Carol McClain – Recipe for Romance – Part 3 of 3

Shannon here: Women’s Fiction author, Carol McClain shares her recipe for Apricot Brandy Pound Cake plus a chance to win a copy of her debut novel, DWF: Divorced White Female. Comment or answer the question at the end of any post dated Dec 8 -12 to enter the drawing. Deadline: Dec 20th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Carol:


Apricot Brandy Pound Cake
’Twas the night after Christmas, and in order to chase the post-Christmas blahs, Cheryl Chandler, the protagonist of DWF:Divorced White Female, is creating another one of her favorite recipes. She learned it from me. I discovered it in the All Seasons Cookbook from Mystic Seaport: Apricot Brandy pound cake.
This cake is perfect for New Year’s Eve. You’ve given up drinking, and the kids, thankfully gag on the stuff, so instead of popping a champagne cork (which, incidentally, kills more people each year than spiders do), pop a piece of this delectable tidbit into your mouth.
As you ring in the new year with resolutions, you’ll break them before you hit the hay with this cake. So yummy, one slice won’t do. Eat it before midnight, and then you won’t have to worry about the new year promise to lose weight.
It has every conceivable extract in it, real butter and whole sour cream. If you eat it right out of the oven, you could swear, if you were the swearing type, that you would get drunk—which isn’t a possibility.
Of course, Cheryl’s OCD daughter, Bobbie, wouldn’t touch it. Fearing the alcohol hadn’t dissipated, it’s the only cake, besides her mother’s Black Forest cake, she despises. Don’t worry. Cooking kills the intoxicating effects and only leaves a sensory sensation.
You can serve it plain, or with ice cream. Cheryl will only use Ben & Jerry’s. For this one, she uses plain vanilla in order to not overwhelm the succulence of the cake. She figures, if she’s going to indulge in these calories, she’s going to enjoy every bite.

Apricot Brandy Pound Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (no substitutions)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream (real sour cream, not the light stuff)
½ teaspoon rum flavoring
1 teaspoon orange extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup apricot brandy

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 or 10-inch tube pan.
2. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Sift together flour, soda and salt. Combine sour cream, flavorings and brandy. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour into prepared pan; bake for 60-70 minutes or until cake test done. Cool 15-20 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.
About Carol: Diverse. If one word can describe Carol McClain, it’s diverse and had been long before diversity became such a pc buzz word. She’s a novelist, essayist, and erstwhile poet (Be glad it’s erstwhile and no longer current). She hales from northern New York—so far north, she’s almost Canadian. Eh?
She plays the bassoon, creates stained glass, cross-country skis, and is a former marathoner and high ropes instructor. For more than thirty years, she taught English, and she now teaches Bible studies, and edits for fun.
In addition to this, she has served on the North Country Habitat for Humanity board for over ten years. In that capacity, she’s held every position except those having to do with money. She may be able to tell you the definitions sesquipedalian, but simple addition baffles her.
She is course coordinator for ACFW. And of course, she writes. She’s completed four novels, with DWF being her debut. You can connect with McClain at: http://carol-mcclain.blogspot.com
About the book – DWF: Divorced White Female:
Sassy, unsaved and desperate, Cheryl Chandler realizes one thing will redeem her from her ex-husband’s betrayal. A man. Any man—so long as he’s hot.
If you meet him online, he’s got to be good? Right?
Ditched by her husband, Cheryl Chandler’s going to find love at any cost. But she has a lot to learn—and never expected to learn it from her kids.
DWF: Divorced White Female is a tale of love, laughter and redemption. You can find it wherever books are sold.
Question: What is your favorite pound cake?

Come back Dec 15th for Rebecca Carey Lyles!