all done, now what?

last wednesday, the first day of the photo shoot, i honestly thought it would never end. we needed to get about 70 different shots. this was just of the desserts mind you. after working two 14 hour days followed by a 17 hour day, i was convinced that i would meet my end. move forward to this week and things changed. we hit a groove, so to speak, and things progressed quickly and before i knew it, i was hugging karen and wishing her well-we were done!

since things went so quickly, i didn't take many photos. these are the black bottom cupcakes that didn't get made yesterday (day 5) . these things are addictive; i have family members who do not ask me how i am when we speak and instead ask me when i am sending them black bottoms. they consist of a black-deep, dark chocolate cake topped with chocolate chip cheesecake.

for the cupcake shot, we also needed some strawberry cupcakes. if you have read my last book, you may recall that i have a strawberry cake in that book too. after moving to the south i encountered this popular cake and this is my spin on it. karen and i put our thoughts together and decided to build a tower out of cake stands and cover it with the two batches of cupcakes.

here we are once again, outside baking in the heat-literally. the cupcakes lasted long enough to be photographed and then they were done too.

after this we took a lunch break and then we set up the final shot, cleaned up the mess and headed out in different directions. karen to new york, dave to east nashville and myself, back in the cafe to get ready for the next day-my first day back after the book was completed.

so, what's next for me you ask. how about i clean the house, pay some bills and tackle the repairs of our flood damaged home. and in there somewhere, there will be bread-crusty, chewy sourdough bread. i can hear the starter calling my name...