Avant-garde composer John Cage once shared, “Ideas are one thing and what happens is another. For me the surprise of what happens is the real joy.” That is, in fact, a lovely restatement of how I feel about the Bakehouse’s Hot Cocoa Cake. It’s even better than before now that we’ve started putting Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter into the culinary mix. Each bite, for me, is indeed joyous, for the beauty of the flavor itself and for seeing the idea come to such compelling fruition.
A year or so ago—in the kind of conversations we are always having here at Zingerman’s as we imagine ways to make what we bake, cook, and sell better still—the butter certainly seemed like a good idea for the cake. The thought itself was energizing, absolutely intriguing. I was hopeful, but of course, the evidence is not in the idea but in the eating. And as John Cage suggested it would, the real joy appeared many months later when I tasted the cake! It’s even more impactful than I’d imagined.
The last time I wrote about this great Bakehouse cake was to announce that we had made it even better by switching over to the French Broad Chocolate single-origin Nicaragua chocolate. This was about two years ago. Carefully sourced and crafted by my friend Jael Skeffington and the FBC team in Asheville, the chocolate is darker, better quality, and, without question, more compelling! The flavor is cleaner, less sweet, more coherently cocoa-y! Zach Milner—busboy turned longtime Roadhouse dining room manager who’s also served as a Staff Partner for the past year—ate some when we made the switch, and his enthusiasm was palpable: “Wow! With the new chocolate, the Hot Cocoa Cake is now my favorite Bakehouse coffee cake! You really can taste the difference!”
The chocolate song we’re singing remains the same when we make this cake with Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. The butter, as I’ve been noting for weeks now, is making three dozen or so ZCoB staples significantly better than they already were. All of them tasted great and were big sellers before we upgraded the butter.
If you’re not already aware, the cultured butter is made the way great butter would have been made in the 1830s, when the house and barn at Cornman Farms were being built. Up until the end of the 19th century, the cream from fresh milk would have been allowed to slowly rise to the top. It would then be skimmed and saved for at least a couple of days, until the farm family had enough of it to make butter with. In the process, the natural bacterial cultures would ripen, enhancing the flavor in the cream. The process is similar to how cheese and yogurt develop, and the results are truly remarkable. Pretty much everyone who eats it loves it. People adore it on the Roadhouse bread service and in the Buttermilk Biscuits, Butterscotch Pudding, grits, mashed potatoes, and more. In October, the Bakehouse followed suit. This butter is now in the scones, Sour Cream Coffee Cake, croissants, Patti Pockets, and pie crusts. You really can taste the difference.
The Hot Cocoa Cake is truly delicious. It’s still Zach Milner’s favorite. Here’s what he says:
What was already a really marvelously luscious chocolate from French Broad has now been joined with some truly special butter. Like all the coffee cakes, I thought it was moist before, but now, with the cultured butter in it, it basically melts in your mouth. Amazing texture and creaminess mixed with that chocolate … you really can’t beat it. It’s my go-to with a cup of Holiday Blend coffee.
You can order the Hot Cocoa Cake whole at the Bakeshop, Roadhouse, or Deli. Or have it shipped from Mail Order. FYI, it’s part of the lineup our great Coffee Cake Club offers. And you can get it by the slice at the Bakeshop and Roadshow!
In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.
One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.
Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
