How to Make Decorative Sugars Class

Dear Tea Lovers,

To those who attended my scone class this past Saturday, I was literally blown away by the attendance! We had over 50 people there! Thank you so much! I really appreciate you coming and I’m sorry we didn’t have enough chairs for all of you. It was just amazing!

I thought I would send you the link to our YouTube video, How to Make Cranberry Orange Scones. The scone lesson is good, but I was a bit smile challenged at the point we did this take. This was the fourth or fifth take and I was still very nervous and trying to concentrate. It’s harder than it looks! :-)

We should have new inventory in later this week. The Valentine’s sugars arrived and we also have hearts and shamrock sugars as well. The rest of the sugar order will be in shortly and when it arrives, I’ll take pictures and put it up on-line for those of you who can’t get to the Antique Trove.

Our next class will be on March 6th at 11AM. I’ll be talking about how to do a spring tea and demonstrating how to make decorative sugars. For those of you who can’t wait, the recipe is in Making It Your Own Afternoon to Remember (page 19).

I hope to see you then!

Amy

My husband loves Rum Cake. My original recipe is in my first cookbook, however after tasting my aunt’s, I decided that my own recipe was in need of an update. So here’s the result. It’s a combination of the two cakes. See what you think. It’s still easy and quick to make so it might be a great one for Valentine’s Day as well.

Double Rum Cake Recipe:

18 1/2 oz. pkg. yellow cake mix, I use Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Mix
3 1/2 oz. pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 c. sweetened coconut
1/2 c. spiced rum
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. water
4 eggs
3/4 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Rum Sauce:

1 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. spiced rum
Dash of water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a non-stick 2 qt. Bundt pan with cooking spray. Using an electric mixer at low speed, blend the cake mix, pudding mix, coconut, rum, oil and 1/2 c. water. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

Evenly distribute the pecans in the bottom of the Bundt pan. Pour the batter on top of the pecans. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Make the rum sauce:

In a small saucepan, bring the sugar, butter, rum and dash of water to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. With a fork, make holes in the top of the cake. Pour 1/2 of the sauce over the cake and let sit for 10 minutes.

Invert pan onto a serving plate. Pour the other 1/2 of the sauce over the top of cake. Serve when cooled.