Posts made in March, 2016

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Posted by on Mar 23, 2016 in Blog, Bready or Not, breakfast, cake, chocolate, quick bread | Comments Off on Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Today we wrap up the Baileys Coffee Creamer theme with an amazing pound cake that’s perfect for breakfast or snack.

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

The original version of the recipe used alcoholic Baileys and also included it in a chocolate glaze. I decided to do without the glaze (I know! Gasp!) but I think it was a good call. The cake is perfectly sweet on its own, and the mini chips add the perfect amount of chocolate taste.

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

The combination of the nonalcoholic coffee creamer and sour cream lend this a tender yet dense crumb. It slices easily because of the mini chips.

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

The most impressive thing about this pound cake was that it was delicious fresh, and it was just as delicious five days later. We kept it shrouded in plastic wrap at room temperature.

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

This is a pound cake you’ll want to pound into your mouth, again and again.

Modified from Lemon Tree Dwelling.

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

The addition of some Baileys (non-alcocholic coffee creamer or the hard stuff) does wonders for the soft texture and smooth taste of this delicious pound cake! This loaf is perfect for breakfast or snack.
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Keyword: chocolate, quick bread, sour cream
Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer or Irish Cream
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Prepare the loaf pan by coating with nonstick spray, then cutting a sling of parchment paper to fit the width of the pan that can stick up on either side. Apply nonstick spray on that as well.
  • Preheat oven at 325-degrees.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat butter until it's creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat 4 or 5 minutes, or until it's light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the bowl a few times.
  • While that is beating, in a separate small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the Baileys and sour cream. It's okay if it's a bit lumpy.
  • In the butter-sugar bowl, add the eggs one at a time and mix well in between. Pour in the dry mix and the Baileys mix a bit at a time, going back and forth, until everything is just combined. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
  • Bake for 65-75 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test in the middle of the loaf.
  • Cool on a rack for 20 minutes then use the paper sling to lift it up to cool completely. Store in layered plastic wrap at room temperature. Keeps well for at least 5 days.
  • OM NOM NOM!

 

Bready or Not: Baileys Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

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Sunday Quote says it’s never too late to celebrate Pi Day

Posted by on Mar 20, 2016 in Blog, Quote | Comments Off on Sunday Quote says it’s never too late to celebrate Pi Day

“While writing is like a joyful release, editing is a prison where the bars are my former intentions and the abusive warden my own neuroticism.”
~Tiffany Madison

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Bready or Not: Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer Bundt Cake (with cake mix)

Posted by on Mar 16, 2016 in Blog, Bready or Not, breakfast, bundt, cake, cake mix | Comments Off on Bready or Not: Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer Bundt Cake (with cake mix)

Welcome to part 2 of my St. Patrick’s series as I use up a big honkin’ bottle of Baileys Coffee Creamer! This time, it doctors another cake mix, but in bundt cake form.

This is, really, a large pound cake/poke cake. The flavor of Baileys isn’t heavy here at all. It’s all about vanilla smoothness and tender crumb.

Bready or Not: Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer Bundt Cake

The glaze isn’t something that sits on top of the cake. It soaks in. You poke it all over and drizzle the glaze on slowly so the moisture can penetrate. After a day in the fridge, it’s hard to tell it was glazed at all… until you cut inside and see how lusciously moist the cake is inside.

Bready or Not: Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer Bundt Cake

This is a cake that’d be great for breakfast, brunch or dessert, by itself or dressed up with fruit or ice cream. You can always make extra glaze for adorning individual pieces, too–the original recipe recommended doing just that. It also used the alcoholic Baileys, so that’s another way to “dress this up,” too.

Use the mild-mannered coffee creamer or the harder stuff. Your call. Whatever you use, it’ll make for a yummy, tender cake.

Modified from Noble Pig.

Bready or Not: Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer Bundt Cake (with cake mix)

Use standard yellow cake mix and pudding mix to create a tender bundt cake. Baileys is in the cake and in the glaze that soaks into the cake, creating something that's smooth and sweet and perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert!
Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Keyword: bundt cake, cake, cake mix
Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 cup pecans chopped
  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 3.4 ounce instant vanilla pudding mix 1 box
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer or liqueur

Glaze

  • 5 Tb unsalted butter
  • 3 Tb water
  • 2/3 cup white sugar or caster sugar
  • 3 Tb Baileys Coffee Creamer or liqueur

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Generously grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan. Sprinkle pecans all the way around the bottom.
  • In a large bowl, mix together the yellow cake mix, vanilla instant pudding mix, eggs, water, oil and coffee creamer. Pour the batter over the pecans in pan.
  • Bake for 60 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let it cool for about 15 minutes then flip the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • When the cake is cool, make the glaze. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, water, and sugar. Bring it to a boil and keep it there for 5 minutes, stirring all the while. Remove it from heat and add the Baileys.
  • Poke the cake all over with a skewer of chopstick. Slowly drizzle the glaze over the cake so that the sweetness can soak into the puncture points; a brush is useful here, too. Gradually work all of the glaze inside and over the cake; note that it will soak in more over the next hours and the cake will look moist rather than iced. Store covered in the fridge.
  • OM NOM NOM!

 

Bready or Not: Baileys Irish Coffee Creamer Bundt Cake

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Sunday Quote was in Tucson all day yesterday

Posted by on Mar 13, 2016 in Blog, Quote | Comments Off on Sunday Quote was in Tucson all day yesterday

“Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know.”
~Ted Chiang

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Marching Onward: Recent Publications

Posted by on Mar 10, 2016 in anthology:poem, anthology:story, awards, Blog | Comments Off on Marching Onward: Recent Publications

In January, I was occupied with writing Call of Fire. February was spent in heavy revisions on that book. With it currently with first readers, I can now turn my attention to everything that’s been ignored in 2016, like my website, poetry re-submissions, promotional work, and things around the house, too. It’s been pretty overwhelming. Every time I think, “Yeah! I’m caught up!” I have three more things land on me. But hey, that’s life. I’m staying busy, and that keeps me happy.

Final Flight story
If you poke around my site, you’ll see a new Breath of Earth page is online. There is also info on the reading order for the Clockwork Dagger series and the new story that comes out next month, Final Flight!

My events for the year have been updated, too. They form a sizable column on the right-hand side.

The Bibliography page has also been updated with some recent publications like:
– my poem “To Ride the Puca” in Kaleidotrope
– three poems in the issue 39.1 of Star*Line: “Window View,” “Apology Letter from the Aliens,” & “No More Broomsticks for Me”
– that my poem “Fried Okra” (originally published in Tales of the Talisman) has been nominated for Rhysling Award

– my story “The Sweetness of Bitter” has been reprinted in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination

#SFWAPro

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