Posted October 21, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments
Lately, I’ve been having hard core cravings for cozy autumn flavors. We’re talking nuts, cinnamon, caramel, pumpkin, apple, and all manner of Halloween-y teas (Hellooooo, spiced apple chai!). And of course I’m always craving chocolate. So I was thrilled when, while reading the Nancy Drew book THE SECRET OF SHADOW RANCH, I noticed that Nancy makes a chocolate walnut cake. I immediately said, “This! But make it autumn.”
As befits the Halloween season, this beautiful chocolate cake is a Frankenstein of different recipes I’ve developed over the years. The sponge and frosting recipes are slight variations on those used in the Delicious Death cake in my cookbook, A LITERARY TEA PARTY. I candied and spiced the walnuts, using a recipe from my latest cookbook, A LITERARY HOLIDAY COOKBOOK. Then I topped it off with a cinnamon butterscotch drip top, a twist on the butterscotch sauce I made to fill Mr. Rochester’s Bonbons earlier this year.
Here are a few cake decorating tools I found super helpful (though they’re not required):
- Turntable. This makes it a lot easier to get a smooth finish on the sides, and it allows you to focus on the timing of your butterscotch drips instead of trying to turn a heavy plate smoothly at the same time. I took a detachable one from underneath a rotating serving plate my grandma gave me, and it worked great!
- Large frosting knife. If you have a bench scraper, use that to get a smooth finish on your frosting, but if not, a big frosting knife will do. It also helps smooth the caramel.
- Tall enough fridge space for a 3-tier cake. I’m lucky enough to have a basement fridge with one shelf removed. If you’ll be storing this in your main fridge, plan accordingly.
- Squeeze bottle. You can add your drip top with a spoon, but if you’re new to the method (like me) a squeeze bottle gives you lots more control.
The finished cake was chocolaty, decadent, and scratched that fall flavor itch. It’s definitely the perfect end to my Nancy Drew menu…and a perfect reward for volunteering to stay home and hand out candy on Halloween!
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Posted October 1, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments
Every autumn, I like to read something spooky to get me in the mood for Halloween. Since I’m currently drafting a series of Edwardian paranormal short stories (like you do), I wanted my seasonal read to be set near the same time period as my stories to keep me in the right mindset. To that end, I found myself turning to an old favorite: “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
Jekyll & Hyde has that spooky Victorian Halloween aesthetic that makes my gothic-literature-loving heart go pitter pat. We’re talking foggy London streets, a troubled scientific genius, murder, mysterious potions, and the dichotomy between good and evil. What’s not to love? Plus it’s a super quick read—easily done in less than a day—which is just what I need in my chaotic mom-with-2-small-kids life.
I actually made a Jekyll & Hyde moon pie a looooong time ago as part of a set of classic monster moon pies, but I’ve always wanted to create a recipe dedicated to JUST this story. Granted, it barely mentions food, but that was ok with me. I already knew I wanted my recipe to riff off the famous potion that turns the good, kind Dr. Jekyll into monstrous Mr. Hyde.
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Posted September 3, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes, Holidays / 2 Comments
I’ve loved the BBC show Father Brown for years, but I only recently got a chance to read the collection of short stories on which it’s based. Like many adaptations, the show diverges from the source material in key ways, but I think it stays true in the ways that matter most.
Arguably the biggest difference is that the literary Father Brown is always traveling. I don’t think you ever actually visit his own parish, which means recurring characters like Mrs. McCarthy, Lady Felicia, and Sid exist solely in the show. But don’t worry—Hercule Flambeau, master thief and Father Brown’s nemesis, is still around to stir up trouble! 😉
When one of my readers requested a Father Brown recipe specifically inspired by the stories, I was intrigued to say the least. To fans of the show, the iconic food is Mrs. McCarthy’s strawberry scones. But no Mrs. McCarthy in the stories means no scones. I was going to have to get creative. And I LOVE getting creative! ^.^
The stories mostly only mention food in passing, but one reference stands out. In “The Flying Stars,” Father Brown has to turn out his pockets, and among a few coins and priestly paraphernalia is a stick of chocolate, heavily implying that he always likes to keep some on hand. After reading that, I knew my recipe was going to be a rich, chocolatey dessert.
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Posted October 11, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment
Shaggy and Scooby are famous for their bottomless appetites, especially when it comes to sandwiches. They’ve been known to down two-foot subs in one gulp, and anything they make it always piled high with ingredients. A giant sub sandwich seemed like the perfect entree for my Scooby-Doo menu, but the question still remained: what kind should I make? With virtually endless options, I found myself staring at lists of ingredients in hopes of coming up with that perfect sandwich. I wanted something fun and a little funky to match Shaggy and Scooby’s quirky personalities.
Then I thought about pizza. Shag and Scoob’s abiding love for pizza is a little less iconic than their love of sandwiches, but it’s still a big part of the cartoon. Why not bring the two together? I started with a 2-foot-long sub loaf and added a layer of pizza sauce and fresh basil. Then came smoked ham and two layers of sandwich-style pepperoni and mozzarella. Top it off with oil-and-vinegar dressed tomatoes and red onion, more basil, and more sauce, and you’ve got yourself a pizza sub! It was a big hit at our house. Even the toddler was a fan! 🙂
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Posted October 3, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Reading Kits / 1 Comment
Halloween is peeking it’s head around the corner, so in the spirit of the season, our new Book of the Month has a spooky vibe: The Phantom of the Opera!
There are so many iconic items from Phantom: masks, roses, pipe organs, chandeliers, sheet music, magical lassos—the list goes on! So naturally, it was pure fun to put this reading kit together. It features cozy Phantom throw pillows, perfectly themed snacks, and even fancy abstract sunglasses made to look like the famous Phantom mask.
Read on, Wonderlanders…and be sure to keep your hand at the level of your eyes! 😉 Read More
Posted October 31, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment
All Hallows Eve is here, and with it, the end of our Edgar Allan Poe menu! Even though I don’t normally post recipes on Mondays, I thought it would be fun to share one on Halloween…and when I found a “The Raven” cocktail recipe a couple months ago, I knew I’d found the perfect way to bookend our Poe menu.
The recipe below is my interpretation of The Raven cocktail, which was originally developed by Ashley at Smarty Had a Party. The cocktail below is a delicious combo of 3 of my favorite flavors: blackberry, pomegranate, and mint. With a little white rum, it makes for a refreshing, darkly sweet (but not too sweet) drink. Enjoy while reading your favorite Edgar Allan Poe poems!
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Posted October 25, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 4 Comments
I’m actually really horrible at coming up with creative Halloween costumes, so I commend anyone who can dream up a clever, gorgeous costume all on their own. And if that costume just so happens to be inspired by a book character, then I’m pretty sure I’ve found my new best friend. 😉
Of course there are LOADS of awesome bookish costumes out there, but these are my ten favorites. Some are quick and easy to throw together, others are practically pieces of art. But they’re ALL super creative ways to use Halloween to share your love of reading! 🙂
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Posted October 31, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays, Pop Culture Corner / 2 Comments
Last year for Halloween, the Mister and I performed a chocolate covered edible bug taste test and published our findings here on the blog. This year, we decided to up the ante and try some more bugs…this time without the chocolate!
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Posted October 22, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments
Oh, Delicious Death. When making an Agatha Christie menu, is there any dessert more suitable? This decadent dessert plays a significant role in one of Christie’s most popular novels, A Murder is Announced. The exact recipe isn’t shared in the book, but we know it’s chocolate cake “of a melting richness,” which, let’s be honest, is enough to make most of us drool already. I made mine from this delightfully rich, almost brownie-like cake recipe, topped with dark chocolate frosting and bats silhouettes made of powdered sugar. If death by chocolate is truly possible, this is how I want to go. 🙂
P.S. We’re taking a vote to see which detective is better, Poirot or Marple. Vote here!
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Posted October 15, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
As a super organized person, I love it when a post comes together exactly as planned. Then again, some of my favorite recipe posts have been the result of last minute changes. That’s definitely the case today. My original plan was to post a recipe from Murder on the Orient Express, but I really struggled to find a good option. Sure, lots of foods are mentioned in the book (soup, chicken, cream), but they aren’t described and don’t have much significance in the story. A week ago I was scouring the book for anything that might work. To get me in the spirit, I decided to play an episode of the Hercule Poirot TV series in the background while I worked. The episode was Cards on the Table, which features Ariadne Oliver, Hercule Poirot’s crime writer friend who always speaks her mind. I kept getting distracted by Ariadne’s funny antics involving apples (her favorite snack), and I stopped all my work so I could watch my favorite moment in the whole episode: when she gets out of her car and half-eaten apples spill out all over the driveway. Then it dawned on me: I’d found my recipe—Ariadne’s Apples!
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