#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR ANN EVERETT AND WHAM-BAM-YAM POUND CAKE #RECIPE

Ann Everett is an award winning and Amazon bestselling author. She lives on a small lake in Texas where she writes, bakes, and fights her addiction to Diet Dr. Peppers. Learn more about Ann and her books at her website.

Those Crazy Texas Names!

If you’re a writer, do you ever get reviews that make you laugh? I do. Here’s an excerpt from one I received.

“As a born and raised and lived in Texas all my life, I know no one that goes by silly nicknames as pattycake and sweetiepie.” (Should be Pattiecake and Sugarpie, not sweetiepie)

Anyway, why did that make me laugh? Because as the author, I know the history behind those character names. They belong to my sister and me. That’s what our grandchildren call us… and pretty much everyone else. So, said reviewer may not know any Texans with silly nicknames, but I sure do!

Here are some examples: Buttcut, Booger Red, Possum, Slime, Bardol, Slick, Rabbit, Pork Chop, Sweet Pea, and Lightning. Three of those belong to females!

The only reason I can think of that would cause a native to be uninformed of the rich history of ridiculous Lone Star monikers is that she is a “city girl!”

In my Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy, which is set in the actual town of Brownsboro, Texas, I use many genuine crazy names.

When I wrote the first book, I wanted to include family members. I figured with names like Pattiecake and Sugarpie we should be bakers or strippers! Since we both love to cook, it was pretty much a no-brainer. Plus, if we danced on a pole, we might throw our backs out! So, we became owners of Sweet Thangs Bakery, and because it’s fiction, I made us younger with bigger boobs!

Many scenes take place in the bakery, and the owners are full of advice, just as my sister and I are in real life.

Today, just in time for Thanksgiving, I’m posting a delicious recipe from my cookbook, Sweet Thangs: Southern Sweets from Two Sassy Sisters…and silly or not, Pattiecake and Sugarpie really exist!

Wham-Bam-Yam Pound Cake and Glaze

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 cups granulated sugar

1-1/2 cups baked, mashed yams (sweet potatoes)*

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 Tablespoons bourbon (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease two loaf pans or a 10 inch tube pan with butter. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar at high speed for 3 minutes or until thick and light color. Add oil, melted butter, and vanilla, beating at low speed until combined. Add the potatoes, beating until combined and stopping to scrape down sides of bowl.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.

In another small bowl, whisk together the bourbon and buttermilk.

Set the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, combining after each addition.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out fairly clean.

Transfer pans to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and remove from pans, and allow to cool completely.

* We used 3 medium size yams. We pierced them with a knife and placed on a baking sheet and baked for about an hour or until soft in a 375 degree oven. Canned yams may also be used in place of fresh. Just drain the juice and mash.

Glaze

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

3 Tablespoons bourbon

3/4 cup toasted pecans

Directions

Place sugar, butter, and syrup in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted. Bring to a boil and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and stir in pecans, bourbon, and vanilla. Spoon glaze over warm cake.

Sweet Thangs

In Ann Everett’s Tizzy/Ridge Romance Trilogy, fictional characters Pattiecake McAlister and Sugarpie Monroe cook up delicious confections at Sweet Thangs Bakery. These recipes are from the kitchens of real life sisters, Pattie Ball and Carol Mayfield.

Inside this book, they share more than 130 homemade recipes, including luscious cakes, yummy cookies, sweet salads, delectable pies, scrumptious candy, and delightful drinks, perfect for special occasions or gift giving.

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