The exciting news in Williamsburg, Virginia today involves my associate and friend, Alice Cooke, the owner of CakeAlicious Design Studio in the New Town planned community. The word is out that CakeAlicious will compete in Cake Wars on Food Network, and the airing will be at 9 p.m. on August 8, 2016!

If you are in the Williamsburg area, it is worth a trip to our local, favorite, gourmet coffee shop, where you can indulge in cupcakes, pastries, baked goodies and confections, and Alice’s homemade gelato. Alice is a highly talented and artistic baker who has done thousands of award winning cakes for weddings, birthdays and many special events over the years.

You may wonder what this has to do with books or publishing! I think Alice’s life is inspirational and am hoping to convince her to write a book or memoir. In addition to that, did you know that cakes have played an important role in history? In the 1830s, Mexico and France waged battle in The Pastry War over (among other things) unpaid bakery debts. And although Marie Antoinette didn’t actually say, “Let the people eat cake,” that slogan has become the icon of class indifference to the poor in the centuries since it was attributed to her.

Ultimately, life boils down to what is sweet and what is not. My novels and those of the authors whose works I have published write about heart. It is important that we remember what is good and fun in life. I can think of nothing more delicious or anticipatory than watching pastry chefs compete to produce the best-judged cake…except tasting it at the end! You can meet Alice and see the wonderful creations made in the CakeAlicious Design Studio on its website by clicking this link: http://www.cakealiciousdesignstudio.com/ And please tune in this Monday night to see the outcome of the competition and how our hometown favorite did on Cake Wars!