| Featured in Loving Ivy It’s no secret that I love to cook. And in my books, I love to have my characters cooking. I think spending time together cooking and talking in the kitchen is where you can really get to know someone. I also love to gift my characters recipes that I actually make. This started because of Kristin Ashley. As I’ve mentioned here before, her romance books were the ones that are my primordial romance texts after returning to this genre in 2017. She has a section of her website for recipes from her books and I knew if I ever wrote a book, I wanted to do the same. So here we are. My sister-in-law likes to joke that every recipe in my family has a name attached to it. That’s true because recipes are one way we remember those we’ve loved, even after they’re gone. So here’s Granny Hill’s Coffee Cake. Granny Hill was related to a friend of my parents and I believe we had this coffee cake for as many Christmas mornings as I can remember. It’s easy and delicious, so much so that Ivy in my third book makes it to bring to brunch. Try it out and let me know what you think. Granny Hill’s Coffee Cake Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix – Vanilla Instant Pudding – ¾ c. vegetable oil – ¾ c. water – 4 eggs – one at a time – 1 teaspoon vanilla – 1 teaspoon butter extract ***Beat 8 minutes on high*** – Mix the following separately: – 1 c. granulated sugar – 2 teaspoons cinnamon Grease large Bundt pan (I greased it and floured it to make sure it would come out easily.) Layer the cake mix and the sugar mixture in the Bundt pan (I put a small amount of cake mix, then use a spoon to sprinkle over the cinnamon & sugar, then repeat. I tried to get a lot of layers, not worrying if the cake layer completely covered the previous layer of cinnamon & sugar.) Bake at 350 degrees, 40-45 minutes (remove from the oven, let rest for a minute or two. Run your knife around the inside and outside of the pan. Let sit for another five minutes. Then invert it onto a plate.) Icing recipe – 1c. powdered sugar – 1t. vanilla – 1t. butter extract – 3 T. milk Mix well, pour over top after removing from pan when it’s cool. Enjoy! |
