touches, including the hand painted 'cake shop window' and the gorgeous light boxes she created which each had an internal light and held a single cupcake (which by the way were little works of art deserving of the treatment).

Kellie's table and the other contributors treats were so lovely that the party was a guest feature on Amy Atlas

I made raspberry gelee macarons in pink and aqua - Click here for the recipe

A wonderful time was had by all.

Sweet Surprise Party for the opening of Caketopia

 

Table Design: Sweet Art Cakes

Cake, cookies, mousse and tarts: Sweet Art Cakes

Cupcakes: Crumbs of Comfort Cake Design

Macarons: Bubble & Sweet

Cakepops & Chocolate Pretzel Rods: Megan’s Cakes by Design

Mini Chocolates and Tags: Cupcakes by Haley 

 

 

If this is wrong I don't want to be right chocolate peanut butter baked cheesecakes

Peanut Butter. Chocolate. Cheesecake. Oreo.

It sounds so wrong, but it tastes sooooo right.

I'm continuing on with my mini Cheesecake love with a super rich version which is based on one of my favorite flavor combinations....peanut butter and chocolate.

At first I thought I might just pop a whole Peanut Butter Cup into the cheesecake on top of the Oreo, y'know make it super easy, and if you look carefully at the picture below you can see that is exactly what I did to the one on the left side - see the little layer of chocolate in between the peanut and cheesecake. But for my tastes I found that section of the cheesecake a little crumbly and dry, don't get me wrong it was good, but not quite what I was hoping for. So I did a google search around and found this cheat recipe and decided to modify it a bit for use in the cheesecake.

Not only is the filling creamier - it's more cost effective plus I could make it a bit smaller than the shop bought one so I got a little bit more cheesecake in.

Soooooo Right.

(.......also just in case you missed my previous post I would like to clarify mostly for Mr Sweet's sake that the statement in the photo is not true - I pretty much always want to be right.)

Peanut Butter Baked Cheesecake

makes 14 large Texas muffin sized cheesecakes. For the pictures I poured over some melted chocolate peanut ganache and added chopped mini Reece's Peanut Butter Cups.

Peanut Butter Filling

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) sifted
2tbsp + 1 tsp unsalted butter or 45g (3 US Tbsp or 1 1/2 oz)
pinch salt

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined. If it's a very hot day you may like to place the 7oz that will be used in the cheesecakes in the fridge to make it easier to handle.

Cheesecake

14 Oreo Cookies
7oz of the Peanut Butter Filling (see recipe above)
625g (21oz) cream cheese at room temperature
1 tin condensed milk
3 large eggs at room temperature
14 large muffin papers (I bought these ones from woolies)


Preheat oven to 140C (280 F)

Line the muffin tins with the muffin/cupcake papers. Place one single oreo in the bottom of each paper.

Top each Oreo with 3 tsp (1 US Tbsp) of peanut butter mixture and press down onto the top of the Oreo cookie.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese using a mixer at medium speed until just smooth, add the condensed milk and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the large muffin papers dividing mixture evenly between the papers using a scant 1/3 cup to each to make 14.

Place the tray into the oven and bake until the mixture is just setting in the center, around 16- 20 mins

Allow to cool in the trays for 10-15min and then pop in an airtight container in the fridge until chilled.

Top each cheesecake with a swirl of Peanut Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows).

Peanut Chocolate Ganache

4oz Dark or Semi Sweet Chocolate 
1 oz cream

4 oz Peanut Butter Filling

20g (3/4 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature

Chop the chocolate into fine pieces. Place in a microwave safe bowl with the cream and heat in the microwave at medium low heat for 1 minute bursts until melted. Make sure you do not overheat the chocolate. 

Cover and allow to set at room temperature until firm.

Beat the chocolate mixture on high for a couple of minutes until it lightens in color. Add the Peanut Butter Filling and mix well at medium speed, add the butter and continue to beat at medium speed until the mixture comes together, do not over mix.