Gobba Gobba Hey

Book excerpt: When Steven Gdula was growing up in western Pennsylvania, gobs were everywhere-at church bake sales and birthday parties, and even stacked by convenience store cash registers, sparkling in cellophane. Transplanted to California, Steven found himself dreaming of gobs: two rounds of moist cake joined by sweet, fluffy icing. The only way to satisfy his craving was to start baking them himself-but with a local spin, using seasonal ingredients and grown-up flavors. Once he perfected his recipes, Steven started selling his gobs from a cart on the streets of San Francisco. Calling his enterprise Gobba Gobba Hey (a nod to the Ramones), he was soon on his way to becoming something of a local food rock star. In Gobba Gobba Hey, Steven introduces readers, bakers, and eaters to the gob. These fifty-two recipes-one for every week of the year, from old-school chocolate and vanilla to matcha green tea with lemongrass ginger frosting-make it deliciously evident why gobs couldn't be kept a regional secret for long. Praise for The Warmest Room in the House (a Chicago Tribune Favorite Book of the Year) "[Gdula] serves up ... a delight, rich but restrained."-Atlantic "Literary comfort food-Very Short List "Vivid, funny and absorbing ...Warmhearted."-Dominique Browning, New York Times Book Review