Aimee France Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from New York City.
Today's guest is Aimee France, the self-taught cake artist who some of you know as yungkombucha420. Aimee is one of the most original cake artists and content creators around today. She's also one of the cover stars of our brand-new holiday issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine, The Cake Issue, which feels especially fitting given how much she's influenced the cake world these past few years. A native of New Hampshire who is now Brooklyn-based, Aimee built an unexpected career out of flavor exploration, visual whimsy, and sheer work ethic. But as you'll hear, that path has not been without its challenges. Today, we talk about everything from her famously unique breakfast and current nut butter obsession to the injuries that forced her to step back from cake production and rethink her future. Aimee opens up about burnout, entrepreneurship, her changing relationship with baking, and the quarter-life reassessment, we won't call it a crisis, reassessment that she's navigating right now. She and I talk about her influences as well, Tim Burton, claymation films, old school rap, and the fashion art and everyday city moments that fuel her creativity. If you love Aimee's work or if you're in need of a little honesty and reinvention energy, this is the episode for you. Stay tuned for my chat with Aimee France.
Today's show is presented by JW Marriott. Team Cherry Bombe is always on the move, that is for sure. Travelling for events, photoshoots, gatherings, and of course, our annual Jubilee. Logging time in hotels is simply part of the job, but the best days never feel like work, which is why we're inspired by JW Marriott's mindful approach to hospitality by creating restorative moments. Through serene spaces, garden-fresh ingredients, and thoughtful touches of nature, every JW Marriott stay is designed to bring care, joy, and mindfulness to your journey, helping you feel present, balanced, and fulfilled. A concept we can definitely get behind. Learn more and book your trip at jwmarriott.com.
A little housekeeping. If you're looking for some excellent and unique holiday gifts, the Cherry Bombe Cyber Monday holiday sale is underway. Head to cherrybombe.com for a special deal on our print magazine subscription and tickets to our Jubilee conference happening in New York City on Saturday, April 25th. These are great gifts for foodie friends, colleagues, loved ones, and especially for yourself. Head to cherrybombe.com to shop and learn more.
Now let's check in with today's guest. Aimee France, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Aimee France:
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Kerry Diamond:
You are the queen of the unique breakfast. I am curious what you had for breakfast this morning.
Aimee France:
Okay. In the winter, sometimes I wake up feeling a little bit nauseous, so I needed something very simple today. So I had a bagel just with butter and a scrambled egg, some stewed apples that I made, but I've been having them cold with a little bit of Skyr yogurt, and I had a date. Really into lemon verbena rosemary tea right now. That's what I've been having every morning. A little bit of a green juice. And then I had an Americano with... I got the salted maple honey over the summer at a farmer's market in Jersey, so I'm putting that in my coffee. Just adds a nice touch of sweetness with a little fall flair.
Kerry Diamond:
That was definitely a unique breakfast. Did you say it was simple in the beginning?
Aimee France:
Well, I just wanted something not too abrasive on the stomach.
Kerry Diamond:
You're very particular about yogurt.
Aimee France:
Yes. Well, honestly, right now, I got sent a lot of Icelandic Provisions yogurt. So much. I mean, I live alone, so I can only eat so much unless I give some to my friends. So I've really been going through it. I hate wasting food, so I've been eating it up. But I actually really do love their just plain Skyr yogurt. It's one of my favorites.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that's good to know.
Aimee France:
Great texture.
Kerry Diamond:
You said on Instagram that your new fall hobby is making nut butters.
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
What is that all about?
Aimee France:
I don't know, I'm just like into it. I think it's fun. There's so many different types of varieties that you can do. I mean, I have this really nice food processor that I feel like I never pull out because it's so big. And I used to have a mini one and then I broke it when I was making a slushy by accident. So now I'm like, "Okay, now I really got to just start using this big food processor." I also feel like I never really eat nut butter that often. So, I don't know, just something new to try and make.
Kerry Diamond:
I eat a lot of nut butter.
Aimee France:
Really?
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, but I buy it. We did a big project in Portland, Oregon, this year. And so I was at the farmer's market this late summer maybe midsummer. And this one place had amazing nut butters because they grow hazelnuts out there.
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
So they had hazelnut butter.
Aimee France:
That's the best way to get it.
Kerry Diamond:
It was so good. I go through a lot of peanut butter.
Aimee France:
Easy to make. Less than 30 minutes.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, that was the big takeaway from watching you. You did this beautiful batch. It was like pumpkin seeds and, I don't know, was it pecans and walnuts, but you caramelize the nuts. And it was so interesting to watch because I guess I had really never thought about what goes into nut butter.
Aimee France:
I know. It's much more simple than you think.
Kerry Diamond:
And it really was just 10 minutes in the food processor?
Aimee France:
Yeah, with some scraping. I think that's the tedious part is having to scrape down the sides, but you just got to have a little bit of patience. Put on a podcast. Listen to your favorite song three times in a row and it'll be over.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a good way to think about it. You know what it is? There's so many things that are easy to make at home, but for some reason, we think they're hard. I think because sometimes we're so removed from the food system.
Aimee France:
I would totally agree with that. Like yogurt. Yogurt is so easy to make. I went through a phase of being obsessed with making it, not this most recent summer, but the summer before. The easiest thing. You just have to wait a night and then you have yogurt. Crazy.
Kerry Diamond:
Similarly, ricotta.
Aimee France:
Oh my God, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
The easiest thing in the world to make, and you feel like a magician.
Aimee France:
I know. I've only made it once.
Kerry Diamond:
I made it a few times. I think we have a recipe for it in the “Cherry Bombe Cookbook,” but to even call it a recipe is ridiculous because-
Aimee France:
It's literally just straining.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Anyway, people, the takeaway is just go for it. Be a little bolder and have fun in the kitchen because these are fun projects.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
These aren't making a grand cake, which we'll talk about because you're famous for that as well. Okay. So nut butters. Any combos?
Aimee France:
Well, the one I made yesterday was good. That was pumpkin seed, pecan. And then I caramelized that in maple syrup and then just added salt and then a little bit of cinnamon. And that was it. And it was really good. And I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and brought it to the movies last night and it was awesome.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. What movie did you see?
Aimee France:
Oh, every year, I go and see “Nightmare Before Christmas” in October. I just go by myself and it was awesome.
Kerry Diamond:
Where are they playing that?
Aimee France:
It's only on select nights. You got to look it up and figure out the nights that they're playing it. But I saw it at AMC in East Village. Not my fave theater. First time going there.
Kerry Diamond:
Sorry, AMC...
Aimee France:
Weird setup.
Kerry Diamond:
... there are better theaters in this city. But that's a sweet tradition. I didn't even know that they show that in theaters. Are you a big Tim Burton fan?
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I am obsessed with that movie.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you obsessed with all his movies?
Aimee France:
I'm not a huge movie watcher, honestly. I feel like I watch more holiday movies because I like the world that he has created. I love cartoony, stuff like that.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you similarly a Wes Anderson fan?
Aimee France:
I really haven't seen any of his movies. I've been to his cafe that he designed in Milan.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, with the Prada Foundation.
Aimee France:
Yeah. That was cool, but I'm not a huge movie watcher.
Kerry Diamond:
Huh. I feel like you would love Wes Anderson. Some people might describe you as a character from a Wes Anderson movie.
Aimee France:
Many people have said that in comments and stuff. And I'm like, "Thanks."
Kerry Diamond:
Coming from me, that's a compliment.
Aimee France:
Cool.
Kerry Diamond:
Because I adore Wes Anderson. He's one of my favorite filmmakers right now. But similar to Tim Burton, he creates a world. Now I'm wondering, is that why people love you so much because you've created this world?
Aimee France:
Maybe. Maybe unintentionally I've done that or subconsciously.
Kerry Diamond:
You said, "I go through fixations." Nut butter is obviously a fixation right now. Anything else you're fixated on this season?
Aimee France:
Oh my gosh. Oh, I'm obsessed with cooking steak. That's also another "hobby". I want to get good at it. The same way that there was a point in my life where I was obsessed with perfecting baking recipes. I need to perfect cooking the steak. I love watching the YouTube videos about the best way to prepare this cut and this cut. It's like a practice makes perfect type thing because you can mess it up and it can come out really bad, but when you get it good, it can be really, really good.
Kerry Diamond:
Give us some steak tips.
Aimee France:
Oh, God. I think you need to not be scared, I think, because one of my friends told me recently, which I don't know why I didn't put this together, you get so scared of cooking chicken because of salmonella, but people eat raw red meat, so it's literally fine for it to be rare. You shouldn't be scared when you see the red. You know when you cook a steak, and you're like, "Oh my God, this is too rare," it's probably not going to make you sick. So I feel like that's a good thing to have in your mind that it's fine. It's going to be fine.
Kerry Diamond:
It didn't cross my mind that the fear factor might be from the steak being raw. I thought it was more I don't like cooking things in my apartment that splatter a lot. And you really have to cook it on high heat if you want a sear.
Aimee France:
Yeah. Maybe just get a cast iron that has a higher edge.
Kerry Diamond:
I do have a splatter guard. Do you know those?
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah. For when you're cooking the bacon. Yeah, that's a good thing. But, yeah, it's a ... Mesh isn't the-
Kerry Diamond:
It's mesh.
Aimee France:
Yeah, mesh.
Kerry Diamond:
Basically.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. It's like a screen door, but not-
Aimee France:
Yeah, that's a good thing to put on top, I would say.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you making steak videos? I don't remember seeing many of those.
Aimee France:
I don't know. I was making them when I was visiting my parents because I was working on a grill. Sometimes in my apartment, I feel like I get a little ... It's like when you're making pasta, everything happens so fast that sometimes filming, I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm going to mess up." I need to focus on the steak and not the phone. You know what? I'll film one next time I make one.
Kerry Diamond:
We'll be right back with today's guest. The holiday issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine is almost here. And the cover stars Lucie Franc de Ferriere of From Lucie, Amy Yip of Yip.Studio, and today's guest, Aimee France. The pages are packed with sweet stories, beautiful recipes, and gorgeous photography, all on thick, lush paper. The issue will be out in early December, so head to cherrybombe.com to pre-order or subscribe. For the cover reveal and behind-the-scenes videos, head to Cherry Bombe on Instagram.
What else? Our next virtual Bombesquad meeting is happening this Tuesday, December 2nd, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST. We're hosting a virtual cookie swap over Zoom with three fantastic cookbook authors and cookie authorities, Kat Lieu, Sarah Kieffer, and Vaughn Vreeland. Our Bombesquad host, Donna Yen, will talk to them about their holiday bakes, cookie trends, and all the tips and tricks we can squeeze in. Plus, they will answer your burning cookie questions. Actually, that said, no burning cookies, just burning questions. Our monthly virtual meetings are open to official Bombesquad members and paid Substack subscribers. If that's you, check your email for the registration link. If you'd like to join us on Tuesday, there's still time to become a subscriber at cherrybombe.substack.com. See you tomorrow.
One thing I want to ask you is, you've such a truly unique career, and I'm curious, how are you even navigating this? And do you stop much and think like, "What is this crazy career I've carved out for myself?"
Aimee France:
I know, lowkey, I feel like I'm just winging it. It's crazy how what happened because I never saw this as my job. When I was in college, I was studying communications just because I was like, "Oh, I guess that's the major I'm going to choose." And I was going to start applying for intro communications jobs, and then all of a sudden, this just came out of nowhere. I feel like definitely the pandemic had something to do with it and timing of starting a business around that now because it started with the cakes.
Well, actually, really started with me just posting pictures of food on Instagram and then gaining a following and then getting really into the baking and the cakes and then starting a business, selling a product. And then I think from that, just so many other opportunities opened. Now I honestly don't really know what the future is to bring, but my motto is always just let it come in and something good will happen at some point.
Kerry Diamond:
You were studying at Pace University ...
Aimee France:
Yes, yeah, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
... here in New York City. What did you think you would do for a living one day?
Aimee France:
I literally didn't know.
Kerry Diamond:
You didn't know?
Aimee France:
I had no idea. When I was in college, I went in undecided and then I chose communications because that was the point where I had to pick a major and I only chose it because I didn't want to take statistics. I was notoriously horrible at math my whole life growing up, had a tutor. So that's why I chose communications. And then Pace offered a lot of really cool social media type classes where I took a class that was writing for media or something and it was all about ... It was lowkey media training type stuff.
If you were to work at an actual communications job, how you would communicate with the brand's audience via newsletters and stuff like that, how to properly write emails, which I think is a lost art and people don't know how to write emails anymore, but stuff like that and how you would properly communicate on social media to a large audience.
Kerry Diamond:
You grew up in New Hampshire and you talk about New Hampshire a lot and your social. I know you didn't get into the colleges you wanted to go to, right?
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
But why New York? What was appealing about New York City?
Aimee France:
Dream college was UVM. Didn't get in. And then I applied to, I think, Suffolk in Boston, and then Pace in New York. Pace was just like, "Oh, well, New York City, it's another city. I'll just apply. I don't know if I'm going to get in," because, honestly, I didn't have the best grades in high school. I was a seasoned Bs, occasional D type of girl. I wasn't in any AP classes or anything. I got into Suffolk, got into Pace. I live pretty close to Boston, went to Boston, and I was like, "This is not the vibe. I don't think I could see myself living here." No disrespect to Boston. Beautiful city. If you've ever been there, you know. If you live in New York and you go to Boston, it's a very different thing going on.
And I was like, "Wow, well, okay. I guess I don't want to go to Suffolk. Didn't get into UVM. Maybe I should go to Pace." They gave me a crazy scholarship, the most money out of every school. And then I think the first time I ever visited New York City was to go to ... You know how they do the welcome days to go visit the school? My parents and I went to New York, literally stayed in Times Square. That was evil. I don't know why my dad booked that hotel. He was just like, "Oh, I wanted you to get the New York experience."
Kerry Diamond:
Thanks, dad.
Aimee France:
Yeah. And then I viewed the school and then I was like, "Okay, well, I guess I'll go here."
Kerry Diamond:
What was going through ... Well, gosh, Times Square. Listen, everybody. I love New York. Don't stay in Times Square for your first visit.
Aimee France:
No, yeah, don't.
Kerry Diamond:
Pick a different part of the city.
Aimee France:
People, literally diabolical.
Kerry Diamond:
So what were your first impressions?
Aimee France:
It felt like what you saw in the movies. I was just like, "Whoa, this is so crazy." It's so different than the suburb that I grew up in. And also, I remember having a moment of always wanting to be in the city. This is so random. But when I was really young, I think I was a freshman in high school, I went to a Tyler The Creator concert in Boston, and I just remember seeing everyone there and everyone's fashion. And I was like, "Oh my God, this is so cool." It's so different than what I'm used to every single day.
Being in a city would be really cool because I feel like all these people are like ... I don't know. We just have similar interests. I don't know. That was just a moment of me feeling like, "Oh, I think being in the city would be cool. "And then going to New York just happened with college.
Kerry Diamond:
Where is the Pace campus?
Aimee France:
It's in the Financial District. So I lived in FiDi for my first year, which is an interesting place to live.
Kerry Diamond:
It's evolving. Our office is down there.
Aimee France:
Yeah, this was 2017. Very different time.
Kerry Diamond:
Pre-pandemic.
Aimee France:
Yeah. I haven't been down there in a while, but I feel like every time I go, I walk down the streets and I'm like, "Whoa, this is really built up now." Really, none of this was here ...
Kerry Diamond:
Very different.
Aimee France:
... when I lived there.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So we covered college. Let me go back a step. So young Aimee, you're in high school, you're getting your Bs, Cs, and Ds, not taking AP classes. That's totally cool. What were you into?
Aimee France:
I grew up dancing my whole life, not competitively or anything. My mom allowed me to take one class for the year and then it was the recital. I never did competition. I think in middle school, I discovered cheerleading in the world of cheer and I was obsessed. It was my dream to do all-star cheerleading. It just wasn't in the cards for me. I did school cheer. I was in that world on Tumblr. I was so obsessed. So I was a big cheerleader. I was a flyer, a humble brag.
Kerry Diamond:
What does that mean?
Aimee France:
It means that I'm the person that they would throw up in the air. I was a big cheerleader, obsessed with that. And then on top of that, I also grew up running. So I did cross country and track for a while. And then in high school, cheerleading ended because there's just so much drama. But also, I dislocated my elbow doing a roundoff back handspring. So that ended the cheer career for me. But then I continued to run. I was into fashion in high school, for sure. I felt like sometimes I would wear things that a lot of people at school weren't wearing because it was a boot, the vibe. I used to buy and sell Supreme in high school, lowkey.
Kerry Diamond:
That's very advanced for a high school student.
Aimee France:
Yeah. My entrepreneurial mind was going around then. And I feel like I used to be a way more spontaneous person, for sure. I mean, okay, I always have a routine, but I feel like when I was a teenager, I was able to break it a lot easier than I am now. I loved partying and stuff, for sure, which I'm not the biggest partier anymore. I'm actually completely sober now. Yeah, I was a different person. I had long hair, really long hair, almost to my waist.
Kerry Diamond:
Cheer era Aimee is throwing me for a loop. This is fascinating to me. I think I tried out for cheerleading once or twice. I just could not ever remember the routines. And I was meant to be the editor of the school paper anyway. So destiny put me on the right path. But I didn't know until I watched ... What was the big reality show?
Aimee France:
Oh.
Kerry Diamond:
Was it called “Cheer?”
Aimee France:
Yeah. Actually, I haven't watched it because I feel like it's going to make me really sad about that whole time. I know Gabi Butler's in it. She was my queen. I was obsessed with her. Eventually, I will, but I don't know, mental purposes, I haven't watched it.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. I learned a lot about the intensity ...
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
... of all the injuries. You talked about having an injury. You're dealing with another injury of sorts right now. I mean, anybody who's a fan of yours has noticed that you've moved away from the cake content somewhat, and your first post pinned right on your Instagram is no more cake orders.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
So I know you've talked about this online. What's going on?
Aimee France:
So I got diagnosed with ulnar carpal abutment syndrome in both of my wrists. It's like a genetic thing. So basically, it means that my ulna bone is long and it's a lot longer than my radius. And it was going to happen over time. Eventually, this would have happened to me. It doesn't really happen until later on in life, especially with intense repetitive stress. But basically, the radius starts to jam into the carpal area, causing this pain that radiates into the elbow. Chronic pain, you have to deal with it, but it makes working extremely difficult.
I did get cortisone shots in my wrist, but that's just temporary. It's really made me reflect on the past, I guess, five years of my life because I started doing this full-time in 2020 and just how much I pushed myself really way too hard. And I mean, when starting a business and everything, you go. You don't really think anything of it, especially when you're a workaholic like I am. I think what I was doing the past five years was awesome, and I'm really proud of everything that I achieved. But I think the past few months with the injury, I've had to come to a point of acceptance and realization that I will never be able to produce cakes in the capacity that I was. It's just not sustainable for health purposes. And that's really making me rethink the trajectory of my career.
So I feel like I'm in a quarter-life crisis right now, honestly, because that was my full-time job. You may think I'm making crazy money. Just because someone has followers on Instagram doesn't mean that they're bringing in the bank every month. Not to say that I'm not comfortable and able to support myself, because I am. That was my full-time job. And now I'm trying to figure out, "Okay, yes, I can make a few cakes a month, but I can't be making five to six cakes a week and then 40 mini cakes every week."
Kerry Diamond:
And your main cakes were big productions.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Some of these were wedding cakes, big occasion cakes.
Aimee France:
Totally. And they're heavy.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, first thing I want to say is, I'm sorry about the pain because that's terrible and that you had to go through that.
Aimee France:
It is what it is.
Kerry Diamond:
True. Those of us who love you, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Did you ever think of maybe hiring a team and training them how to do cakes in your style or that's not of interest?
Aimee France:
I don't think that was ever of interest to me because I feel like it takes away from the novelty of having the cake. I'm also a control freak. Respectfully, no one is going to do it the right way that I would do it. Another thing I've been thinking about the past few months with the cake business in general is from the beginning, people would be like, "Are you ever going to open a bakery? Do you want a brick and mortar?" And the answer has always been no. I have never seen myself doing cakes long-term forever. I never saw myself opening a bakery. Maybe when I was 20 years old and I was like, "Well, this is my job now." But, yeah, that was never the thing.
So I don't really see myself ever hiring someone unless I was maybe doing a catering thing and I needed help doing a large-scale production for an event. But, yeah, I don't think so. Just the control freak in me.
Kerry Diamond:
I totally understand that. But I am thinking of folks like Christina Tosi who was famous for the naked cakes and built a whole business out of that via Milk Bar and our mutual friend, Lucie Franc de Ferriere, who opened From Lucie down in the East Village and has people making cakes now in the style of From Lucie. Let's talk about how the cake thing even began. Were you making cakes in high school?
Aimee France:
Sort of. My senior year of high school, freshman year of college, when I was vegan, I started making cakes and posting them on Instagram just because I wanted a vegan dessert that tasted like a normal dessert because I think also that was 2016, 2017, which was the height of raw vegan dessert. You know what I mean? Everything had to be really healthified and that was not the vibe I was going for. So I wanted to make desserts that were just normal, but they were vegan.
And then I think a turning point was when I came to New York for college and I saw this world of vegan food that I had never been exposed to before. And I was like, "Whoa, there are chefs here and pastry chefs doing what I've been thinking about." And then I was able to eat all this delicious vegan food versus what I would get in my hometown, which was a gnarly slop bowl, basically.
Kerry Diamond:
I loved reading that when you went vegan, your mother said, "Well, you're going to have to cook because I am not a short-order cook and making you a different thing every night."
Aimee France:
Yeah. Yeah, she did say that.
Kerry Diamond:
So you arrive in vegan nirvana.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
New York City.
Aimee France:
And then I think that's when I started getting pretty interested in baking in general. I would bake cakes for holidays for my family just for fun or when I would visit home. When the pandemic happened was when I really locked in because I was doing online school. I never got to do an internship, which was technically a requirement to graduate, but they let that slide because of the circumstances. So-
Kerry Diamond:
You could come intern at Cherry Bombe for a few weeks if you need to make up that credit.
Aimee France:
Okay, noted.
Kerry Diamond:
Can I just ask, just so we have the timeline in our brains ...
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
... when did you graduate?
Aimee France:
I graduated in 2021.
Kerry Diamond:
So you had a whole year of pandemic college, essentially?
Aimee France:
Yeah. After we could go back to school, I continued to stay online. I never went back to campus.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you finish school in New Hampshire from your parents' apartment or were you still in New York just taking classes via Zoom?
Aimee France:
I was in New Hampshire because literally the day before the world shut down, which was March 13th, I was on a bus to go home on March 12th to visit my parents for my birthday, because my birthday's on the 11th, so I went to go visit my parents for my birthday, got home on the 12th. And then, because we were going somewhere, my dad was like, "Oh, the hotel just cancelled our reservation." And I was like, "What?" And then I just got stuck there. I couldn't come back, which was honestly a blessing in disguise because I had a crazy roommate back then.
Kerry Diamond:
Roommate, if you're listening, sorry. You start baking, you start decorating these cakes. You are famously self-taught. You teach yourself via, did I read this right, YouTube and Reddit? Is that how you learned to-
Aimee France:
Yeah, YouTube, Reddit, trial and error, just looking up recipes online, mostly for measurement quantities and then being able to compare those to measurements that I would make up myself. And that was all during the pandemic. And that's what I considered my internship was just me teaching myself stuff. I gained the following on Instagram during that time just because I was posting everything. And then by the time I came back to New York, which was August 2020, that was around the time where I considered doing a pop-up because I was like, "Okay, I have this product, I have this following, I think it's good. A lot of people around me are telling me that it's good. Maybe I should try to sell it."
Kerry Diamond:
And that's how you wound up at Hester Street Market.
Aimee France:
Yeah, that was the first pop-up. And then from that, when I started taking commissioned orders was September of 2020.
Kerry Diamond:
Talk to me about your cake decorating style, because that, for me, is one of the things that stood out. I noticed you and Frosted Hag and From Lucie and a few other people because, all of a sudden, there were these cakes that just didn't look like anybody else's cakes. How did you develop that?
Aimee France:
This is such an annoying answer, but it really just came out of nowhere. I used to just messily frost it with an offset. And then one day, I was like, "I think I'm going to pipe this cake." My mom gave me all of these piping tips. I tried to put a piping tip in the bag. I got all pissed off, I couldn't get it to stay in. I was like, "I can't do this." I just cut the tip of the piping bag without a tip or anything. I just cut the bag itself, and I just piped a cake, and that's just how it came out. And I was like, "Whoa, I guess that looks cool." And then from there I just started doing different patterns and lines and dots, different combinations. And the cakes just came out like that. I feel like they almost look like they're out of a cartoon, which is the vibe I'm going for, for sure. It just happened.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you eventually start using a piping bag with tips, or you just stuck to what you were doing?
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay.
Aimee France:
I still don't use one.
Kerry Diamond:
Looking at the cakes, that's amazing. I don't want to say the lopsided nature, but the off-kilterness of the cakes, was that on purpose, too, or was that an accident initially?
Aimee France:
I guess it was an accident. I think it's just gravity. I'm not properly French pastry-trained. Sometimes there's a little bit of an askew cut.
Kerry Diamond:
Askew. That's the perfect word.
Aimee France:
Yeah. And that's fine. Some people, they're making cakes, they're bringing out the ruler. You know that thing that balances so you make sure it's completely straight. They're doing the math behind. I'm not doing all that. I mean, yes, I'm doing some math. I'm not making it precise to make it completely perfectly stacked and leveled.
Kerry Diamond:
I have two favorite moments in 2020's cake history. One was when we did a panel at our old Cooks & Books festival that we used to do. And I think it was Frosted Hag and Jenneh Kaikai from By Pelah, and maybe Lucie was on that and a few other folks. And we had some star pastry chefs in the audience. And somebody asked Madeline from Frosted Hag, "How do you cut and serve the cake?"
Aimee France:
Oh my God, I remember that.
Kerry Diamond:
Because you've got an audience full of women who, for their entire careers, had to maximize how many slices you would get out of a cake. Think of a wedding cake. You've got to serve, I don't know, what, 100, 200, 300 people. How are you going to slice that sheet cake so that everybody gets a uniform slice? So somebody says to Madeline, "How do you cut and serve the cake?" And her answer was, I don't know if she said, "I don't care." But the vibe was, "I don't care. You bought the cake. It's your cake. Serve it however you want." And I could almost hear the old school pastry chefs gasp. They couldn't believe that that was the answer. And I think your cakes have a similar-
Aimee France:
She's so funny for that.
Kerry Diamond:
Your cakes have a similar vibe.
Aimee France:
No, totally. I feel like people sometimes ask me the same question. I mean, I think I ... Now, I have a way that I know how to cut it to maximize, but a lot of times, people don't know how to approach it. I'm just like, "Just letting you know there's a dowel. Just be careful."
Kerry Diamond:
Because you have made some famous wedding cakes.
Aimee France:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
You did Karen Elson, who we adore. Chloë Sevigny.
Aimee France:
That was one of my first big cake orders. Shout out, Chloë. That was a crazy day.
Kerry Diamond:
I guess they figured out how to cut the cake.
Aimee France:
Yeah, they did.
Kerry Diamond:
A second favorite moment from 2020's cake history was when Martha Stewart discovered you.
Aimee France:
Oh my God.
Kerry Diamond:
And commented on your Instagram.
Aimee France:
I'll never forget the night she followed me. I literally screamed, audibly screamed. It was like 10:00 at night. I immediately called my mom and she thought something bad happened. She was like, "What's wrong?" I was like, "Mom, no, it's not bad. I just have to tell you this right now."
Kerry Diamond:
But it wasn't so much the following as her comment. She said, "I noticed your cakes are a little lopsided ...
Aimee France:
Oh my God, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
... have you ever considered using a dowel?" And your followers went nuts.
Aimee France:
I know. Why'd they get all mad at her? I was like, "Guys, chill. She doesn't get it."
Kerry Diamond:
Well, I think the gist of your followers' comments were like, "Are you new here? Because this is Aimee's style. This is what her cakes look like." But I just thought it was so funny. But again, pointing to that old school, cakes need to be upright. They need to be cut. They need to be designed and created in a way that they could be cut and maximized. What was your thought when Martha Stewart was like, "Hey, use a dowel?"
Aimee France:
I was like, "Okay, well, first off, there is a dowel in it, but I get where you're coming from." She's the queen of law and order, you know what I mean, of just food and everything in life. It has a way it's supposed to be done. And I'm like that, too, but in a different way. So I respected it.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you met her yet in person?
Aimee France:
I went to her property once. I was just working as someone in the kitchen because one of my friends was doing something. I didn't meet her that day. I did meet her at an event. I don't think she knew who I was. I talked to her briefly for a second because so many people were asking for pictures with her. And my friend and I were like, "Oh, we should…” I don't want to bother her. And then she walked away from the pictures and just made a silly comment to us, and we were like, "Yeah, girl." And that was like that. And I was like, "Oh my God."
Kerry Diamond:
Martha is-
Aimee France:
And she's fabulous and she was wearing huge wedges, which was crazy.
Kerry Diamond:
I've never seen her in wedges, but Martha is all that 100%. Okay, yungkombucha420. You have moved away from that name. You are professionally Aimee France now.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
And that's such a great name. France is your real last name?
Aimee France:
Yeah. Shout out to my parents for that. They came through.
Kerry Diamond:
yungkombucha420. Okay. So you've got kombucha and then 420, the famous number, signifying marijuana. What was that handle all about?
Aimee France:
Okay. So I was just trying to find a name for my food Finsta account. We were in the prime era of when SoundCloud rap was everything, and all the rappers' names were yung whatever. So I was like, "Okay, I guess that could be funny." So I started it with yung. This was literally the thought process behind it. I was obsessed with kombucha. So I was like, "Okay, I'll do kombucha." And then I was like, "All right, but it needs a number." So I did 420 because I used to smoke and I thought it was funny, and that was literally it. Someho,w it picked up and had amazing SEO, which was not my intention. It was just a username for a Finsta, basically.
Kerry Diamond:
It's so funny. I mean, it's like a name that you would get from one of those rap name generators or something.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. Oh my gosh. So, have you retired it completely?
Aimee France:
They can still call it the yungkombucha cake. Someone posted me in a story of that yesterday and I thought it was beautiful. I was like, "Yeah, you can still call it that. I respect that."
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about flavor combinations with your cake because one of your, I think, underappreciated skills is flavor combinations. And I always marveled at reading what went into one of your cakes, from the flavor of the frosting, and the fillings, and the sponge. Can you walk us through some of your favorites and how you put those combinations together?
Aimee France:
Whenever I write a description of a cake, I think when you go to a lot of restaurants, they're not writing everything that is actually in it because they need to simplify it down for the average person to be able to digest it and be like, "Okay, I actually want to eat this." And I feel like when I post a flavor combination, I'm literally writing out everything, every element of each component, so that if another person wanted to try to recreate it, they have all of the ingredients listed out for them. So that's why they seem very long and extensive.
A lot of people would say they don't think things go together, but I think I'm one of those super tastier people, which I genuinely think I have that, which is a blessing and a curse when it comes to food. For some reason, I'm able to put flavor combinations together. And I think with practicing cooking over time, you learn what would pair well together, and you're able to just know, "Oh, this would go well with this," or like, "Oh, grapes are in season now. Maybe I should do some type of nut butter to pair with that. That could be cool." So that's the thought process, I guess.
What did I do recently? Okay. Every fall, back to these ... The nut butters keep bringing them up, but it's fall. Every fall, I like to make, what I call, a fancy peanut butter and jelly cake. All it means is it's some type of jam and then there's a nutty element to it. In the past, I've used sesame or peanut butter or whatever, but I made a cake a few days ago that was just a plain olive oil cake. And then I made this end-of-summer fruit jam. It had chocolate ganache in it. Oh, I also did a layer of peanut butter because I like when there's a lot of different textures in the cake, so just not buttercream and cake mush.
And then I did a peanut butter, chocolate chip buttercream. Chocolate, peanut butter, jam. You got a little bit of acidity from the jam to cut the richness of the peanut butter and the ganache. And then you got crunch from the peanut butter inside and then the chocolate chips. And, yeah, that one was fun and everyone really liked it.
Kerry Diamond:
Sounds beautiful. Talk to me about your frostings. What kind of buttercream are you working with?
Aimee France:
An American adjacent. People always ask American or Swiss meringue, and I'm like a secret third thing.
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, I kind of love that because American butter ... I mean, I love American buttercream, but it's a bit much when you think about it. But then I find the fancy meringues. I don't know, they just don't do it for me from a taste perspective.
Aimee France:
There's a time and a place for both. I personally like a saltier buttercream, so I definitely heavily salt it just because I think it helps cut the sweetness of the other elements of the cake. I actually made Swiss meringue for the first time over the summer, literally my afternoon from hell. Oh my God. I think definitely once you make it a lot, you probably get really good at it, but I was on the verge of a baking meltdown and I haven't had one of those in a long time. Oh my gosh, that was really something.
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, walk us through the process. I've made American buttercream that takes almost zero skill. Tell us what goes into Swiss meringue.
Aimee France:
Oh, God. First, you have to temper the eggs or something with the sugar, I think. And then ...
Kerry Diamond:
So you don't wind up with scrambled egg frosting.
Aimee France:
Yeah. And then that has to be the right temperature. And then you add it with ... I think there's a little bit of powdered sugar in it. I might be missing a step. And then you just have to whip it for so long. And then it will get soupy and break. And it's like constantly whipping it, putting it in the freezer so it gets to temperature, taking it out, whipping it. It literally took all day.
Kerry Diamond:
What kind of flavorings and colorings? You have such an interesting color palette with your frostings.
Aimee France:
I only use natural dyes. To make things blue, I use butterfly pea tea powder. Green, it would be matcha. I make a gray or black one that I use activated charcoal for. If I ever do pink, there's probably a jam or something involved. I used to have cranberry powder at one point that I used. I don't really remember if that made it super pink.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, yeah. I saw recently, there was dragon fruit powder.
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That was pink. I was like, "Oh, I need to play with that."
Aimee France:
Yeah, there's a lot of new stuff on the market, I feel like.
Kerry Diamond:
The freeze-dried raspberries add so much nice color.
Aimee France:
Yes. Yes. I forgot about those.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a fun ingredient, too.
Aimee France:
But, yeah, that's usually how I color them. And then there's just different shades of an off-white cream color, depending on the cake. I don't know. With those natural things, you got to be careful because you got to remember chemistry, because I know with the butterfly pea tea, you can't make any type of citrus buttercream with that because it reacts and it will turn like a pink color. So if you want pink, but it's not going to turn blue.
Kerry Diamond:
That's why it's fun to put it in lemonade.
Aimee France:
Yes. Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
So kids, pay attention in science class if you want to grow up and be a baker one day.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I want to talk about some work things. And we touched earlier on what a unique career you have. And I'm curious how you feel about terms like influencer and content creator. You just grin/grimaced. Do you dislike those terms? Are they limiting to the people who are making career out of posting on social media?
Aimee France:
I don't know. There's so much negative talk around the term influencer, I think. It's what you make of it. I wouldn't consider myself to be a traditional influencer because I did have this business. The reason I am an influencer now is because of my business. There's so many influencers I watch online that are influencers specifically from posting videos, but they have a very creative outlook and their own very specific style of what they're doing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think right now, like I said, I'm having my quarter-life crisis with my career. Yes, I have a business and a speciality, but also at the same time, I'm becoming an influencer in a way.
Kerry Diamond:
Quarter-life crisis aside, do you have a few things planned for the near future that you would like to achieve? I'm sure everyone asks you about a cookbook.
Aimee France:
Yeah. Cookbook, I don't know, humblebrag, but I've been approached a lot about the cookbook, and it's not the right time. When I was doing the cakes, I was so burnt out that I feel like I'm still coming out of it, but the thought of thinking creatively like that, I couldn't wrap my brain around it. I need to be making the cakes right now. I don't have time to do this. So I think I would like to make a cookbook at some point, but I don't think I want it to be just a cake-baking book, but maybe at some point.
Kerry Diamond:
Any other professional wish list things? Do you want to make a TV show one day?
Aimee France:
I don't know. I love making little food videos. I think that that has been a creative outlet for me for sure, which has been fun. A lot of people tell me I should get into more modeling stuff, which is crazy to me, but I think it could be cool. I loved becoming a little character. I do love fashion, and that's been a thing forever. I think when I was really in the thick of my business, I didn't care about looks. It was literally all the business. I woke up, I wore the same thing every day, just baked. And I think now that I actually have time to go through my closet and get ready for the day, I've found a new love for that. So maybe even doing more fashiony lifestyle thing on social media as well. I love consuming that type of content, so why shouldn't I make what I like to watch?
Kerry Diamond:
You were baking, and you weren't really paying that much attention to it. You always did have an aesthetic.
Aimee France:
Oh, well, thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Aimee France:
It was underlying. I didn't really realize it was happening.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you making videos all by yourself? Do you have a team?
Aimee France:
Nope. I just film it on my iPhone that has no storage. Getting a new one soon. But, yeah, constantly deleting videos and then just editing on CapCut.
Kerry Diamond:
You talk a lot about rest and burnout. Are you getting better? I know you've stepped back from the cakes like we discussed, but are you getting better at resting and dealing with burnout?
Aimee France:
I think so. I think that the injury was a rude awakening, but also a blessing in disguise of showing me ... It's something that needed to happen for me to be able to reflect on the past five years of my life because you got to do what you got to do to start something. And I'm so grateful for everything that has happened to me. But I look back at those five years, especially because I was 20 years old and it started pandemic, and then I never really had a true college experience. I only had a year and a half of college. I never went out during my early 20s. I never really saw my friends. I was always in my apartment, always baking, always turned down plans. I'm very self-disciplined.
I did everything in my capacity to make my business what I was and grow my career. And I made a lot of social sacrifices to do that. And now looking back, I was really depressed during that time and it might have not looked like it on social media, but I really was. I really had no life besides the business. So it can show what ... I don't know, social media can really make a light of everything. And I think now being able to look back and have that realization, maybe it's also my frontal lobe fully being developed. I think I finally found myself and I'm becoming happy with life again. Not that I wasn't during that time, but I don't know. I'm finding joy in things that I wasn't able to find joy in before because I was so hyper-focused on just starting this business and having this career.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm sure a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that. It's hard and it's lonely.
Aimee France:
It's very lonely. Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
I think that's one of the things that they don't talk to you about regarding entrepreneurship. And sometimes it's like, how can I be lonely because I'm dealing with so many people in the course of a week, but there's something very isolating about it.
Aimee France:
No, totally. But then you also ... You stress yourself out because you're like, "I shouldn't be feeling like this because so many good things are happening to me." But while those things are happening to you, you're like, "Why don't I feel excited?" This is like something so amazing just happened, and I literally feel nothing. Why is that?
Kerry Diamond:
Do you have mentors or advisors or a sounding board who helps you with a lot of these things?
Aimee France:
I mean, I have a manager who was good. We're good friends and we'll talk about just future of career and things like that. And it's nice to have another voice in that of someone that supports you career-wise in that way. Because I feel like before I had her, it was me calling the shots, which I love, but also sometimes you need that other person.
Kerry Diamond:
And you talk about your parents a lot. It seems like they've been big influences on you.
Aimee France:
Yeah, we're pretty close. When I was younger and I was a teenager, I was like too cool for school. But I think as I've gotten older, you really come to appreciate your parents, especially if you are in a position where you're lucky enough to have them in your life and they really care. So I try to make it a priority to visit as much as I can because I just love being home. It's a safe space, for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
I would love to know some of the things that influence you, like cultural influences, not food necessarily, but you talked about Tim Burton. Are there other things that influence you or fuel you, art, music?
Aimee France:
Oh, love music, for sure. Always listening to music.
Kerry Diamond:
What do you listen to?
Aimee France:
Oh, God. I got a really vast genre of stuff. I love old rap, for sure. That's what I listened to a lot in high school. I would listen to that, but I also love classical. I used to be like, 2018 Aimee was a rave girl. I like a little bit of everything, honestly. I always say to someone, when you make a playlist, I need to have a lot of variety on it because you don't want to know what's coming next on it. So definitely music.
I love cartoons. I grew up watching a lot of cartoons and Tim Burton-esque movies. I think a big influence was like ... I love Claymation movies and all of ... Specifically those Christmas ones, I'm obsessed with those. That's like the world in my brain is those little worlds. So I love those. I love people watching and seeing what people are wearing around the city, just because everyone has their own unique sense of style, and it's cool to see what people are putting together every day.
Kerry Diamond:
I think what you said about playlists, you can apply to your life and career when you said, "I don't want to know what's coming next."
Aimee France:
Yeah, that's beautiful, actually. I agree with that.
Kerry Diamond:
You did an art residency in Italy.
Aimee France:
Oh, yes, I did.
Kerry Diamond:
I read that somewhere and I was like, "That sounds amazing." I missed that if you shared it on social media. What was that all about?
Aimee France:
So I applied for it the year before and I didn't get it, and then I applied again, and then I did get it, and I was like, "Yes." But basically, I wanted to go to reignite the flame of food because that was at a point where I was feeling super, super burnt out. And I felt like my passion for baking cakes had really gotten to an all-time low, and that was a beautiful experience. I couldn't have asked for a greater time there. The people that hosted me, that was who I made the fancy peanut butter and jelly cake for recently because they're having a baby and they came back to New York for the baby shower.
Kerry Diamond:
Where in Italy were you?
Aimee France:
I was in a little town called Lesa, which is an hour outside of Milan. It's northern Italy. Little village vibe. Everyone was very old and you weren't going shopping, you know what I mean? You had to drive to go to any major market, but it was awesome. I loved having my routine every day. We would make dinners all the time and we'd go to the farmer's market and then have dinner parties. It was really awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better experience there, for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
What was your art practice while you were there?
Aimee France:
It was an inspirational trip for me. That's what they allowed me to do. And then at the end, we had a art show, and it was me and another girl. The other girl that went was a painter. So she made a ton of paintings and then I made massive tiramisus. I made a really, really, really tall tiramisu and then a table of ... When you go to an event in New York and someone does a beautiful table display, and it's like food as art, that's what I did with a ton of local cheeses and produce that all of the people there were very familiar with.
But the thing about the art show was it was like a multigenerational party. So there were a lot of older people there that had never seen food displayed like that. No one thought you could eat it. Yes, it's like a beautiful food display, but you're supposed to eat it. And I thought that was really cool that me doing that was their first introduction as ever seeing food as art like that. I don't know.
Kerry Diamond:
Interactive art in a sense.
Aimee France:
Yeah, it blew my mind.
Kerry Diamond:
All right. Let's do a speed round. We'll get you out of here. What beverage do you start the day with?
Aimee France:
Water.
Kerry Diamond:
What's a favorite cookbook of yours? Do you read cookbooks?
Aimee France:
I feel like I get sent a lot of them, but I love Hailee Catalano's cookbook. Shout out, Hailee. I feel like I've made so many of her recipes. The book is just great. If you don't have it, you should get it. I love it.
Kerry Diamond:
What's always in your fridge?
Aimee France:
Eggs.
Kerry Diamond:
Most used kitchen tool or implement.
Aimee France:
Oh, mini spatula or mini tongs.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I love a mini tong.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Great, right? Favorite snack food.
Aimee France:
I love dates.
Kerry Diamond:
I love dates.
Aimee France:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you a Rancho Meladuco?
Aimee France:
Oh, yeah, those are good. Those are good.
Kerry Diamond:
When we did Jubilee out in L.A., I went to the Santa Monica farmer's market and got the Barhi dates and the classic dates, and still enjoying them and happy as a clam.
Aimee France:
I'm going to L.A. in a few weeks. I got to hit up the date person at the farmer's market. It's so crazy, there's so many different varieties.
Kerry Diamond:
So many different varieties. And I hate to say it, New York, we just don't get the good dates or the good avocados.
Aimee France:
We don't. We don't.
Kerry Diamond:
So I sucked up on pomegranates, avocados, dates, walnuts, and grapefruits.
Aimee France:
Yeah, I'm checking a bag for that reason.
Kerry Diamond:
What was your favorite food as a child?
Aimee France:
Okay. One thing, this is the first thing that comes to mind. A dinner that I used to always love was my mom would buy frozen fish sticks, and I would eat that with peas and mashed potatoes, and it was awesome. And now, as an adult, we'll make it from scratch, and it's awesome. It's like the little kid's dinner.
Kerry Diamond:
I grew up on that, too. Just add some Kraft macaroni and cheese and chef's kiss. Favorite food smell?
Aimee France:
Oh, maybe like a mirepoix when it's cooking. It just reminds me of my mom making pumpkin soup or Portuguese soup for dinner in the fall. You know that perfect fall day, step inside after being outside for a while and that's the smell that hits you. Good one.
Kerry Diamond:
What are you streaming right now?
Aimee France:
I feel like I don't really watch TV that often, but I watched ... The most recent movie I watched online. I watched “Edward Scissorhands.” Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Classic.
Aimee France:
Classic.
Kerry Diamond:
You don't see a lot of movies and you don't really stream that much. What do you do in your downtime? Are you a big reader?
Aimee France:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
No.
Aimee France:
That sounds so horrible. I feel like I'm always cleaning.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay.
Aimee France:
I feel like I'm always cleaning my apartment or just doing little tasks. I go on a lot of walks and I feel like a hobby of mine is I do a lot of stretching, back to cheerleading, obsessed with stretching. I go to Pilates or yoga classes.
Kerry Diamond:
Cool. What's on your travel bucket list?
Aimee France:
Oh, one day, I really want to go to Paris.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I feel like that's a video series the world is waiting for.
Aimee France:
I know. I feel like they would scoff at me because of my name. They'd be like, "Chuh." It's always been somewhere I wanted to go.
Kerry Diamond:
Or it might make them smile.
Aimee France:
Yeah, maybe. I don't know.
Kerry Diamond:
They hear my name and they smile. I had a friend who always called me Diamont. So they might love that your name is France. I want a video series of you in Paris and you in Japan.
Aimee France:
Oh, Japan would be cool. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I would watch that.
Aimee France:
Maybe one day.
Kerry Diamond:
If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?
Aimee France:
Maybe my girl, Martha. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That's the TV show I want to watch. You and Martha Stewart stuck on a desert island. Tell us why Martha.
Aimee France:
I don't know. I feel like we got a lot in common, lowkey. She's got a way of doing things. We would survive. I could say that. We would really survive on that island somehow.
Kerry Diamond:
I have no doubt. Aimee France, you are delightful.
Aimee France:
Oh, thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
This has been so nice talking to you and ...
Aimee France:
Yeah, you as well.
Kerry Diamond:
... I just hope you know how much we love you.
Aimee France:
Thank you. And thanks for being a day one supporter for real. We go way back.
Kerry Diamond:
We do. Our pleasure. Thanks for your time, Aimee.
Aimee France:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you to Aimee France for joining me. I hope you all pick up a copy of Cherry Bombe's Cake Issue with Aimee on the cover over at cherrybombe.com. We had so much fun working on the photoshoot, and I loved interviewing her for the cover story. I learned a lot about her. Also, take a peek at our Cyber Monday sale at cherrybombe.com. You can get a good deal on a Cherry Bombe subscription and snag that Aimee issue at the same time. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Special thanks to CityVox Studio in Manhattan. Our producers are Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu. Our executive assistant is Brigid Pittman, and our head of partnerships is Rachel Close. Thanks for listening, everybody. You are the Bombe.