I’m very happy to welcome Paige Shelton back to my blog to celebrate her new release, OF BOOKS AND BAGPIPES. She is also sharing her amazing recipe for Best Butterscotch Mistake Cake Ever! along with a chance to win a signed hardcover copy of her new book. Thank you, Paige, for your generosity! You can see my review and the synopsis at the bottom of the page below the Rafflecopter link.
The contest ends Monday, April 3, 2017 at 11:59 pm PST and is limited to U.S. residents only. Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipes to enter. The winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)
Welcome back to Cinnamon & Sugar, Paige!
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? Don’t you love it even more when things come together without any plan in the first place? Me too. It’s rare that one of my throw-together, or leftover ingredient recipes actually taste good, but I got lucky on this one.
In celebration of the publication of my upcoming book OF BOOKS AND BAGPIPES, I’m sharing the recipe. This might not necessarily be a Scottish recipe, but we can pretend and somehow correlate the ButterSCOTCH with scotch whisky, though there’s no whisky involved. Okay, a stretch, I know, but you’ll thank me later.
Ingredients
- 1 package yellow cake mix, minus three tablespoons. Okay, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with the three tablespoons, but I had to use them for another recipe, and that’s ultimately how this cake recipe was born. In fact, you can probably leave in the three tablespoons, but that’s not what I did.**
- 1 small instant vanilla pudding mix, or a little over half of a 5.1 ounce box (which is what I used)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- About 3/4 of a bag of butterscotch chips
- 1 can of cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13 cake pan.
- Combine yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, sour cream, whipped cream, milk, vegetable oil, and eggs.
- Mix on medium to high speed for about four minutes. This is a thick batter and I had to fight it a little, but it worked.
- Fold in the butterscotch chips.
- Pour into pan and cook for forty to forty-five minutes, maybe longer. Check by inserting a toothpick into the center. When it comes out clean, the cake is done.
- Let cool in pan on rack. Once cool, frost with frosting.
- Enjoy! Store covered in refrigerator, if you can get it there before it gets eaten.
Thank you to my sister, Kathy, for making this cake yesterday (4/2) and instigating another happy mistake which corrected the issue of the cake sticking to a bundt pan. She forgot to add the butterscotch chips before adding the batter to the bundt pan. Once she realized it, she sprinkled the chips over the top of the batter and barely pushed them down until a small amount of batter covered them. The chips sink as it is baked and turned out perfectly! Here are her pics.
Photo cred: Kathy Keith
Photo Cred: Kathy Keith
My Review
When Paige Shelton released the first book in her Scottish Bookshop Mystery series last year, I was smitten and couldn’t wait for the next installment. Books and treasures, the warmth and charm of the characters, and a strong mystery to keep me guessing combine to create another home run with her newest release, OF BOOKS AND BAGPIPES!
The author has created a memorable protagonist with her character, Delaney Nichols from Kansas in America. Delaney has relocated herself to Scotland to work for elderly Edwin MacAlister, owner of the bookshop The Cracked Spine. The setting of the bookshop is magical with its books, hidden treasures, and delightful employees including the darling terrier, Hector. Delaney comes to love her boss and the others at the bookshop like family and her care and concern shine through the situations she finds herself in. Paige Shelton has also created a lovely relationship between Delaney and her landlords, Elias and Aggie, who treat the American transplant like a daughter. Cab-driving Elias becomes a ready sidekick to Delaney’s exploration and investigations, providing balance to the scenes while portraying the charm of the Scottish people and their delightful language.
I loved how the author weaves bits and pieces of Scottish history into the story in such a creative way that I didn’t even realize I was “learning” while turning page after page to find out what happens next. And turn the pages I did… as the intertwined murder mystery and half-century old secrets unfolded, unexpected twists and turns caught me by surprise and took me in an entirely different direction than I thought the author was going. It provides an edge-of-your-seat read that I couldn’t put down until I finished the last page!
Now my comment about the Best Butterscotch Mistake Cake Ever! I had a lot of family coming into town to stay with me for several days. When Paige sent me the recipe I knew it was one I needed to make for my company. Once the plates were passed around three things happened: 1) Everyone wanted the recipe right then and there; 2) Numerous people went back for seconds; 3) I knew I was going to have to make a second cake right away…and I did! This is an amazingly easy cake to make but the results are anything but ordinary!
Amazon Synopsis
Delaney Nichols has settled so comfortably into her new life in Edinburgh that she truly feels it’s become more home than her once beloved Kansas. Her job at the Cracked Spine, a bookshop that specializes in rare manuscripts as well as other sundry valuable historical objects, is everything she had dreamed, with her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, entrusting her more and more with bigger jobs. Her latest task includes a trip to Castle Doune, a castle not far out of Edinburgh, to retrieve a hard-to-find edition of an old Scottish comic, an “Oor Wullie,” in a cloak and dagger transaction that Edwin has orchestrated.
While taking in the sights of the distant Highlands from the castle’s ramparts, Delaney is startled when she spots a sandal-clad foot at the other end of the roof. Unfortunately, the foot’s owner is very much dead and, based on the William Wallace costume he’s wearing, perfectly matches the description of the man who was supposed to bring the Oor Wullie. As Delaney rushes to call off some approaching tourists and find the police, she comes across the Oor Wullie, its pages torn and fluttering around a side wall of the castle. Instinct tells her to take the pages and hide them under her jacket. It’s not until she returns to the Cracked Spine that she realizes just how complicated this story is and endeavors to untangle the tricky plot of why someone wanted this man dead, all before getting herself booked for murder.
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I’ll admit I was never a fan of bagpipes until I visited Scotland and saw an elderly man, dressed in a kilt, playing his bagpipe at the ruins of an ancient castle. The haunting sound that captured the moment has stayed with me for years!
I received a copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Yes, I do like bagpipe music and get to hear some almost every year at our Fourth of July festivities! The cake looks delicious–I think I have everything right here to make it except whipping cream. Wonder if Cool Whip from the freezer (thawed, of course!) would work!? Thanks for the chance to win, I loved the first book too.
Bagpipe music is ok when it’s relevant for it to be played like in a parade or maybe a funeral. I don’t think I’d want to just sit and listen to it though. The cake looks amazing, will definitely have to try it!
Bagpipe music is so sad and so nostalgic. Always a joy to hear some.
Sometimes, but it depends on what mood I’m in. Your recipe sounds delicious and so does your book. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
Love bagpipe music. Thank you for this opportunity.
Love Bagpipe music as my sons had a grandmother born in Scotland and belong to the Campbell Clan
Looks like an easy, yummy recipe. I don’t dislike bagpipes but I Alsip don’t particularly like the music. Thanks for offering the giveaway!
I love the pipes!
I do like bagpipe music actually I find it draws me in. Guess I need to do one of those ancestry DNA kits and see if there’s a connection.
I’m not a big fan of Bagpipe music.
Will be making this recipe soon!!
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Oh my goodness I am SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EXCITED for this book release! I love Delaney and her whole gang of new family-like friends! Paige is an amazing author! Thanks for the recipe too! We’re trying to be good at home but I’ll save it for a special occassion, maybe share with coworkers too. 🙂
I actually do like the pipes.
I have always loved the sound of the bagpipes. As a matter of fact, my daughter goes to “Dunedin Middle School” in Dunedin FL, which is home of the Highlanders. The reason I mention this is because there school band is made up of bagpipes, and everything they do, is based on the Scottish premis. When the students are rewarded, they received slips of paper that are called “Kilts.” The students then use them to buy fun items from the school store. They can actually purchase kilts that they can wear as part of their uniforms. Sometime, you can catch the principal wearing his. It is also the school band’s uniform while they play the bagpipes, and I just love the sound. It is so relaxing and somber. I am so sorry for the long, drawn out story.
I love books that have mysteries involving bookstores and/or manuscripts….fun fun!!! And Paige’s books are always good reads!!
bagpipe music is not something i have listened to a lot, but have enjoyed what i have heard
I LOVE a well played Bagpipe ! I learned to love the pipes during the Celtic music revival in the late 70’s and 80’s. Tannahill Weavers piper Iain MacInnes and Battlefield Band’s Iain MacDonald and Dougie Pincock are Amazing! This recipes sounds wonderful. Must give it a try!
My high school band were the Scots (Fighting Scotties), and so we had bagpipes — I loved the build-up sound/hum the bagpipes made before they started playing, it always gave me goosebumps. We also had a very petite Scottie dance on a drum at halftime during football season. I can’t wait to try this recipe — I love butterscotch!
I love listening to bagpipes!! In high school my daughter was in a Scottish marching band. I’m my opinion the bagpipes were the highlight of their performance!
I like bag pipe music soothing
I love bagpipe music, it is eerily beautiful. Thank you for the recipe.
Love bagpipe music, it has such a calm beauty to it. It can make you feel at peace when listening to it. I really can’t wait to try the recipe out!!!
I think I would prefer bagpipes outside. Inside seems a bit too much.
I do like bagpipe music & this recipe sounds delicious. Thanks for the giveaway!
I think its awesome! Its different for sure. The cake sounds delicious.
Yes I love listening to bagpipes. Thank you for the chance to win a signed hardcover copy Of Books And Bagpipes.
No, I don’t usually like bagpipe music but I do like the Westlife song You Raise Me Up which features the bagpipes.
We love bagpipe music there is a man who walks around farmers market and plays the bagpipes he knows that we enjoy his music so he stops and plays a long set and it is so relaxing and so nice. He is just so nice to do that and when we don’t go i miss the music.
I like bagpipe music when the occasion calls for it, like parades, etc.
I will listen every now and then if it comes on TV for a celebration or a special.
I’m not a big fan – a little goes a long way!
Love the pipes!
I love the sound of bagpipes. To me it is so relaxing. I can’t wait to try this recipe because butterscotch is my absolute favorite and I would just save the three table spoons for a mug cake.
This sounds yummy! I can’t wait to read this followup. Great new series.
I love the sound of bagpipes and can almost hear them echoing over the hills of Scotland.
I enjoy bagpipe music and can only imagine how wonderful it would be to let stem to ‘pipes in Scotland. The Cracked Spine was a fantastic book; I am SO looking forward to Of Books and Bagpipes!! And meanwhile I need to sample this delectable butterscotch cake recipe!
I started playing the pipes when I was about 9, and in my early teens was in the Portland Lady Bagpipes Band. That was back in the 1960’s and early seventies! I love anything to do with Scottish culture, so looking forward to reading this.
I do love a good bagpipe! They had a bagpipe player at my Nana’s funeral a few years ago. It was raining, and it was beautiful!
I’m not really sure if I like bagpipe music or not. I don’t think I’ve heard any outside of a Scooby Doo cartoon. I will have to google it and see if I can find some to listen to. I do want to read the book though since I do enjoy Ms. Shelton’s books.
Scot decent so I like bagpipes, oatmeal and plaid…and the funny part is it seems to be totally natural. lol. I have my fingers crossed I win this. I am beginning to feel jinxed on this site… just kidding…
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I love Bagpipe music it’s amazing & so is this recipe. Thanks for this generous giveaway.
Thanks for the great review of this book. I loved the first book in the series. And I am sure to love this book too as it mentions comic books. Something that I’ve accidentally fell into liking since I found out that they have made a Sherlock comic book.
i am not really into music. the little i have heard bagpipes l like.
My grandfather was a Henderson. Of course I love bagpipes!
Love bagpipe music. Have a couple of albums of bagpipe music. Love the recipe, butterscotch is one of our favorite flavors. Especially on ice cream. Did dip sugar cookies into the butterscotch ice cream topping. Loved it. Will have to do this recipe soonest.. This is a really nice post. Have yet to read any of Ms Shelton’s books. But have read their synopsis and many of the reviews so most are on my TBR. Do hope this will be a start.
I am in awe of people who learn how to play bagpipes! It looks like a difficult instrument to master!
Can’t say I am a fan as I don’t really hear it that much but I have heard some awesome music being played by people using bagpipes.
I love bagpipe music.
Yes, I am. I guess it’s the Welsh in me…
Absolutely love your books and always look forward to a new one.
I never really thought about it, but now that I have, yes, I think I am a fan. It’s so haunting.
I’ve not had to opportunity to listen to bagpipe music all that much, but what I’ve heard it’s lovely and so peaceful to me.
Bagpipe music is not easy listening music but very good for solemn occasions. Thank you for the recipe and giveaway.
It is a unique type of music, and I do like it. I’m not sure I would have it on for background music, but I do think it is great for special occasions…parades, funerals…I even went to a wedding that had bagpipes heralding the bride and groom at the end of the ceremony.
I’m not a big fan of bagpipe music.
I like bagpipe music.
I have never been a fan of bagpipe music, but honestly in context I think it would be wonderful. Like in the Scottish countryside!
It’s pretty loud so I think it’s meant more for outdoors music. I wouldn’t mind it during a trip to Scotland though!