Magic Cake and a Giveaway

by

 

Four years ago today, I released Romance at Rinehart’s Crossing. 

If you haven’t read the book yet, it is actually three stories all woven together about the King siblings.

The setting of the story is in the town closest to the farm where I grew up. Way back then, the town was sometimes called Rinehart’s or Rinehart’s Crossing, and was a stop on the Oregon Trail. A hot springs and the river made it a popular stop, especially after the pioneers walked across the dusty, sagebrush-covered hills from Idaho.

It could be the familiarity of the setting, or the fact that I just dearly loved the King siblings (especially Tenner) that made this story such a pleasure to write.

Tenner King is determined to make his own way in the world far from the overbearing presence of his father and the ranch where he was raised in Rinehart’s Crossing, Oregon. Reluctantly, he returns home after his father’s death to find the ranch on its way to ruin and his siblings antsy to leave. Prepared to do whatever is necessary to save the ranch, Tenner isn’t about to let a little thing like love get in his way.

? Austen – After spending her entire life ruled by her father, Austen Rose King certainly isn’t going to allow her bossy older brother to take on the job. Desperate to leave the hard work and solitude of the Diamond K Ranch, she decides a husband would be the fastest means of escape. If only she could find a man she could tolerate for more than five minutes.

? Claire – Two thousand miles of travel. Two thousand miles of listening to her parents bicker about the best place in Oregon to settle. Two thousand miles of dusty trails, bumpy wagons, and things that slither and creep into her bedding at night. Claire Clemons would happily set down roots that very minute if someone would let her. What she needs is her own Prince Charming to give her a place to call home. When a broken wagon wheel strands her family miles from civilization, she wonders if handsome Worth King, the freighter who rescues them, might just be the answer to her prayers.

? Kendall – Anxious to escape her mother’s meddling interference, Kendall Arrington leaves her society life behind, intent on experiencing a Wild West adventure. Hired as the school teacher in a growing town on the Oregon Trail, Kendall hopes to bring a degree of civility and a joy of learning to the children of Rinehart’s Crossing. However, the last thing she expects to find is a cowboy with shaggy hair, dusty boots, and incredible blue eyes among her eager students.

Will love find the three King siblings as Romance arrives in Rinehart’s Crossing?

~*~

When I was searching for recipe ideas to include in the story, I came across one for a magic vanilla custard cake. I don’t know how old it is, but it’s good! And it made me think of the “impossible” pies my mom used to make.

 

Magic Vanilla Custard Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter-melted and slightly cooled

2 cups milk

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

4 eggs-separated

1 tablespoon water

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F

Lightly grease an 8×8-inch baking dish, set aside

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside.

Beat the egg yolks and powdered sugar until pale yellow.

Mix in melted butter and the tablespoon of water (for about 2 minutes) until evenly combined.

Mix in the flour until evenly incorporated.

Slowly beat in the milk and vanilla extract until well combined.

Gently stir in the egg whites (1/3 at a time, then repeat until all of the egg whites are folded in).

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40-60 minutes (until the cake is barely jiggly in the center). Baking time might vary depending on your oven or pan you use, but start checking after 40 minutes. If the top browns too quickly before the minimum of 40 minutes, you can cover the cake with aluminum foil.

Cool the cake completely before dusting with powdered sugar.

Serve plain or with fresh berries or sliced peaches. You can also add a drizzle of caramel.

Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

NOTE: Even after it has cooled, it will be slightly jiggly because it has custard layer in the center.

 

For a chance to win a copy of the

book AND a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate,

click on the button below and enter,

then come back here and share a memory of something you

enjoyed eating when you were a child.

My mom used to make impossible coconut pie that was so good!

87 thoughts on “Magic Cake and a Giveaway”

  1. My mom used to save crusts of bread (we kids didn’t like eating them) to make bread pudding. I still enjoy it, especially with plenty of raisins.

    Thanks for running the giveaway!

  2. I used to love banana pudding. Unfortunately, I have serious allergic sensitivity to bananas and can no longer eat them.

  3. My Grandma made the best coconut cake and my other Gran made the best biscuits. I think it’s the love they put into it.

  7. My grandma made a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. You could peel the frosting off and eat it like candy. It was so good.

  8. Good morning Shanna! Mama use to make pound cake with nuts and it was a treat! She only made it on Sundays at times, family reunions, or when the preacher came after church. She always wore her apron over her Sunday dress. And they were cute aprons too! I still have a fascination for aprons! Mainly for those in the 1950’s and ‘60s. I think I have a board on Pinterest! LOL

    Always best wishes to you Shanna!

    • Good morning, Tracy! How fun about the pound cake. Yum! And I remember both of my grandmas wearing aprons. They always had one on. I don’t wear one often, but I love seeing the old ones. They were so fun!

  9. My mother’s potato salad is the best. I tried to make it and it wasn’t as good as hers. My ex MIL made homemade fudge that was really good. No one else can make it like she did.

  11. Oh but this books sounds delightful. I am the oldest of five. When I was four mom started a “birthday” tradition. The birthday person got to choose dinner and birthday cake. One of my brothers always chose a pie. But I had a Cherry Cake at my grandmothers and oh my goodness, but that was the best. So I asked mom if I could choose this. My grandmothers cake was all cold. Mom made it so the sauce on top was warm. Oh my goodness, I loved it. It became my favorite every year. Even after I married, my husband and than our two kiddos with him, would make this for my birthday.

  12. The most delectable treat that I enjoyed was made with love, and my grandmother’s baking skills. An apple cake that was the best ever.

  13. My mom made this chocolate coconut drop cookies. I could never get the right consistency for them to set. My niece can make them so when I see her at Christmas she brings me some.

  14. My mom would bake cookies every Tuesday afternoon when I was young. Coming home from school on Tuesday was special; my brother and I could tell what kind of cookies she has baked before we got through the door because we could already smell them. I enjoyed all the variety of the cookies my mom baked, but chocolate chip cookies were my childhood favorite.

  15. I love my mom’s apple dumplings. They are the BEST! I’ve never had any like them. I don’t make them often because of all the work involved but they are so yummy.

  16. My mom would make kolaches homemade fudge and Russian tea cakes for Christmas. Also loved her banana bread and apple cake.

  17. I loved my Aunt Lucy’s spaghetti. She was not italian, but learned how to make the best spaghetti sauce when she married an Italian. I have never had any as good since then.

  18. My mom’s flour tortillas! She never measured when she made them and they always came out so delicious! I’ve tried to make them like hers yet always fall short on the mark, lol. I have found a recipe that turns out pretty good flour tortillas, just not quite like mom’s

  19. My grandma made the best chocolate pie. The recipe was handed down to my mom, and one Christmas, just for fun, I videoed her making it and put it on YouTube. It has almost 1300 views!

  20. My mom would make the Best beef and vegetable soup and she would make some very good rice to go with it. We would have it on Saturday during the Fall. She would also make the Best Pork ribs, my mom was a very good cook. She would make flour tortillas every morning and they were the Best, we were 6 siblings and we all enjoyed them.

  23. I love my mother’s rice pudding. She always made it when she had leftover rice. She made it with eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and raisins.

  24. Pear cobbler! My Grannie had a few pear trees in her yard. So in addition to her making it with fresh pears, she would also can them so we could make it year round. 🙂

  25. My mother use to make a very good vanilla cookie that was really good and also a pecan pie which I make myself now at Christmas.

  27. I enjoyed eating a type of cookie we called a “sticky.” If mom had a little leftover pie crust dough, she made these by rolling out the piece of dough, adding butter, cinnamon, and sugar, then making it into a roll and cutting the roll apart in pieces. She would bake these and they were so good right out of the oven. I don’t think we ever ate a completely cold one, they didn’t have time to get cold.

  29. My grandmother was a wonderful cook and always made things from scratch. I enjoyed all her cooking but especially her Potato Soup which she made her own noodles to put in it. And cornbread along with it.

  32. Thanks for the recipe.
    My Dad made a chocolate “beer” cake that was so delicious. I wish I had that recipe. Unfortunately that was one that I don’t remember how he made it. He often made things from memory or created them, so no written recipe.

  33. I loved when my Mom fixed cream beef gravy for breakfast. Once in a while I fix it now. I always wanted Mom to make her white cake for my birthday. She would fix the cake, put sliced straw berries on the top of the bottom layer, then put her 7 minute icing on, then put the 2nd layer of cake on, top with more strawberries, then add the icing again. My favorite cake!!

  34. I have to try that recipe… it sounds good! I loved this applesauce cake my mom made when I was a kid, but sadly she lost the recipe.

  37. I enjoyed anything my Mom made. She made fabulous fried potatoes. I loved her butterscotch scotchies cooked. Thank you so much for the opportunity. God bless you.

    • In the summer, if the guys weren’t going to be home for lunch, Mom would sometimes fry potatoes for us and serve with fresh sliced tomatoes and slices of cheese. It was such a simple but good meal! So glad you had a mom who was a great cook! Blessings to you, Debra!

  38. This is not a dessert but my mother made the best fried corn, or cream style as most people call it, and fried chicken. Her potato salad was awesome too. Most everything she made was good. Sweet memories. Can’t wait to try the cake recipe.

  39. My mom made a dark chocolate applesauce cake that has cinnamon and cloves in it. She would sprinkle powdered sugar on it but I sometimes glaze it with a powdered sugar and cream frosting.

  40. My maternal grandmother made a rice pudding that I loved. I never got the recipe and have been looking everywhere for one like it. I bought cookbooks from the 40’s when I could find them and I think I have finally found one that sounds like it will make a rice pudding much like hers. I look forward to trying it out.

  44. My great-grandmother’s boiling water pie crust is flaky and delish and is my go-to recipe for pie crust. Especially for fruit pies! Thanks for the new recipe, and of course, I’ll be reading your Rinehart’s Crossing books because… well… they sound wonderful and…Rinehart, Reinhardt… 🙂

  45. When we’d get home from school and see the back of every dining room chair covered with a tea towel and draped with drying noodles, we knew it was going to be a good supper no matter which direction my mom went with them.

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