Update: Taking it Easy; also, Cake

I’m adding this and that to Sekaran, but rather casually. I’m waiting for comments from hither and yon, though actually one early reader read it in less than 24 hour and zapped it back to me; hence the adding of this and that. I’m trying to figure out a clever battlefield maneuver that would work for the scene I have in mind and that can be described in, oh, three paragraphs or so, and since my personal battlefield experience is nil and I’m having trouble thinking of a comparable historical incident I can lift whole and revise lightly to fit, this is slowing me down a trifle. Even if I leave it vague, I want to give the impression that this incident actually took place. What can it be? Hmm.

Well, I’ll think of something eventually.

In the meantime, I have read a book! Which I will tell you later this week; I’ve just about got that post written. I may — I realize this is shocking — read more books!

What else … Let me see. Oh, I wrote a note to myself to hurry up and write something to go into the newsletter. I could use the second chapter of Sekaran, but I would sort of like to transition to something else. In a few weeks, I’ll probably start dropping chapters and half-chapters of Sekaran over at my Patreon, and I believe I would like something else for my newsletter. I’ve got another sale schedule for … let me see … September 3-7, and therefore I should schedule the newsletter somewhere in there. Maybe the 5th, which is a Friday and also the day after Eight Doors will drop at Amazon. I can certainly write something short by then. Or, if not, as short is always iffy for me, then part of something longer.

Otherwise, everything is calm. I’m picking apples. This year, the electric wire around the top of the fence has stopped the vicious monsters that inhabit these woods from stealing all the apples.

They are vicious, I tell you

Image from Pixabay

Last year, the electric wire didn’t function or the squirrels were more desperate or who knows, but they got every apple. This year, that’s not a problem, and as a result we are going to be practically drowning in apples for the next little while.

Firecracker Apple Cake

Thanks to whomever came up with this recipe; I have no record of where I got it

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon (I use 1 tsp because cinnamon is not my favorite)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger (I use a heaping 1/2 tsp because ginger IS my favorite
1/4 tsp cayenne
3/4 C veg. oil
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C sour cream (I used Greek yogurt)
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 3/4 C cubed apple, or whatever, you can probably use more if you happen to have apples overflowing. I didn’t measure.

THE CARAMEL GLAZE

2/3 C packed brown sugar
6 Tbsp light cream
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks
1/2 generous tsp cayenne

Make the glaze:

Put all ingredients in a small saucepan and stir constantly over medium heat four about four minutes, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. If you make this ahead, you will need to warm it to pourable consistency before you use it.

Make the cake:

Grease and four a Bundt pan. Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside. Whisk together the oil, brown sugar, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and fold together to blend. Fold in apple. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes and turn out onto plate. Glaze warm cake with half the warm glaze. Pass the rest of the glaze with the cake as you serve it.

The recipe suggests vanilla ice cream, but I never use it because I love the glaze and don’t think the cake needs anything else. In fact, I could easily eat the glaze out of a jar with a spoon. Mmmmm.

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