Cakelove creator Warren Brown, who has been giving Washingtonians a Sugar Rush for the last four years with his love–’em–or–hate–’em cupcakes and generating controversy with his temperature-sensitive buttercream frosting, is about to embark on a more wholesome enterprise. Warren Brown’s next trick is making energy bars.

The tall, slim 35-year-old lawyer turned baker and “fascinating entrepreneur” is an avid runner with a schedule so hectic it makes ours look like cake. He often found himself so busy during the day as he shuttled among his two bakeries, Love Café, tapings of his one-year-old Food Network show Sugar Rush, photo shoots for the endless parade of media, volunteer demonstrations and meetings with various vendors seeking to sell him a better cash register, that he skipped meals.

He wanted to grab something quick and healthy from the grocery shelves, and after seeing dozens of energy bar choices, he tried several. Most of them, he thought, were the equivalent of eating sawdust with a bitter chemical aftertaste. So, he figured, how hard could it be to make tastier ones of his own?