I just finished a draft of the first chapter of my cookbook! This had me feeling pretty pleased with myself until I remembered that I have to do that nine more times. Things are going to get ugly come June, I can tell you that much.
So, what's it like writing a dessert cookbook? I won't lie. It's pretty awesome. Especially at this early stage where my editor isn't breathing down my neck, yet, and I can pretend that what I'm cooking and writing is exactly what she wants, and she's going to make sweet, sweet love to my manuscript! But I know that's all wrong. A good editor will poke holes in every aspect of what you've written, questioning the very foundation of your ideas, until the world as you knew it doesn't make sense anymore and slow death feels like a better alternative than all the nit-picking work you have ahead of you. Of course, after the revision process is complete, even you have to admit that your manuscript is a million times better than it was before, but by then all the hard work is over so it's a lot easier to be honest.
The biggest problem with a book that revolves around sugar, as you might imagine, is all the sugar flying around. Before I started this project, a five-pound bag of sugar could last me two months easy. Now I'm lucky if it lasts the week. My brown sugar spends so little time in the pantry that it stays soft and fluffy instead of turning into the usual stale bag of marbles. I'm single-handedly keeping Cabot in the butter business. And I don't even want to tell you how many empty containers of heavy cream are in my recycling bin right now, but it looks like all the neighborhood babies crawled over here last night and had a huge bender.
In order to stay on schedule, I draft 2-3 different recipes every week. Each one has to be made 2-3 times to get it to the level it needs to be. Maybe more if it insists on sucking. Often, that translates to seven or eight desserts coming out of my oven per week. In other words, 7-8 bowls that get licked, 7-8 cakes/pies/puddings to be tasted and compared to the ones before, each one tempting me with the sweet promise of a sugar-high and an equally dramatic sugar-low. My workout regimen can barely keep up!
The obvious answer to this problem of surplus sweets is to give them away, right? And I have many willing takers, including neighbors, teachers at my kids' school, and farmers at my farm. I'm more than happy to give away the good stuff. Proud, even. But who wants to claim credit for the crappy stuff? Not me. Even I have some pride. My creative process is messy and unpleasant. It's not good PR to be all, here, have another shitty cake and, by the way, buy my cookbook! Yet, I can't bear to throw food away. So what ends up happening is that the reject versions sit around for days cluttering up my kitchen counters until I realize that I need one of the baking dishes that's already in use. Before I know it, I've blacked out face-down over a tray of subpar bread pudding until Husband comes home and, after peeling my face out of the custard and clearing my airways, scrapes everything into the trash while I protest incomprehensibly.
See? It's not all fun and games, people. This is serious, serious business.
But I will say that I'm very proud of the work I've done so far. I can only hope that a diabetic coma doesn't claim me before I have a chance to finish!
Ooh Ooh bring some of it over here. I'm close and I have NO time to bake and am constantly craving baked goods. I'll take anything you don't want:)
Posted by: Ann Woody | November 08, 2011 at 01:52 PM
I cannot wait to buy your cookbook. Seriously.
Posted by: L. | November 08, 2011 at 02:02 PM
Hilarious! Good luck keeping all those calories at bay, 7-8 dessert efforts a week would be my downfall!
Posted by: Anne | November 08, 2011 at 02:27 PM
Second L. Can't wait.
Posted by: Susanna Baird | November 08, 2011 at 03:37 PM
Don't forget you promised to let us help.
Posted by: Moopheus | November 08, 2011 at 07:16 PM
I love the image of the babies on a bender.
Posted by: Sara | November 09, 2011 at 09:41 AM
Oh, recipe-testing. That is part of the reason why I loved learning to cook in college co-ops - college students, particularly drunk college students, will eat all desserts, even the failures!
Posted by: adele | November 10, 2011 at 11:47 AM
Like the folks above, I cannot wait to get a copy of your dessert cook book. I wish I was nearby to help.
Posted by: Don Chase | November 11, 2011 at 09:25 AM
That is a hilarious visual... but be careful! Don't overdose on custard...
Posted by: emiglia | November 13, 2011 at 09:40 AM
emiglia: Too late!
Don: Got your e-mail. Will get back to you this week.
adele: Brilliant! I have Brandeis AND Bentley nearby. Problem solved!
Sara: Me, too!
Moopheus: You're right. I'll have a recipe this week for you to test!
Susanna: Thank goodness for GLOW!
Anne: I retooled the cake you tested and I'm really happy with the results. Thanks so much for your input!
L: Thank you!! I'll be sending you a vegetarian (i.e., lardless) recipe this week to test.
Ann: You'll be sorry! You'll be veeeerrrrry sorry!!!
Posted by: Tammy | November 14, 2011 at 08:44 AM
On the "writer" end of things, I enjoyed reading about your experience with the bittersweet (okay, nail-yanking painful) process of beating a book into order. I've seen various takes on this experience via my writer's group, but never from a cookbook author. Rock on with your bad self, and best of luck come June!
Posted by: Phoebe | December 12, 2011 at 06:09 PM