Tracy Tappan is the bestselling,
award-winning author of gritty romance, her books spanning such diverse sub-genres
as paranormal, military romantic suspense, and medieval historical. During nearly twenty-five years
spent as a naval aviator’s wife, she lived all over the United States and in
Europe, enjoying seven years overseas in the diplomatic community. Learn more
about Tracy and her books at her website.
I clearly remember the chilling phone
call—it was the nightmare phone call all military wives dread: someone had died
in the squadron.
“There’s been a fatal helicopter crash.”
Those words made me instantly cold. I
remember my knees going weak, and the only reason I didn’t end up on the floor
was because my own husband was telling me the news, so he was obviously okay.
But someone else wasn’t.
“Who?”
“Walt Hogan died, and Mark Eoff is in
critical condition.”
 |
| Mark “Clutch” Eoff, USN, Retired, crash survivor |
Mark!
I didn’t know Walt too well, but Mark and his wife, Tricia, lived just down the
street from me and my husband. They were good friends—good people. And now Mark
was in critical condition. I’ve never been an easy crier, but I cried then.
Over the next few days, I tried to see
Tricia—to tell her how much I was thinking of her—but she was understandably
spending a lot of time at the hospital. I finally managed to visit her on one
of her breaks home. We talked, cried, reminisced, hugged…and here is the
awesome side of being a military wife: the sisterhood of support and commiseration
we always create for each other. During the days of her husband’s miraculous
recovery, Tricia never lacked for love and help. I think her fridge was always full
with all of the meals we were constantly bringing her!
And, yes, Mark did survive! Walt
Hogan’s death was a cruel loss to the world, and Mark’s would have been, too. He’s
a 6’3” teddy bear of a fellow, good-natured, with a dry wit, and I’ve never
heard an unkind word come out of his mouth. He is just the sort of generous
soul who would openly share the memories of his crash with me—undoubtedly the
worst experience of his life—so that I could make one of the more
heart-wrenching scenes in my military romantic suspense, Allied Operations, as real as possible. Mark’s actual story, told
in his own words, is included in the epilogue of the book.
Like Mark’s story, Allied Operations has a happy ending, with the hero and heroine
both working through their emotional pasts to find a way to connect with each
other…but after first surviving a horrific helicopter crash together! The story
gives readers an unique, behind-the-scenes look at the triumphs and tragedies
of the military life, and I’m hoping that it’s an especially immersive experience.
I, like most readers, love to lose myself in a great story.
In honor of the men and women who serve
our country, let’s go patriotic with today’s recipe!
American Flag Cake
(It’s less complicated than it looks!)
Chef Notes:
This is a simple white cake with a patriotic surprise inside. First thing's
first, you need five 9-inch cakes: two white, two red, and one blue. You can
use the recipe here, or any favorite white cake recipe that you have. After
making a large amount of cake, the rest is pie (or at least easy as pie).
Please note that the recipe makes one 9-inch cake, so to make the flag cake you'll need to make
it 5 times. A standard KitchenAid mixer comfortably handles 1 batch of
batter.
(Original source: Food52)
For the cake:
8 Tablespoons
butter, room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room
temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
1-1/2 cups cake flour,
sifted
1 teaspoon baking
powder
Salt
3/4 cup buttermilk,
room temperature
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 9-inch cake
pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and
sugar until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping
well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
In a large bowl, whisk the sifted flour, baking powder,
and a pinch of salt to combine. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter
mixture and mix just until incorporated. Follow with 1/3 of the buttermilk and
mix to combine. Repeat until all of the wet and dry ingredients are added,
scrape well to ensure the batter is smooth.
For the white cakes: do nothing! The batter can be baked
as is. For the red cakes: add about 25 drops of liquid food coloring (or more
if it looks too pale). For the blue cake: add about 20 drops of liquid food
coloring (or more if it looks too pale).
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake
until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes.
Cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool
completely.
To assemble the cake, you'll need the frosting (recipe
below). Cut the white and red cakes into even layers, between 3/4- to 1-inch
thick. Now you should have 6 layers. Use a 5-inch circle cookie cutter (or
trace around a 5-inch plate) to cut one of the white layers and one of the red
layers into a smaller circle.
Use the 5-inch cutter to remove the center of the thicker
blue cake. This cake will remain in one thick layer.
To build the cake, start with a large red layer and
spread a thin coating of buttercream on top. Top with a white layer, and spread
buttercream thinly on top. (The recipe is below.) Repeat with another red and
another white layer -- four layers total.
Top this white layer with the thick blue layer (center
removed). Spread a thin amount of frosting on the 5-inch red layer, and top it
with the 5-inch white layer. Now push and pat the 5-inch layers inside the hole
of the blue layer. Now the cake has been assembled!
Frost the cake with the remaining frosting, using a small
offset spatula to make it swirly. All that’s left to do is eat it!
For the frosting:
4 sticks softened
unsalted butter
8 cups sifted
powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
extract
1/3 cup heavy cream
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5 to 6 minutes.
Beat in the vanilla. Add the cream gradually, mixing until a smooth, creamy
texture.
Allied Operations
Book 2 in the Wings of Gold series
Compelled to join an operation by an admiral with a personal agenda,
Lieutenant Kyle “Mikey” Hammond finds himself thrust into the harsh desert
terrain of northern Pakistan. Four American engineers have been kidnapped, and
Kyle is tasked to work with Samantha, a civilian authority on Pakistan, whose
expertise in terrorist negotiations is the hostages’ only hope. However, this
is just one part of Kyle’s assignment. He’s also operating off a set of
top-secret orders that could ruin his military career.
From the outset, Samantha’s
negotiations with the terrorists walk the sharp edge between life and death. But
she is an expert at such shrewd tactics…tactics that soon begin to mirror her
personal dealings with the enigmatic Navy lieutenant. Determined to unearth the
true Kyle, Samantha engages in a cat-and-mouse game with him that ends up
peeling away some of her own carefully concealed layers. Once both their masks
are lowered, love blossoms between them. But when the daring hostage rescue
finally gets underway, a horrifying accident nearly shatters everything they’ve
worked to attain. Their survival will hinge on the strength of their love…and
if the man she’s certain can save the day will become the hero he’s convinced
he’s not.
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