Sweeter Than Honey Cover Reveal!

If you're like me you just can't quite let summer go yet...Well, I wrote a short, sweet story for that! Set at the end of summer, Sweeter Than Honey is about endings and sweet beginnings. There's a little bit of beekeeping, a little bit of reporting, and definitely a little fun with honey!

These characters were fun to write and I'd babble on about them but the story's short and I don't want to give too much away. It's a little break from my fantasy novels (the next one will be coming soon, I promise!), back to contemporary set in a little town. Look for it from JMS Books on October 21!

Ready for the cover?

Cheers!

A Cake a Month: September

I almost can't believe it's the last week of September already--in part because it's been so hot! It's been getting up to the 90s here in Wisconsin and not cooling much at night. Where's autumn? I don't know. I'm sure the frosty mornings are on the way, though.

I have a couple apple trees and they actually made apples this year. It's always a question whether they will or not, because the blossoms are so sensitive that a good cold snap in spring can ruin the entire thing. But I knew I had to make a cake with apples this year! I'm very happy I got to use apples from my tree, and of course when I stumbled across this German Riesling Apple Cake I just had to make it. Apples and wine? Yes, please!

My spouse thinks it's more like bars than a cake, and I can see that...The cake bottom is dense and the topping is a bit like pie or other fruit filling. It's definitely not overly sweet, I'd say it has a little tartness to it even. Did I mention almost a whole bottle of Riesling went into it? I made sure the rest of it had a good home!

Cheers!

A Cake a Month: All the Cakes!

If you were wondering what had happened with all my cake baking...no, I did not stop! I've been managing to keep up with a cake a month (whyyyy did I think this was a good idea? It's so. much. cake.) but not posting about it (oops). What can I say, this year's been difficult for everyone. Obviously why cake is necessary.

Above is April's cake, an almond pound cake I got from my Moosewood's Favorites cookbook, which has been one of my more-used cookbooks. This was delicious and dense and another favorite while writing with coffee in the morning!

For May I made this Red Velvet Earthquake cake! Wow on this one, it was good but a bit much for me personally. Almost too sweet. It was for a friend's birthday, though, and for that it worked well.

Okay, okay, yes, June's cake is *technically* a cheesecake...hey, it has cake in the name! This Bourbon Cheesecake with Boozy Chocolate for Two was just amazing. This is definitely a make-again kind of thing because it was delicious and not too much cheesecake and well, looking at it now makes me want it again...

Oh no, July cake, I am so sorry. Look at that poor, ugly cake. It's just...not one of my better cakes. This is not the fault of the recipe, it's mine and mine alone. The recipe is fine! I decided I wanted to turn it into a surprise cake. But not make enough for two round layers. So it ended up being one round cake I cut in half and...Well, it was an interesting cakesperience.

The recipe I used was Cellular Peptide Cake with Mint Frosting and the cake itself is tasty. But, uh, maybe if you're going to make it, follow the recipe better than I did and don't try to shove a bunch of mint M&M's inside it!

For August we're back to chocolate and whiskey and hmm now that I'm looking back on all my cakes this year I think I have a slight preference! When I first spotted the Double Chocolate Whiskey Cake with Whiskey Ganache, I apparently was convinced it was for one of your standard round cake pans and not a 10in spring form (I guess they're right when they tell you to read the recipe through before starting!) and so ended up with way too much cake...Seriously making a cake a month results in so. much. cake. I can't really stress that enough.

Anyway instead of dividing the batter into two round pans I put half in one and made a bunch of mini cakes in others. Then I threw a little birthday party for some toy dinosaurs I had, because it's just been a hard few months (I'm sure you know what I mean!) and I needed a little happiness in my day.

And that's where I'm at with cakes! Everyone needs a sweet diversion every now and then.

Cheers!