Hot Cakes’ New Wilderness Collection

Ten Percent of Sales Go To Protecting Wild Lands

Autumn Martin is delighted to launch Hot Cakes’ Wilderness Collection, a family of confections whose sales will benefit a variety of organizations that work to protect our wildlife and wild places. The collection includes new caramel sauces that showcase flavors of the forest and deserts close to Martin’s heart, as well as the Smoked Chocolate Chips and S’mores Kit. Ten percent of the proceeds from sales of the collection will go toward protecting wilderness, a cause that Martin, as a lifelong Northwesterner and an avid surfer, hiker, and snowboarder, truly believes in.

The organizations that the Wilderness Collection benefits will change quarterly—in the first quarter of 2016, the donation will be divided equally between Forterra, Washington Trails Association, and the Sierra Club.

As for the products: the new caramel sauces are $14 each and are available at both the Ballard and Capitol Hill shops and online at www.getyourhotcakes.com.

Here are the flavors:

The Campfire Caramel Sauce is made with mesquite and hickory-smoked sugar and alder smoked sea salt. Hot Cakes smokes their own sugar and sources the smoked salt from a salt company here in Seattle. This caramel sauce packs the delightful flavor of a backwoods campfire into a jar.

The White Sage Caramel Sauce is made with wild-grown white sage harvested in the deserts of southern California. This sage is not often used in food but has long been used for ceremonial purposes. This fragrant sauce embodies the scent of the desert.

The Juniper Caramel Sauce is made with the gorgeous tiny, fragrant seed cones of the juniper tree. This sauce will remind you of the sunbaked High Sierras or your favorite gin cocktail.

The third caramel sauce will be a rotating, limited edition seasonal flavor. In the spring, Martin will forage for nettles to make Stinging Nettle Caramel Sauce, and at other times of the year it will highlight Northwest flavors like Cedar, paired with vanilla, or Doug Fir Tips. Each of these sauces uses leaves, branches, berries, or barks straight from the natural world. Hot Cakes’ team of artisans carefully captures the essence of wild places by using traditional techniques of both warm and cold infusion to bring out the bright, beautiful flavors. The caramel sauces are always made by hand by a trained artisan, patiently stirring the sugars in a copper kettle the whole time—corn syrup or other heavily processed ingredients are never added.

As with all of Hot Cakes products, the ingredients used are minimal and certified organic. Hot Cakes has partnered up with the only two certified organic dairies in the area—Pure Eire and Fresh Breeze—for their cream and milk and they use organic, Fair Trade cane sugar and sea salt as well.

The S’mores Kit and the Smoked Chocolate Chips both utilize a cold smoking technique that Martin developed herself, inspired by memories of the salmon her dad would smoke in their yard when she was a kid. The organic chocolate is infused with the subtle flavor of alder wood smoke, which is especially striking when put to use in baked goods. The S’mores Kit includes organic, corn syrup-free marshmallows, handmade graham crackers, and a cold-smoked semi-sweet chocolate bar—enough supplies to make six superlative s’mores, and it’s $25, available online and in the shops. The smoked chips come in 7 oz. jars for $15—the smoky chocolate can also be experienced in Hot Cakes’ s’mores cookies or in their smoked chocolate magic shell at the Capitol Hill shop.

As she prepared to open the second Hot Cakes on Capitol Hill, Martin spent a lot of time brainstorming about how to best show off the natural world in her products. She has a strong connection to the scents, feelings, and flavors of the wild—fragrant evergreens, smoky campfires, salty sea spray, and satisfyingly bitter foraged greens—and these caramels and treats really embody that. Martin is delighted to share them with the world, and use them in special desserts at both shops. As Hot Cakes continues to grow, Martin wants to bring in more and more of the outdoors, incorporating camp treats into the shops’ offerings—as well as creating more desserts that can be enjoyed out in the woods. It all comes together with the Wilderness Collection—confections that celebrate the flavors of the wild and give back to the wild.

Also, to cozy up this winter, Hot Cakes is carrying the tried and true Faribault Woolen Mill blankets in their signature black and cream gingham, enamel camp mugs, and natural canvas totes available in the shops and online. Add a couple molten cakes or a S’mores Kit and you’re ready for a sweet little winter picnic!

Established as a farmers market stand by Autumn Martin in 2008, Hot Cakes is a brand of high-quality, organic, wilderness-inspired desserts—as well as two dessert restaurants. The original Ballard location of Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery was opened in May of 2012, and the second outpost in Capitol Hill opened its doors in August of 2015. While the molten cakes have earned Martin a devoted following (as well as a sofiTM award) Hot Cakes offers an array of other wonderful treats like dry-burned caramel sauces, cookies, cakes, and shakes. Raised in the Northwest, Martin has a strong connection to the scents, feelings, and flavors of the region, and loves to include them in her innovative confections like Smoked Chocolate Chips and Stinging Nettle Caramel Sauce. Hot Cake’ mission is to both inspire and please, all the while staying true to their beliefs and looking out for the earth by using sustainable ingredients. To learn more or order Hot Cakes products online, visit www.getyourhotcakes.com.

The Ballard Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery is located at 5427 Ballard Avenue NW in Seattle, Washington. The Ballard location is open Monday through Friday from 11am to 11pm and until 12am on Friday. Saturdays the shop is open from 10am to 12am and Sundays 10am to 11pm. Happy Hour is Monday through Friday from 3pm to 6pm. For more information, call 206.453.3792.

The Capitol Hill Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery is located at 1650 East Olive Way in Seattle, Washington. The Capitol Hill location is open Monday through Friday from 4pm to 11pm, and until 12am on Friday. Saturdays the shop is open from 10am to 12am and Sundays 10am to 11pm. For more information, call 206.258.2591.

Written by Charles Koh

Founded EatSeattle, and has continued to use his expertise as editor-in-chief to guide the website’s growth over the last five years. Koh’s experience focuses on digital marketing and social media, and has been a part of several companies, some of which he created, specializing in both areas over the course of his career. Koh was previously with Google and Zagat where he helped expand and grow communities worldwide.

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