Erin Gardner, PROCRASTIBAKING
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[1:13]Hi. Happy Monday. Actually, I don't like when people say happy Monday. I don't know why I said that.
[1:18]Anyway, welcome back. I hope you guys had a great weekend. This is the second week of my July
[1:23]book last. So get excited. The first day is advice Monday. So it's assorted advice all day
[1:32]for this Monday. I hope you enjoy it. And stay tuned all week. We're going to have kids books,
[1:37]be treats, self help, and more. And we're kicking it off with advice Monday. Stay tuned.
[1:43]Hi, interviewed Aaron Gardner for the first time at the beginning of the pandemic and talking to her
[1:48]about her most recent book, Procrastinating was just so perfectly timed as everyone and their
[1:54]brother was making all sorts of baked goods for the last several months. She also wrote a book called
[2:00]Aaron Bakes Cake. She was a former pastry chef extraordinaire and owned wild orchid baking company
[2:07]with cakes that appeared all over like Martha Stewart weddings, brides, and the knot. And now she
[2:14]has the cake blog where she's regular contributor, also to crafty. And she has her two books.
[2:20]She currently lives in New Hampshire with her husband and what she calls her crazy kids.
[2:25]Welcome, Aaron. Thanks so much for coming on mom's no time to read books. Thank you so much for
[2:29]having me. I'm excited to be here. As I was saying to you, I love doing an Instagram live with you
[2:34]in the midst of the quarantine, but had so many more, I don't know, questions. It just didn't want
[2:38]to stop talking. So I thought we could do a whole podcast. Oh, that's great. I mean, I really
[2:42]appreciate it. You having me on your IG live. This is super fun too. So it's so nice to have
[2:48]like adult contact. I'm really looking, yeah, this is great. Before I did this, my two little kids
[2:57]and I were literally in the street waiting for the UPS person, not that we were expecting anything.
[3:02]And after an hour, he came and that was like the highlight of the day. So yeah, you know,
[3:06]yeah, it's good times over here. Life is a lot simpler now.
[3:13]So your latest cookbook procrasta baking, you're the master baker and you've helped coin this term
[3:21]procrasta baking. And now you have a whole cookbook about it. So how did you first like go back
[3:26]track a little and talk about how you got started in the professional baking world to get to this
[3:31]point? Oh, wow. Okay. Like, let's go back. Let's go away back. Yeah. So I, I actually have far back
[3:41]you always loved baking as a kid. Faking as a kid, but I never never saw it as a profession.
[3:49]And actually my first major in college was aviation. Wow. That's how I met my husband. My
[3:55]husband's pilot. No way. Yeah. Yeah. And I learned through doing that for about a year or so that
[4:02]I am not a pilot. And that's a good thing to learn about yourself if you think you're a pilot.
[4:08]I enjoyed it. But you know, like my husband says, it's eight hours of boredom
[4:13]book ended by 30 seconds of terror. That's, it's like parenting.
[4:20]Just sitting there, you know, yeah. So aviation's so interesting. So you ruled that out.
[4:28]No, ruled that out. And I, you know, wrapped up my degree in marking business management
[4:33]marketing. And I worked in advertising for a very brief period of time. And I was selling ads
[4:39]to a restaurant. And they were looking for a nighttime dessert later. And I said, you know,
[4:46]I think I could do that. Like that seems awesome. And I didn't even realize that these are
[4:51]jobs that I could do. And it just, it really pinked my interest. So to the chagrin of all adults
[4:59]around me at the time, I quit my office job and I took a job cleaning desserts at night. And
[5:05]the rest was history. I worked my way up through. That was in Hartford, Connecticut, moved to Boston,
[5:11]worked through a bunch of restaurants in Boston and then into New Hampshire. And then I opened my
[5:16]bakery. I had a wedding cake shop for about seven years and made wedding cakes all over New England.
[5:22]And that was sort of my, you know, the kind of the big moment in my career. And then while I
[5:27]was doing that, I was approached to start doing other things like teaching classes on a couple
[5:33]that online platforms and doing some writing and creating tutorials. And, you know, that sort of
[5:40]opened up the next phase of what I do now. Amazing. What was it like like being at the top of your
[5:46]field making wedding cakes and being a part of like the most special night for so many people in
[5:51]their lives? I loved it. I really did truly love it. And I loved working with the couples. And I
[5:57]loved learning about them and their story and seeing all the different styles, the things that really
[6:03]meant something to people. But it was terrifying. Like we said, the terrifying side of aviation,
[6:09]there's a terrifying side to cake decorating. And that is that, you know, every wedding is the
[6:15]big night. You know, it's never not the most important day of some life. You know, there's no
[6:23]do over. So that side of it could be fun also because because there was an excitement to it,
[6:29]you know, bringing a cake to a venue. And of course, like you get to know all the other vendors,
[6:34]like the florist and the wedding planners and the banquet hall stabs and like things like that. So,
[6:39]you know, getting in at the time, everyone's setting up and it's kind of like team and then you
[6:44]all disperse and move to the next one. And so that part, you know, it was exciting. But then also
[6:49]like, yeah, I probably I should name an altar like wedding. So then what made you close the bakery
[7:03]and move on to other things? Well, I had my first child Max. He's my oldest, my son. He's nine now.
[7:09]And he spent the first year of his life in a packing play at the end of my work table in the
[7:14]bakery. And then once he got, once he got mobile, we had to move on to take care. And then when
[7:20]I second was born and she's gonna be fine at the end of this month, I decided that it was time
[7:26]to put all of my efforts into those other things that had started popping up like writing
[7:32]opportunities and teaching opportunities and things along those lines so that I could really
[7:38]be there for my kids. You know, with a husband who's a pilot, I go through stretches of time
[7:43]where I'm the only parent. So, you know, having the deadline, the ultimate deadline of a wedding
[7:49]isn't always the best thing to have when you have two very small children. You know, Max came
[7:55]on lots of wedding cake deliveries with me. It was strapped to me and I'd bring the cake in and,
[8:01]you know, I I'm glad that I was had enough energy to get through that point in my life. But once
[8:08]number two came along, I was like, I think it's time to move on to the next phase. You know,
[8:13]and I miss things about it. But I love those things like to do now, like sharing with people and,
[8:20]you know, being able to look back at my experiences and help people with technique and
[8:24]recipe and, you know, the things that they can do at home to kind of enhance their own celebrations.
[8:29]We were looking at some of your recipes online or I was with the kids before we talked and
[8:34]your phone. Fettie recipe is on our to-do list now tomorrow. Yeah, that's a great one. One ball
[8:40]or one ball. Yeah, you don't need a mixer. Super easy. Thank you. That's like the perfect.
[8:47]Those are the words you need to hear. Yes, exactly. One ball. Not too messy. Very simple. Full of
[8:53]sugar. Yeah. You throw handful of sprinkles in there and like, oh, like everyone's happy, right?
[8:59]Yeah. So easy. You think it's as long as you don't mind throwing sprinkles at your kids all day,
[9:03]they would just be drunk. Yeah. Actually, a funny story. So my youngest one day because I have all
[9:10]of my, like, you know, I work from home now. So I have a lot of supplies in my kitchen. And my
[9:16]oldest, he could care less about sweets. He'll walk past them. But my youngest is a cookie monster,
[9:22]like a hardcore sugar addict. So one morning, we woke up and, you know, max was in my room.
[9:28]We're hanging out and it's like, where's your sister? I haven't heard from her and it's like,
[9:32]way too quiet. She was downstairs and had poured herself a bowl of sprinkles and was sitting
[9:37]at the kitchen table, just spooning them into her. Oh, my gosh. That's awesome. That's like a dream
[9:44]breakfast. Do you take a picture? I hope I can take a picture. Yeah. I think she was like two and a half,
[9:49]three at the time. She was just like, that's perfect. She thought she had figured out the perfect thing.
[9:58]Okay. So it's tough.
[10:00]Only about how you ended up doing your first cookbook
[10:02]and how that led now to procrastinating your next cookbook.
[10:06]Oh, yeah.
[10:07]No, well, I had written this.
[10:08]I've actually, I'm on number three now, the first time.
[10:12]Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
[10:13]because the first one was sort of more of like an author
[10:16]for higher kind of situation where I was writing
[10:19]to fulfill a need for a publisher.
[10:22]And then Erin Bixkink was really like my, you know,
[10:25]came from my experiences and heart and soul kind of feel,
[10:29]and had the opportunity to put that together,
[10:32]kind of that book embodied where I've taken cake decorating
[10:35]from the high end wedding cake world to home.
[10:39]So I was using a lot of those sort of classic techniques
[10:43]and ideas and recipes and flavors
[10:47]and then translating them to, you know,
[10:49]still kind of over the top stuff,
[10:51]but stuff that you could accomplish at home
[10:53]and that you don't need special tools for.
[10:55]That's something I've prided myself on
[10:58]with the kinds of tutorials and recipes that I write
[11:00]for people now and like the different publications
[11:02]and whatnot is I will never do anything
[11:05]that requires you to purchase anything
[11:08]that isn't already in your kitchen.
[11:09]I use toothpicks, foil, spoons, you know, stuff like that.
[11:13]And I have moved away from sort of like
[11:17]the traditional wedding cake elements like fondant
[11:19]and gum paste and that kind of stuff.
[11:21]And I will only use now like chocolate cookies and candy
[11:24]to create decorative elements.
[11:27]So that book was in the spirit of that.
[11:30]And then this book procrastinating actually was born
[11:34]from that book and I had no idea
[11:36]that that was happening at the time
[11:38]because one of the things that I do and now everyone knows
[11:42]is when I have these projects, these big projects
[11:45]that I'm working on, I will bake something else
[11:48]like something not on the script
[11:51]to kind of warm up or if I'm not feeling
[11:55]whenever it isn't supposed to be doing, you know,
[11:57]I'll just make something fun.
[11:58]And so I did that one of the days
[12:00]that I was supposed to be writing for Aaron Bakes cake
[12:03]and I posted a picture of it on Instagram,
[12:06]hashtag procrastinating, the baking I'm doing
[12:09]when I'm supposed to be doing other baking.
[12:11]And, you know, it was even like that big of a post
[12:14]like a couple of my Baker friends were like,
[12:16]oh, oh, oh, oh, I did so well, you know.
[12:19]And so literally just like life moved on.
[12:22]Like that was a very basic post.
[12:24]And then about a year and a half after that,
[12:27]around that, I get a message on Instagram,
[12:30]DM from Julian Mohskin from the New York Times
[12:33]saying that she's writing an article on procrastinating
[12:37]and when I want to be interviewed.
[12:39]And of course, so spoke with her.
[12:43]I said some silly things because it's a silly topic
[12:48]and, you know, being in the article
[12:51]and then my literary agent, my wonderful,
[12:54]literary agent, Alison Fargis, she called me
[12:57]and she was like, Aaron, this is a book.
[13:00]I said, yeah, it probably is.
[13:02]This could be really good.
[13:05]And then it was just really fortuitous.
[13:06]You know, the publisher that I ended up with,
[13:08]Adria, the publisher who was on staff then
[13:11]was a procrastinator himself.
[13:14]So, you know, he felt the strong connection to the book.
[13:17]You know, my editor Sarah was just so enthusiastic
[13:20]about the projects and it was,
[13:22]books are hard because there's so much work
[13:25]that goes into them, but it was such an enjoyable process.
[13:28]And it was so, I don't wanna say easy
[13:31]cause it's not easy, but it came to naturally
[13:34]because it was literally just like,
[13:36]okay, wow, I have to just open up the floodgates
[13:38]and like, this is what I do when no one's lucky.
[13:41]I went, my husband read the first draft of it.
[13:47]He was like, wow, this is the most used thing
[13:49]that you've ever done.
[13:50]I was like, yeah, this, yeah, that's, that's it.
[13:55]But that's so great.
[13:56]I mean, that's what they say.
[13:56]That's what all the advice is.
[13:58]It's like right what you know,
[13:59]or right what no one else can write.
[14:01]And that's like, this is your thing
[14:03]that you do behind closed doors
[14:04]and it benefits everybody for you to tell us about it.
[14:08]Yeah, no.
[14:08]And writing in your voice, you know,
[14:10]like that's just a really, and that's challenging.
[14:14]You know, I didn't, my career was never to be a writer.
[14:17]And that just kind of happens in a way.
[14:20]So that part has been interesting for me,
[14:24]like just practicing writing
[14:26]and practicing really saying what I want to say
[14:29]and not saying it in a way
[14:31]that you think people want to hear it kind of thing.
[14:33]You know, it's been a learning process.
[14:34]But one that I'm grateful for, it's been really great.
[14:37]Do you have like what are your biggest go-to
[14:40]procrastinating recipes?
[14:42]Like what, if you have like a huge deadline,
[14:45]what will we find you most likely
[14:46]in the kitchen baking furtively?
[14:48]And feeling guilty about cooking.
[14:52]Yeah, because cake is my life,
[14:54]I turn cookies when I'm looking to like get away, you know?
[14:57]Cookie, scones, biscuits, things like that.
[14:59]They're easy.
[15:00]They're easily shareable.
[15:02]My butter crunch cookies are like hands down
[15:05]my favorite cookies in the whole world.
[15:06]They're just so yummy.
[15:09]Yeah, no, that's why also in the book
[15:11]there's a hundred recipes.
[15:13]And the chapters are primarily broken up
[15:15]into like about 10 recipes each, except for cookies,
[15:18]which is like 20% of the book.
[15:20]Because I think it's a common thread
[15:23]through all kinds of people who procrastinate
[15:25]that cookies are going to.
[15:26]You know, no one will turn down a cookie.
[15:29]And you can, well, in the before time
[15:31]and going forward at some point, I'm sure, you know,
[15:34]they're shareable and you can bring them into the office
[15:36]so you can bring them into school.
[15:38]And it's just a real easy bake, you know,
[15:41]to blow off some steam.
[15:42]Do you have any secrets to making
[15:44]the best chocolate chip cookies?
[15:45]Because that's my favorite food, I think,
[15:47]in the planet is a chocolate chip cookie.
[15:50]What are the, what are your secrets?
[15:52]Well, I mean, I can't chocolate chip cookies
[15:54]are very personal.
[15:55]It's probably one of the most personal baked goods, I think.
[15:59]You know, you can agree.
[16:00]I'm like, oh, that's a goodie clear.
[16:02]Or oh, that's a nice something.
[16:04]But like chocolate chip cookie,
[16:05]like some people like thin and crispy,
[16:06]some people like chewy, some people like cakey.
[16:09]So I think, you know, with any style chocolate chip cookie,
[16:13]I always like to under bake a little bit,
[16:15]like a hair, you know what I mean, obviously you don't
[16:17]want something that's gross or unsafe.
[16:19]But, you know, for recipe calls for 12 minutes of bake time,
[16:23]maybe I'll set it for 10 and then look at it and make the call.
[16:27]You know, I think with chocolate cookies, it's okay.
[16:30]If they're a little glossy in the center,
[16:32]like just a hair, you know, and then you pull it out
[16:34]and you let them kind of finish baking on the baking sheet,
[16:38]you know, let that residual heat just kind of,
[16:41]let everything, like get everything to set.
[16:43]And then if you like a softer cookie,
[16:45]a little bit of cream cheese is actually a great,
[16:48]the soft batch style ones in the book.
[16:51]That's what, like the cream cheese just makes it like smoother
[16:54]and creamier.
[16:55]I kind of inhibits a little bit of the gluten production,
[16:58]like it keeps the structure soft inside the cookie.
[17:01]So that would be another good trick.
[17:03]Oh, and to use good chocolate.
[17:05]But good chocolate is just whatever chocolate you like.
[17:08]So if you like dark chocolate, go for that.
[17:10]If you like, feel like chocolate, go for that.
[17:12]But don't feel chocolate pressure.
[17:14]Like just use what you enjoy the most.
[17:16]I've recently discovered the larger size,
[17:19]dark chocolate, total house chips.
[17:22]Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[17:23]That is not good.
[17:24]I've started like hiding them in my office.
[17:26]Because I don't want the kids to eat them.
[17:28]Anyway, they're just so good.
[17:30]So what's coming next for you?
[17:31]Are you gonna do another cookbook?
[17:32]I know this is just coming out,
[17:34]but you know, what do you see happening in the next year or two?
[17:37]Yeah, no.
[17:38]I mean, I wish I knew.
[17:39]I think I ever wanted to see that now, right?
[17:41]I assume that assuming life was normal.
[17:43]Let's protect our crystal ball.
[17:44]That would be great.
[17:46]Yeah, I know in the future, going forward,
[17:48]I look forward to being able to do more in-person classes,
[17:52]things that I had scheduled that are gonna be put off
[17:56]into the future now.
[17:57]I really, really love teaching people in person.
[17:59]It's so much fun for me to just have that energy.
[18:02]I teach a lot about stone oil kitchen and cooking school
[18:06]here in New York, New York main, right over the border
[18:08]with some other in-person teaching opportunities.
[18:10]And then I'll just keep sharing on my blog
[18:12]and on my social meeting and channels, you know, once,
[18:16]like now that I'm kind of getting through this whole book
[18:19]process, I'm actually kind of looking forward
[18:21]to just posting some stuff for fun with that I,
[18:24]that has no, you know, no one else looking over my shoulder
[18:27]with a theme or a deadline kind of thing.
[18:30]So I've got some fun projects that I have in mind
[18:32]for Mother's Day and Spring and Summer kind of things.
[18:35]Coming up, that's awesome.
[18:36]Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
[18:39]Somebody out there who might wanna do a cookbook
[18:42]or has some great idea?
[18:44]What do you think?
[18:45]I think my best advice would be to write
[18:48]that the more, for me personally,
[18:50]the more I write, the better I feel I am at it.
[18:53]So write anything, write emails to people,
[18:56]you know, write what you did that day.
[18:58]It doesn't have to be a project.
[18:59]It's just getting your words onto paper.
[19:01]And I've always find that the more that I do that,
[19:04]the better.
[19:05]Sometimes if I have nothing to do,
[19:07]I will go on and just review things on Amazon
[19:09]because I'm like, what, say about this, that's fun.
[19:12]I think about this, that's creative.
[19:14]Because it's kind of like, it's a completely no-pressure outlet.
[19:16]Like, no one's gonna judge, you know,
[19:18]written on your, like, swipper review, you know?
[19:21]But it's just kind of a, a low-key way to do that.
[19:24]And then if someone's really serious about it,
[19:27]I would say to find a literary agent,
[19:30]to find an agent who works with authors
[19:33]in the field that you're in and that, you know,
[19:36]managers or, you know, works with people
[19:39]who have books that look like the kind of book
[19:41]that you want to write,
[19:42]so that you know you're in the right company.
[19:45]You know, I think that's such an important key.
[19:48]And I know it's been a huge key
[19:49]to the wonderful things I've been able to work on.
[19:52]Awesome.
[19:53]Well, thank you, Erin.
[19:54]This has been so fun.
[19:55]Thanks for distracting your kids,
[19:57]and not lining my kids.
[20:00]in here. And thanks for taking the time today. And your book is just obviously, I mean,
[20:05]not just for the fact that everybody is at home and happens to be baking at the moment,
[20:09]but in general is a great concept. And it's just so awesome. So thanks for coming out.
[20:14]I appreciate it. It's been a lot of fun being able to chat with you here. So thanks for having
[20:18]you too. Bye. Thanks so much. Bye bye. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Advice Monday
[20:25]on the July book last. I know that some of these were from the quarantine and some might seem
[20:30]even old, even though they've just come out, but I just had to get them out in one big sweep. And
[20:34]I hope that you've gotten some useful life tips as you've listened today. Thanks again for
[20:40]listening to my podcast. Moms don't have time to read books. If you liked this episode, please follow me
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