Sunday Quote welcomes pumpkin spice season
Read More“I think that science fiction, even the corniest of it, even the most outlandish of it, now matter how badly it’s written, has a distinctly therapeutic value because all of it has as its primary postulate that the world does change. I cannot overemphasize the importance of that idea.” ~Robert Heinlein, 1941
A Clockwork Dagger and Crown Playlist
I’ve been asked about what music I listen to when I write, or what songs I associate with The Clockwork Dagger. I figure it’s only right to answer those questions with the actual songs.
When it comes to my healer characters like Octavia Leander, there’s one song that sums them up: “Hands” by Jewel.
My brain is a weird place (I can picture my husband laughing at this and saying, “That’s an understatement”). I can listen to music when I do rough drafts but not when I edit. When I wrote The Clockwork Crown in January, I relied heavily on a Pandora channel that mixed up songs related to Mumford and Sons, Bruce Hornsby, and Foo Fighters. This in turn introduced me to some great songs by Wailin’ Jennies and Avicii.
The Foo Fighters connection came about, oddly enough, because of the Phoenix Coyotes. We’re season ticket holders. Through the first part of the hockey season last year, they started every game with a great pumped-up video that spliced in team footage with the Foo Fighter’s song “The Pretender.” I was starting work on Crown then and this song really connected with me as Octavia’s mantra. It evokes her growing maturity and rage as she fights against soldiers and terrorists in her pursuit, as well as her own self as her powers grow in frightening ways.
I can’t ignore the inspiration for the Lady’s Tree, either: the Super Nintendo game Secret of Mana. The music from it stands out so well 20 years later. Here’s a gorgeous version of the title screen music as performed by my dear friend, Lauren the Flute.
Read MoreBready or Not: Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake
Let’s carry September’s Cake Month into October as I start the annual autumn theme of pumpkin, maple, and other seasonal flavors!
Most of the stuff I bake goes with my husband along to his work. Lo and behold, a few of his co-workers eat gluten-free. I hate for people to feel left out. Therefore, I try to mix in some GF goodies every so often.
Baking gluten-free can be rather intimidating. The stuff is expensive, and even worse, some of it tastes BAD. As in, scrub-out-your-mouth-with-a-toilet-brush bad. I also worried about cross-contamination. My kitchen is pretty much saturated in gluten.
I prowled around for good pumpkin cake recipes and I found this one at King Arthur Flour. Their recipes are very reliable. I modified it slightly. I used a Bob’s Red Mill GF Vanilla Cake Mix here, as Bob’s mixes and flours are pretty darn good. I also used my own maple glaze, because, well, MAPLE!
The end result was an absolutely delicious cake. It tasted totally normal–no one would suspect it was gluten-free!
Modified from the recipe at King Arthur Flour, with my own glaze.
Bready or Not: Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
Cake ingredients:
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons molasses
- 15 oz pumpkin purée
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 gluten free cake mix yellow, vanilla, or white (recommend King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill)
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice or substitute 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Maple Glaze ingredients:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon maple flavor
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk almond milk works!, more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Thoroughly grease a 10-cup Bundt pan.
- Whisk together the eggs, molasses, pumpkin purée, and oil. Set aside.
- In another big bowl, combine the cake mix, cornstarch, baking soda, and spice(s).
- Stir the wet and dry mixtures together until smooth and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake for 60 to 65 minutes, until it passes the crumb test.
- Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn it out of the pan to cool completely on a rack.
- Dust the cake with confectioners' sugar, or make the maple glaze. Combine the glaze ingredients, adding more sugar or milk for desired texture. Drizzle over cake.
OM NOM NOM!
Finishing Off September
Over at Tor.com, I answer The Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe.
Looking a few months ahead, I am happy to announce that I’ll have a booksigning on December 6th from 1-3pm at the Metro Center Barnes & Noble in Phoenix. This is a more casual thing–no reading–but I’ll sit at a table and lure in people with cookies. If you’re in the area, please pencil in the date and drop by to say hi!
