Malts & Milkshakes60 Recipes for Frosty, Creamy Frozen Treats

Autumn Martin is an award-winning chocolatier and owner of Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, an artisan dessert shop and organic dessert company best known for their delicious Take-n-Bake Molten Chocolate Cake in mason jars, an organic line of caramel sauces, and cold-smoked chocolate chips. Autumn has been featured in Oprah magazine, The New York Times, Food + Wine, Bon Appetit, Whole Living, The Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Times, Sunset magazine, Daily Candy, Seattle magazine, Edible Seattle, and more.

Hot Cakes’ products are sold in fine grocery stores and specialty retail shops across the country. Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery features malts and milkshakes among other delicious treats. Autumn also teaches caramel and truffle-making classes. She lives in Seattle, WA.

Autumn Martin answers some questions we had about classic fountain drinks, her dessert shop, and of course her new book Malts and Milkshakes.

What is it about these drinks that seem to make people feel good? 

Well, people love ice cream…and they love it in many forms. Drinking ice cream has been an American favorite for many, many years now and in writing this book and developing recipes, I gained a stronger understanding for what people are looking for in a milkshake. I found the creamier shakes are, the better they are received. Also, the Salted Caramel is a favorite due to the intensity of it and the down-right richness of it.
Where did the inspiration come from to write a book on these classic fountain drinks? 

I knew I would be opening up a dessert shop where one of our main focuses would be milkshakes, so I thought this would be a great way to do early product development and write my first book!
Was it hard to make the transition from chocolatier/pastry chef to malt maker and milkshake master? 

Not at all – but I will say it took me a little bit to understand what it takes to make a perfect shake every time!
Can you tell us a little about Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery? 

I have built a dessert shop that focuses on delicious, innovative, fine desserts in a rustic yet refined atmosphere. Our most popular dessert is our namesake Molten Chocolate Cake, but people also love our shakes, boozy shakes and cookies. Everything is made to order and baked to order. We serve cocktails, wine and beer, and silky rich drinking chocolates and caramels. You won’t find another dessert shop quite like us – we are unique and that’s the way we like it!

What are you working on now? 

I am working on making our current dessert shop the best that it can possibly be. I am not in a rush to build more shops yet – we will be remodeling our current shop in the next couple of months to accommodate more people and create a better flow – sometimes it feels like a sardine tin in there!