If we asked Holly Madison to grab fro-yo a few years ago, she might have turned us down. Back when she called the Playboy mansion home, she was always on a diet to stay centerfold-thin, but a whole lot's changed since she left Hef—and the bunny ears—behind.
She's a New York Times bestselling author, for one thing, who just released her second memoir, The Vegas Diaries. Her latest book is all about life after The Girls Next Door, chronicling her move to Las Vegas, and what it took to snag—and maintain—the headlining part in the burlesque blockbuster Peepshow. Madison met us at 16 Handles, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop in New York's Upper West Side, to celebrate its launch, and talk about some of the food-centric Instagram posts we'd been noticing of hers (like those Game of Thrones dinners and gemstone cupcakes!).
The shop itself is more after-school hangout than ultra-trendy (read: paparazzi-swarmed) hotspot, but Madison didn't bat an eye. "I can't wait," she said, grabbing a lime green paper cup and heading straight to the bar, nude Christian Louboutin pumps clicking against the linoleum floors. Though her typical lunch is a lot more health-oriented—"sandwiches, salads, boring stuff," she explains—today, she's willing to splurge.
"I am legit hungry," she laughs, swooping a dollop of whipped cream and caramel sauce from the edge of the cup before we get to the cash register.
Over $13 cups of fro-yo—yes, that's per cup (because we're celebrating here, and freakishly oversized fro-yo is the new three-martini lunch)—we geeked out about baking, Cupcake Wars and what it's really like dining at Disney's super-secret club.
'Cupcake Wars' Changed the Way She Bakes.
Madison recently appeared on the celebrity edition of the Food Network show, which pits baker against baker to create the most stunning themed cupcakes over the course of three rounds. She was eliminated in the second round, but there are two takeaways she'll never forget: First, the importance of mise en place, AKA having all of the ingredients prepped and in front of you before you start baking (nearly forgetting thyme, a key ingredient in the challenge, almost cost her in round one). Second, it made her think of the dessert as so much more than a cake flavor and frosting.
When she got home, she created a batch of Khaleesi Cupcakes to eat while watching the season premiere of Game of Thrones, planning out every detail. Since it was modeled after the character Daenarys Targaryen, she chose a vanilla cupcake to match the Mother of Dragons' platinum hair, with a "horse heart" cherry center (to match the one the character eats as part of a pregnancy ceremony), topped with a dragon made out of sugar.
The icing on the cakelet, however, is something only diehard fans might notice.
"It had a lavender buttercream frosting, because in the books, all of the Targaryens have violet eyes," Madison says. "I don't know why they don't do that on the show."
That structure—planning out the cake, filling, center and topping, then making sure each piece told part of a cohesive story—was all something she learned from her time on Cupcake Wars.
"It was fun [being on the show]; it's just really hectic, and it's easy to forget ingredients, because you're running around like crazy, and you don't have clocks or know how long things have been in," she says.
You Could (Almost) Order Anything at the Playboy Mansion.
After hearing a juicy rumor that you can order anything, absolutely anything, from the chefs at the Playboy mansion and they'd whip it up for you, we had to know the truth. For the most part, it is. "You can, but they have to have [the ingredients] in stock, then yeah," Madison says.
Given the perpetual diet, Madison's orders were pretty run-of-the-mill, but she heard that in the mansion's earlier years, the menu had no limits—and some people may have taken full advantage of it.
"There was a rumor—I don't even know if this is true, I put this in my first book—that Jack Nicholson used to call up, and like, order food to go, so he'd like drive up, wouldn't even say hi to anybody, take his food in a bag and go, and then they stopped allowing you to order whatever you want," she says. "I picture, like, '70s Jack Nicholson in a duster, or something like that, driving up to grab a bag of food."
She's Part of Disney's Secret Food Club.
If you've seen Madison's Instagram posts, you may realize pretty early on she's a huge Disney fanatic. An Imagineer even designed her home, modeling the main room after Beauty and the Beast's library and other areas off of the Adventureland suite at the Disneyland hotel, E! reported. (Her red and white, 1940's-era kitchen is another nostalgic throwback: It's inspired by the American Girl kitchen set you could buy to go with a Molly McIntire doll.)
Her love of Disney runs so deep she actually snagged a coveted membership to Club 33, a private restaurant tucked away in Disneyland's New Orleans Square. In 2012, in honor of the club's 45th anniversary, they opened membership, and Madison leaped at the chance to join, scrambling to get on the waiting list.
"I got lucky," she says. The restaurant has become such a favorite haunt of hers that she held her daughter's baby shower there a few years ago, and regularly stops by when she's at the House of Mouse. Members keep pretty quiet about what goes on in the restaurant, save for the occasional Instagram of a too-good-not-to-share drink.
She's Mapped Out All of the Best Foods at Disneyland.
As soon as we asked what to eat at Disney, Madison's eyes light up. "Oh my gosh, I have so many favorite things there. I love their soup bowls. They have clam chowder bowls in New Orleans Square that are really good," she says, gesturing to what appears to be a fedora-sized bread bowl. "And the truffle fries in New Orleans Square, and the Monte Cristo sandwiches. I could, like, go by land and pick different things. Oh, and the cinnamon rolls are amazing. There are so many things."
Another must-try? The lemonade sold on Main Street, which features a frothy set of mouse ears on top.
She's Got the Opposite of Pregnancy Cravings This Time Around.
When Madison was pregnant with her daughter, Rainbow, she had no trouble eating healthy; it was actually her pregnancy that made her rethink her approach to dieting and focus more on nutrition. With baby No. 2, she's been more disgusted by food than craving it—especially when it comes to her morning green juice.
"I force myself to drink green juice, but I'm not into it," she says. "I've been eating a lot of bland carbs, which isn't so great, but sometimes it's all I feel like."
Her 'Peepshow' Gig Came with Free Room Service.
Starring in Planet Hollywood's burlesque show came with a few key perks, namely, a massive hotel suite and 24/7 free room service. "I had this one chicken sandwich I loved, and fries—that was my go-to for a while," she says.
She's Mad About Mustard.
Madison could put mustard on anything. Well, anything except fro-yo—the woman has limits. She loves it on classic savory foods, but one favorite will is truly unexpected: On a bagel with cream cheese.
"Sometimes people are like, 'that's gross,' but it's really good," she promises.
She Goes Through Cooking Phases.
Sometimes she cooks every night. Lately, as she gets closer to the end of her third trimester, it's been more like delivery every night, she says.
Still, given her passion for baking, could her next book be more recipe-focused?
"I never thought about it, but that's a good idea," Madison says, taking another scoop of her nouveau-Neopolitan, chocolate-cake batter-strawberry lemonade frozen yogurt.
If she does, we can only imagine the fro-yo party for that book's release.
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