James Martin's United Cakes of America

James Martin's great American cake adventure starts in Virginia, with a classic Apple Pie. We visit a family run bakery that makes pies for presidents, and discover the famous New Orleans King Cake in a southern style bakery in Arlington. Back in the kitchen James treats us to an Apple Crumble Cake and a Cream Cheese and Cinnamon Bake.

James heads to Washington DC, to find out about America's obsession with Cupcakes. He then heads North, to Baltimore and samples the State Dessert of Maryland; a ten-layered, fudge topped, Smith Island Cake.

James visits inner city Baltimore to discover the Pimlico Cake. He then ventures out into the tranquil Maryland countryside to taste a cake which is only made for six weeks of the year, the Peach Cake.

James travels to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he ditches the car for a horse drawn buggy and ventures into Amish country. He visits a bakery famous for Shoofly Pie, before trying his hand at twisting Pretzels. In the kitchen James makes a simple Treacle Tart with a rock salt crumble top and then mixes pretzels with ice cream for a show stopping finale.

James heads into Philadelphia, to visit a bakery that's been serving traditional American treats since the 1930s. He also goes on the hunt for the notorious Pumpple Cake, a cake baked with pies inside.

James meets identical triplets who make the best Butter Cake in Philadelphia. He then drives to meet Steve, who has brought a little piece of the Florida Keys to Brooklyn and makes authentic Key Lime Pies.