Angela Webster McRae's Blog, page 34

A Spiced Pear Cake that tastes like fall!

I don't always share with you the recipes I include in my column for The Weekly, a local publication that's delivered to all the homes in my county, but this spice cake is so good, and I think some of you will enjoy making it as a teatime treat!

Earlier this fall, I was thrifting one Saturday when I came across an old 1961 spiral-bound cookbook published by the Haralson County Home Demonstration Council. Well, Haralson County is where I grew up, so of course I had to grab this one-dollar find. Tucked into its stained pages was an old cake recipe that caught my eye because it called for pears and not apples. Having recently tried an apple cake that didn't quite meet my expectations, I spiced up the pear cake a bit, and Alex and I loved the result.

In fact, this cake is one we'll be serving at Thanksgiving this year. I recommend enjoying it along with a cup of brisk black tea!

Spiced Pear Cake with Caramel Glaze

4 Bartlett pears, peeled and diced fine (1/4-inch to 1/3-inch cubes)
2 cups + 1 tablespoon sugar, divided use
3 large eggs
1-1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ginger
I teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cups chopped pecans, divided use
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Caramel Glaze (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine pears and the 1 tablespoon of sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the remaining 2 cups of sugar, eggs and the oil at medium speed until well blended.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, salt and baking soda. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, beating on low speed until combined. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the pears, 1-1/2 cups of the pecans and vanilla. Batter will be very thick. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan (or spray with Baker’s Joy). Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool for 10 minutes in pan before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling, then drizzle with Caramel Glaze.

Caramel Glaze

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk

Add all ingredients to a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil and stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes. Let mixture cool for just a few minutes until it thickens slightly, then spoon over cake. Sprinkle cake with remaining 1/4 cup pecans.

Thankful for brunch with my friends!

Does this photo make your mouth water? It does mine! This was the scene yesterday morning when my Bible study group met for brunch to celebrate the end of our fall study! I made a breakfast casserole (the classic one with eggs and sausage), but I have to admit that one of my favorite treats was the broccoli salad at left since I never make it. If it's offered at a restaurant, however, you can bet I'll order it!

We also had lots of great sweets, and while some women opted for coffee, you won't be surprised to hear that this Baptist girl had a mixed drink: lemonade and sweet tea, my own little Arnold Palmer, which was delicious with all these offerings, including some peanut butter fudge that was sooo delicious!

Our church has a facility in downtown Newnan called "The Warehouse" that used to be an old cotton warehouse years ago, and it's used for lots of church events and is a favorite hangout of our teens. Yesterday, we had a great time having brunch and hearing from a dear friend from Newnan who is now a missionary in Japan!


Our Bible study, by the way, was this "Ruth" study by Kelly Minter, and it was fabulous! I love the book of Ruth, and her name is particularly meaningful to me since my daughter-in-law, Naomi, chose the name "Ruth" for granddaughter Bella's middle name. So "Naomi and Ruth" have an extra special meaning to me!


I greatly enjoyed the study as well as the brunch, and I was so *thankful* to kick off the season's celebrations with my Bible study pals!

A thrifty replacement for a missing Christmas teapot

Have you ever lost something in your house that you just *know* is there somewhere? That's been my theory for more than ten years now. Somewhere, there is a box with Christmas wares including a teapot or two, an "O Christmas Tea" mug, and, I strongly suspect, the Pfaltzgraff Winterberry tea-for-one set that a dear friend gave me one Christmas. Alas, I have turned this house upside down and still cannot find that missing box of Christmas wares. So when I saw this Winterberry set for $1.50 at a thrift store on Saturday, I decided I needed it!

This is something I've seen in stores before, but the cup and the pot were not together. So of course I just plopped the teapot on top of the cup, carried it all to the checkout counter, and told the clerk it was a set but had been priced $1 for the pot and 50 cents for the cup. I make sure to tell them because I don't want to rip off the thrift store, but I do hope to show them what a tea-for-one set looks like so that maybe they'll stop separating these pieces.

And of course I couldn't pass up a 50-cent dessert plate with poinsettias on it since that may be needed in a future photo for this blog (or a future cookbook).

I guess I had Christmas on the brain, as I also found a grab bag of vintage Christmas goodies at an antique mall. Meanwhile, this week, I hope to nab some vintage turkey figurines. Wish me luck!

The "Afternoon Tea" stamp from Woodware Craft Collection

Since yesterday was 37-1/2 hours long because of the time change, or at least it seemed that way to me, I took advantage of the extra time to try out a new stamp I had recently ordered for card making! Soon, I'll be cranking out the Christmas cards for this year, so I knew this was one of the last afternoons I would probably take time to make tea-themed cards for a while.


This is a collage-style stamp from Woodware Craft Collection called "Afternoon Tea," and I like the messy, jumbled look of the type, the teacup, and the butterfly. I've gathered a nice collection of tea-themed stamps by now and probably *could* have come up with something like this, but it would've taken me a while to compile all of these images, so I was happy to find this stamp with all of the hard work already done.

I got my stamp from Scrapbook.com for $8.49, and I got three freebies for ordering, including a nice set of fall leaf dies and some other goodies that were worth more than the price of the stamp itself! If you're a crafter in need of any supplies, you can check out this stamp and their other offerings here.

Santa-mug ornament success!

Finally, you can quit hearing (reading?) me whine about not being able to find those Santa mug ornaments at Walmart this year! Now, I won't even think about putting up a Christmas tree until after Thanksgiving—I love having a month to focus on gratitude—but I do plan to be ready to roll soon after the turkey is put away. And this little $2.68 Santa "tea mug" ornament makes me very happy! He's just an inch and a half tall but packed with personality.

They have a few other vintage-looking designs in this "Mr. Christmas" line as well. I looked for these ornaments at Walmarts in Bremen and Peachtree City here in Georgia and at a Walmart in Wisconsin last month, but where did I find them? The Walmart right here in Newnan. Who knew?

A teapot that'll "be there with bells on"

I sometimes make the mistake of thinking I've seen every teacup- and teapot-shaped gift that exists, and then something like *this* happens. I was leaving my speaking event in Auburn last week when Nancy handed me a small gift bag and said it was a thank-you gift for coming to visit her group. I of course said thank you, but we were all in a whirl with cleanup and book sales and tea chats, so I didn't open it until I got home. I heard a little jangling sound, and since Nancy loves vintage Christmas things like I do, I figured it was probably a Santa or elf bell or something along that line. Imagine my surprise when I got home and discovered I had a leather teapot door hanger featuring actual sleigh bells!

The tag on the gift tells the story, and I was quite enchanted.

And the pretty bells truly do have a distinctive sound. (Mr. Tea With Friends *might* have gotten a wee bit weary of hearing me jangle them, and not much gets on his nerves.) This was one of the most fun "teapot" gifts I've ever received, and I can't wait to decorate with these bells at Christmas!

Snack sets & a book talk in Auburn, Alabama

Since I have spent my entire life in West Georgia, the Alabama state line has always seemed more like a suggestion than a boundary. My old high school, Haralson County High in Tallapoosa, was less than ten miles from Alabama, while Atlanta was over an hour away. Many of my classmates turned out to be University of Alabama fans and not University of Georgia fans. When I moved to Newnan to accept a newspaper reporting job after college, I found that lots of folks here had gone to Auburn University, which is only a little over an hour away. Last Wednesday, I got to spend the afternoon in Auburn while I talked about The Roots of All Evil, my latest novel, which features a main character who is an Auburn grad. Here I'm shown with Jane Jett, at left, and Nancy Sanker, at right. Nancy used to live in Newnan, and she and I quickly bonded over a love of teatime and all things vintage!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the beautiful touches she incorporated into the decorating at the clubhouse in her new neighborhood. It was a beautiful facility, and I enjoyed looking out a window and seeing the rippling water in the pool on a picture-perfect fall day. Some 22 ladies had gathered for lunch, and while it's always great to sell some books, I particularly enjoyed hearing some new tidbits about Auburn, some of which I may be able to incorporate into future books in the Silver Sisters mystery series.

Now, Nancy collects tea-and-toast sets, or snack sets, and she has amassed quite the collection. She had some leaf-shaped sets …

As well as apple-shaped sets. I'm sorry to report that I forgot to take one of these treat bags home with me to photograph, but they contained candies including teapot- and teacup-shaped chocolates!

The delicious bagged lunch (which I didn't eat until after I spoke and forgot to photograph) was by a caterer called Birdie's Cup and Saucer, and of course I loved the name. My chicken salad sandwich was so tasty, and the thick, soft, and slightly sweet bread was to die for! Again, I'm sorry I failed to snap a photo, but the way they packaged their salads was clever. You know those little 3 x 5 aluminum pans that you use to make mini loaves of bread? Well, the salad of mixed greens, cranberries, and feta was provided in those pans along with a small lidded plastic container of balsamic dressing. Cling wrap sealed the whole thing, and I thought it was quite a smart way to package a single-serve salad.

Even the bottled waters and soft drinks (to go in the snack-set cups) were displayed beautifully in a gorgeous punch bowl!

Have you ever seen an etched punch bowl quite like this one? I had not.

Nancy and I also share a love of vintage hankies, so I absolutely loved the banner she created.

I loved the variety of designs!

Nancy and I also share a love of books, and when she lived in Newnan, she wrote a book column for The Shopper (where I have a cooking column), and she was a great friend to all of us local authors. For that reason, I thought it was so fitting that she made these pumpkins and covered them with text!

Here's a close-up of one, and some of you may note a familiar treat in the background: the Market Bulletin Orange Balls that Nancy made using the recipe from my Vintage Christmas Cookbook. I was certainly treated well by Nancy and the new friends I made in Auburn, and I came home with wonderful memories as well as some great ideas for future tea parties!

Twinings Peach & Orange Herbal Tea

I'm usually a Kroger shopper, but yesterday, I decided to run in Publix for a few things. While I was there, I zipped down the tea aisle, and this box of Twinings tea caught my eye because it wasn't wrapped in cellophane like the others. Then I realized that Peach & Orange was a new flavor, and I had to try it.

When I opened one of the packets, I got a nice fruity smell right off the bat.

The tea turns a reddish-orange color in the cup, and it's got the sweetness of peaches but also a little tartness that I didn't expect but didn't mind (and that's apparently from the orange peel in this tea). I had bought some of those two-bite cinnamon rolls from the bakery, and this tea made a nice companion. Once I'd used my tea bag, I plopped it into a glass of ice water (it was 77 here yesterday), and I liked the taste of this tea cold as well. I know some of you who are avoiding caffeine enjoy herbal teas, and this is a fun new one to try!

A surprisingly sweet gift!

Occasionally, someone in my Sunday school class brings a treat for us all to share. I've done it, others have done it, and while we don't have a schedule of who brings what and when, it is always fun when someone shows up with a new treat. On Sunday, my friend Beverly shared this Swedish Nut Cake, and oh my, was it delicious!

It reminds me of a hummingbird cake because of the cream cheese icing, pineapple, and pecans, but it's baked more like a sheet cake and has a little denser (and tastier!) cake layer. I polished off a small slice before class, and while I went to the ladies' room between Sunday school and church, Beverly had packed up the (few!) leftovers and told Alex to take them since I liked it so much.

It lasted only two days at my house, and boy, did it upgrade my teatime! Just looking at the pineapple and pecans in this photo makes me wish I had more. And yes, I will be asking Beverly for the recipe since I saw several versions online but would love to know the exact one she made. Have any of you ever had Swedish Nut Cake? If you haven't, you're in for a real teatime treat!

"Murder at Afternoon Tea" by Rosie Hunt

"Sun streamed through the open French doors of Wolborne House's old-fashioned yet elegant drawing room. …  At its centre was a tea table, generously laden with all manner of sweets. There were buttery scones with thick clotted cream and brilliant red strawberry jam, dark slices of fruit cake with cherries shining like jewels, and crumbly golden shortbread cut into petticoat tails and dusted with sparkling sugar granules."
— From Murder at Afternoon Tea by Rosie Hunt

This fun cozy mystery is set in 1921, and Lady Felicity Quick, a society-page journalist (like I once was), is longing to write meatier stories for the Western Daily News, the newspaper whose editor is her brother, Lord Jasper Quick. Lady Felicity ("Cici" to friends and family) agrees to interview an old chum who is now an up-and-coming actress and theatre director, Olivia Heygate-Harper. Cici visits Olivia's home and is welcomed to afternoon tea, but before the visit ends, Olivia's battle-ax of a mother, Lady Dora Heygate-Harper, chokes on a petticoat tail and appears to recover but is later found deceased in her bedroom. 
As curious as any good journalist should be, Cici whips out pencil and paper and makes notes on all she observes as she tries to determine whether Lady Dora's death was indeed an accident. Olivia's older sister and brother-in-law inherit the estate, so they had reason to wish for Lady Dora's demise. The housekeeper seems a little sketchy, and so does the fumbling maid, Gwen. Hunt is great at casting doubt on each of her characters, only to move along and direct our attention to someone else who seems equally suspicious.
Those of us who watched Downton Abbey can't help being reminded of Edith and her newspaper career, a comparison Hunt would seem to welcome. With the country house lifestyle still relatively fresh in our minds, we find it easy to slip into this world of English estates and the upstairs-downstairs characters who inhabit them.
I liked the fact that this book was a short read, and its tasteful but unexpected conclusion was one I found clever. If you would like to read it, too, you won't find it on Amazon (it's considered "Book 0" in the series, what some call a "reader magnet" to get you hooked), but you can download it for free simply by signing up for the author's newsletter here: https://BookHip.com/NFQLZAD.