Beth Cato's Blog, page 119

Bready or Not: Cinnamon Bundt Cake

Am I still alive? Did I survive The Clockwork Dagger’s launch into the world?

I don’t know. In the interest of my sanity (hahahaha) I am scheduling this far in advance. I suspect I will be 1) exhausted, 2) exhilarated, and 3) terrified, with a potpourri of other emotions mixed in.

I mean, MY BOOK IS OUT. How crazy is that? I’ve only wanted to publish a book of my own since I was, oh, four. Thirty years later, here I am.

Pardon me while I go to hug my book again. It’s real.

… ahem. Well, it’s Wednesday, and it’s Cake Month, so I suspect you want to see that Cinnamon Bundt Cake mentioned in the title, right? (I can shut up about the book for a little while. Honest.)

This is a gorgeous cake that’ll slap you upside the head with cinnamon goodness.

The recipe doesn’t produce a large bundt cake, but it’ll still feed a crowd. This is one of those cakes that’s awesome for breakfast, coffee breaks, dessert, or whatever other occasion you want to stuff a slice of cake in your face.

Now, you have a few options for the liquid in the recipe. The original version used Cinnabon creamer; instead, I used heavy cream and greatly increased the cinnamon. Therefore, toggle the cinnamon to your tastes. I love using flavored creamers in recipes like this, so I imagine the Cinnabon-branded one or any other would be delicious here, too.

I guess I should make this again to test that theory out. Oh, darn.

Also, let’s talk about the glaze. Please.

Okay, I really don’t have much to say about the glaze. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Modified from Cinnabon Bundt Cake at Shari Blogs.

Print
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Bundt Cake

Ingredients

For the Batter:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup canola oil
1 cup heavy cream OR cinnamon-flavored creamer
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon [reduce if using flavored creamer]
2 1/2 cups flour

For the Streusel:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the Glaze:
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
4-6 Tablespoons heavy cream or cinnamon-flavored creamer
1-3 teaspoons cinnamon, to preference

Instructions

To make the bundt:
Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Thoroughly coat a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, cream/creamer, and eggs.
In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flour.
Gradually add the flour mix into the wet batter until just combined.
In another small bowl, mix up the brown sugar and cinnamon for the streusel.
Pour half of the batter into the greased bundt pan. As evenly as possible, sprinkle the streusel all the way around the batter later. Top it off with the rest of the batter.
Bake the bundt cake for 45-50 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test. Let it cool for 15 minutes and then carefully tip the cake onto a plate. Transfer it to a wire rack to completely cool.
To make the glaze:
Once the cake is cool, mix up the glaze until it's at just a pourable consistency. Add the cinnamon to suit your tastes; sample it and check.
Dribble the glaze all over the cake.
Store the cake covered in the fridge.
OM NOM NOM.
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THE DAY

ZOMG it’s here! The Clockwork Dagger is out! There is much rejoicing!

 

 

I’m over on Reddit today for an Ask Me Anything. Log in, post me a question!  I might hop in during the day to answer some, but I’ll definitely be on at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific Time to hang out and answer stuff live. Or semi-dead, depending on how I feel at that point.

 

Another option to the links below: HarperCollins is now directly selling books, and they have a special deal for The Clockwork Dagger. Through 9/22, you can buy the trade paperback for 15% off and free shipping, and 20% off the ebook.

 

Happy links! I AM LIKE CAT HAIR ON THE INTERNET. I AM EVERYWHERE.

I’m Cooking the Books with Fran Wilde today! Listen to a podcast where I talk about ice blocks and cheese (firm and hard varieties preferred), and you have a chance to win an ARC of The Clockwork Dagger!

Holy moley, I have an article on the Huffington Post: “The Genre Jumble of Steampunk and Why It Works.”

I’m interviewed at the Qwillery.

Over at Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, I discuss how My Favorite Bit in The Clockwork Dagger happens to be map geekery.

The Clockwork Dagger is prominently featured in an article at Entertainment Weekly. Oh boy.

At Spec Fiction Hub, I talk about how gremlins took over the book.

Beyond Historical Fiction: How I Came to Steampunk is posted at SFSignal.

“Why Beth Cato Made Her Fantasy Heroine a Healer” can be read at Bookish.

A list of 10 Things to Know About The Clockwork Dagger is at Niteblade.

 

 

 

Book book BOOK BOOOOOOOOK! Buy it everywhere!

 

Amazon Barnes & Noble Powell’s Books-A-Million Poisoned Pen Changing Hands Mysterious Galaxy

Me, Everywhere

In non-Clockwork Dagger news, my story “213 Myrtle Street” is featured on this week’s Toasted Cake Podcast. Tina Connolly does a lovely job of reading one of my favorite stories.

Now, to the big thing for the week. Hey, did you know my book comes out tomorrow?

The Clockwork Cookie tour wraps up with Dawn Bonanno, with an interview and Chewy Cardamom Cookies!

There are nifty book reviews over at Fanboy Comics and Relentless Reading.

I visit Lawrence Schoen blog to talk about nostalgic and yummy pizza in his Eating Authors.

Another interview at Under the Covers.

And hey, you up to listening to my dorky voice? I’m over at the Kingdoms of Evil podcast! I talk about healers, old school RPGs, and The Clockwork Dagger.

The Big Blog Tour continues! Win a book and a parasol!

The Schedule

9/8 – YA Bibliophile, post
9/9 – Irish Banana, promo post
9/10 – Mundie Moms, excerpt
9/11- Reads All The Books, review
9/12 – YA Sisterhood, guest post





9/15 – My, My Shelf & I, excerpt
9/16 – Curling Up With A Good Book, guest post
9/17 – Fictitious Delicious, Q&A
9/18 – Page Turners Blog, review
9/19 – Fangirlish, promo post





9/22 – Novel Novice, guest post
9/23 – Reading Teen, promo post
9/24 – Chapter by Chapter, author interview
9/25 – Jenuine Cupcakes, promo post
9/26 – Good Choice Reading, excerpt

I’m strutting my stuff all over the internet!

Sunday Quote goes to breathe into a paper bag

“A book finished, published, read–is always an anticlimax to me. The joy comes in the words going down and the rhythms crowding in the chest and pulsing to get out.” ~John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel

Memories of B. Dalton and the Booksigning that Won’t Be

[In a week, I hold my first booksigning at Changing Hands in nearby Tempe, Arizona. This got me thinking about how I always imagined things would be...]

I grew up in small-town agricultural California. My local bookstore was a B. Dalton in the Kings Mall. My early memories of that store have my head below the level of the counter. It was a place of countless books and dark woods and garish 1970s orange. Tall ladders stretched to storage crannies high above. Craning my head, I felt like Jack looking up the beanstalk. There were treasures up there.

My mom would scold me to not even touch the ladders in passing. “You have to work here to use them,” she said.

[Me at age 5 with a B. Dalton bag on the far right and new bounty before me.]

On March 6th, 1993 the new Hanford Mall opened. Why do I remember that exact date? I don’t know. It was a major landmark in my 7th grade year. Other kids at school talked excitedly about the new clothes stores and Disc Jockey. My brother couldn’t wait for the arcade. Me, I wanted to see the brand new and larger version of B. Dalton. Due to Hanford’s proximity to Lemoore Naval Air Station, the store carried a larger than normal selection of science fiction and fantasy.

I can’t even say how many hours I spent there. During my brief time in high school (brief, due to the saving grace of an early graduation that allowed me to escape the toxic environment) I would often walk to the mall after school. I was the obsessive-compulsive customer who would place the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books in proper series sequence.

I wanted to publish a fantasy novel of my own. I wistfully stared at the spot where DAVIS would be shelved. The thing is, publishing a fantasy novel involves writing one. I wrote a few pages here and there, character biographies, sketches, maps, but never made a genuine effort. I was too afraid it would be awful. A few times, I saw authors hold signings at my B. Dalton. They set up a table for them right at the front with full visibility of the mall traffic.

I wanted to sit there, proudly, my books stacked on the table before me.

At age eighteen, I was hired as a seasonal employee at B. Dalton. It was my dream job. I quickly found that I was awkward at handling anything on the phone, and working with the cash drawer made me very nervous. But shelving–oh, I could shelve books and work stock for endless hours. One of my happiest days was when I spent my entire shift placing 50% stickers on all the calendars.

A few years later, I married my Navy sailor husband and moved away. The B. Dalton was in danger of closing at one point but Borders stepped in to save the store. It was odd, on a rare visit home, to see all the B. Dalton signing gone.

And then, of course, came the demise of Borders.

My hometown has no bookstore now. The next nearest big city, Visalia, does not even have a bookstore beyond one for college textbooks. To find a Barnes & Noble, a person has to brave traffic and drive 45 minutes to Fresno.

When I walk through the Hanford Mall, I can still see the B. Dalton there, like a ghost. I can see the younger me, so pudgy and wounded by the world, sitting criss-cross with my backpack against my thigh, a fantasy book in my hands. That store enabled me to escape. It helped to keep me alive. All those childhood fantasies of “I’m going to be an author when I grow up and I’m going to hold my signing here…”

Now my book is a reality, and I can’t. Sure, I could hold a signing elsewhere in my hometown, but it’s not the same. A lot of things in Hanford aren’t the same–there are many wonderful new things there in recent years. But there’s no bookstore. No place for kids to visit and stare up the ladders, and wonder at the new books hidden in the heavens above.

Weekly Round-Up

A few folks have asked, “How are you holding up? What’s it like in the week before the book comes out?”

I’m not feeling particularly stressed right now. I have moments–like when I wake up to a bunch of emails or get frustrated with a blog post–but I wouldn’t say I’m freaking out. I am having trouble with sleep after about 3am but that doesn’t seem to be messing me up during the day, though a nap at some point might be kinda nice. One thing that is bothering me is that my attention is very scattered. I’m trying to work on a new story and I’m not doing my usual output at all because I’m constantly checking my mail or social media. That’s always a temptation, anyway, but now it’s become a complete nervous habit.

It’s a sort of relief to have errands outside the house, things that utterly distract me from the computer and checking all the things. Also, I’ve been reading Ha’penny and now Half a Crown by Jo Walton and those have been awesome and immersive.

On to the link round-up!

I was interviewed by the witty and awesome Tex Thompson! She’s the author of the luscious fantasy western novel One Night in Sixes.

The Big Blog Tour continues! Win a book and a parasol!

The Schedule

9/8 – YA Bibliophile, post
9/9 – Irish Banana, promo post
9/10 – Mundie Moms, excerpt
9/11- Reads All The Books, review
9/12 – YA Sisterhood, guest post





9/15 – My, My Shelf & I, excerpt
9/16 – Curling Up With A Good Book, guest post
9/17 – Fictitious Delicious, Q&A
9/18 – Page Turners Blog, review
9/19 – Fangirlish, promo post





9/22 – Novel Novice, guest post
9/23 – Reading Teen, promo post
9/24 – Chapter by Chapter, author interview
9/25 – Jenuine Cupcakes, promo post
9/26 – Good Choice Reading, excerpt

 

The Clockwork Cookie Tour continues with more sweet goodies to stuff in your face:

- Rebecca Roland with Cookies and Cream Cookies

- J. Kathleen Cheney with Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread

 

Bready or Not: Maple Walnut Cake

For the week leading into the release of The Clockwork Dagger, I am presenting the most awesome of cakes.

Three layers. Maple infused every which way. Oh yeah, baby.

My one fear was that sweetness of the cake would be overkill like the way Cadbury eggs are to me now. I’m often asked if a recipe can be modified to omit the nuts. In this case, no. The nuts–in taste and texture–do a lot here to balance out the sweetness. They prevent that overkill.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that since I love maple, that delight has also worked its way into The Clockwork Dagger. Since the geography in my book is loosely modeled on Western Washington state, it’s only right that the country to the north is likewise based on Canada. Frengia is  known for its maple production.

[Hrm. Maybe in a year when the sequel comes out, I should do a maple theme for Bready or Not. There's an idea! Or maybe no one will notice because I do so much maple already...]

If you love maple as I do, this is your epic cake. Print this out. Make it now, or save it for the holidays. Just bake it up at some point.

Brace yourself for the maple-induced ecstasy.

Modified from Maple Walnut Cake at Taste of Home.

Print
Bready or Not: Maple Walnut Cake

Ingredients

THE CAKE [NOT A LIE]
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon maple flavor
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (or sour milk: milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar)

CANDIED NUTS:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (or pecans)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt

FROSTING:
2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
5 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon maple flavor
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup half-and-half cream or milk
3+ tablespoons maple syrup, divided

Instructions

To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350°. Use nonstick spray or butter on three 9-inch round cake pans. Cut out rounds of parchment paper for the bottoms of the pans, then grease the paper.
In a large bowl, cream softened butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs and beat well after each addition. Add the maple flavor.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, until everything is just blended.
Pour batter into each prepared pan as evenly as you can. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then gently tip them onto a wire racks. Remove parchment. Cool cake layers completely. [Note: at this point you can even freeze the layers between wax paper, then wrap well in plastic wrap, to assemble the cake days or weeks later.]
To make candied walnuts:
Grab a small cookie sheet or platter and cover it with aluminum foil. Set aside.
In a large skillet, melt the tablespoon of butter. Add nuts and stir over medium heat until toasted, about 5 minutes. Watch the heat, as they can burn fast. Stir in the tablespoon maple syrup and salt; stir for 1 minute longer. Spread the nuts on the foil to cool completely.
For frosting:
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until creamy. Slowly add in confectioners' sugar, maple flavor, salt and enough cream/milk to reach desired consistency. [If it ends up too wet, add more powdered sugar.]
Set out your serving platter. Add a few dabs of frosting; this will be like glue to help your bottom layer stay in place.
Place the cake layer on top. Spread with one cup of frosting. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of candied nuts over the frosting and then drizzle about a tablespoon of maple syrup.
Repeat this with the next layer.
Place the top layer. Frost the very top and sides of cake, then add the remaining nuts and another healthy (ahem) drizzle of maple syrup.
OM NOM NOM and try not to die of sugar coma.
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Trade Paperback & eBook

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-06-231384-3

ebook ASIN (Amazon): B00HLIYZ5U

ebook ISBN (Nook): 978-0-06-231385-0

Release: September 16, 2014

Amazon Barnes & Noble Powell’s Books-A-Million Poisoned Pen Changing Hands Mysterious Galaxy

Blog Tour!

I’ve been posting about the Clockwork Cookie Tour, but there’s also another blog tour that just started. This one includes Rafflecopter-run giveaway for a copy of my book along with a pretty paper parasol! I’ll repost the schedule over the next while as more links go live. Check it out! Spread the word! Eat cake! Hug kittens!

 

The Schedule

9/8 – YA Bibliophile, post

9/9 – Irish Banana, promo post

9/10 – Chapter by Chapter, author interview

9/11- Reads All The Books, review

9/12 – YA Sisterhood, guest post

9/15 – My, My Shelf & I, excerpt

9/16 – Curling Up With A Good Book, guest post

9/17 – Fictitious Delicious, Q&A

9/18 – Mundie Moms, review

9/19 – Fangirlish, promo post

9/22 – Novel Novice, guest post

9/23 – Reading Teen, promo post

9/24 – Page Turners Blog,

9/25 – Jenuine Cupcakes,

9/26 – Good Choice Reading, excerpt

 

Don’t forget the ongoing giveaway for signed books through Sword & Laser! That runs through Friday.

 

Timeline to Publication (updated)

How long does it take to traditionally publish a book? Almost three years to the day, in my case. I first posted a version of this back in May but I’ve updated it with more info. If you have any questions on this whole process, just ask.

A note to start: I signed with my agent in March 2011 with another book–one that, unfortunately, did not sell.

2011

September 12th: started writing The Clockwork Dagger

October 27th: completed rough draft

2012

January – July: back and forth dialogue as I worked on major revisions with my agent

Late in year: book goes on submission to publishers

2013

January: first publisher offer on The Clockwork Dagger, soon followed by a second offer

February 22nd: verbal contract with Harper Voyager

not allowed to discuss the book deal in public at all; told very few people

July 3rd: received two-book contract to sign.

July 16th: deal announced in Publisher’s Marketplace. I then shouted it from rooftops.

September 6th: revision letter arrived. Deadline of October 31st.

the big edits; in my case, deleted 10k of 100,000 word book

October 15th: edits mailed in.

November 11th: editor accepted my edits.

December 10th: copyedits arrived, due 23rd.

these are nitpicky edits to clarify things, correct typos and inconsistencies

December 17th: turned in copyedits

Through December and January: back and forth regarding book cover details

2014

January 1-31st: wrote 83k book 2 rough draft

January 29th: page proofs arrived for book 1, due Feb 11th

page proofs are the book formatted for the actual book, but printed on standard computer paper. Only small changes allowed; mostly for typos and formatting, making sure italics are right, etc.

February 4th: mailed page proofs

February: edited book 2 draft, add another 10k

February 20th: found my back cover copy on Goodreads

February 21st: sent in dedication and acknowledgment for book 1

March 3rd: cover posted online

March-April: book 2 critiques, followed by more rounds of revision

April 14th: submitted book 2 to my editor (deadline was June 1st)

July 21st: revision letter for book 2 arrived; deadline of September 1st

August 15th: submitted revised book 2 to editor

also August 15th: two final copies of The Clockwork Dagger delivered to my house

***

September 16th: The Clockwork Dagger to be released

September 2015: book two, The Clockwork Crown to be released

Sunday Quote says Happy Grandparents Day

“Publishing is a business. Writing may be art, but publishing, when all is said and done, comes down to dollars.” ~Nicholas Sparks