This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the author’s latest release, the romantic thriller Beautiful Dangerous. 

Butter Cake and Fudge by Becky Flade 

I am a very good baker. Not a bad cook, don’t get me wrong, but I slay at baking. Every year, I bake throughout the holiday season. Friends and family alike look forward to receiving my baked treats. And debate on what is better: My Butter Cake or My Fudge.

Everyone knows what fudge is, but not until two years ago, did I learn butter cake, as I know it and make it, is regional to northeast Philadelphia.

What makes the Philly butter cake distinctive is the bottom cakey layer and the top gooey layer. Oh yeah, I said GOOEY. My butter cake is award winning – sure it was the office Christmas party bake–off but it took first place, so it counts.

Becky’s Butter Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 13×9 baking pan with butter (I often use a disposable tin with lid for easy gifting)

Bottom layer:

1 box of yellow cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines Butter Golden)

1 stick (or 8 oz) softened, salted butter

1 large egg (room temperature)

Top layer:

1 package softened Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1 stick (or 8 oz) softened, salted butter

2 large eggs (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 16-oz box of confectioner’s sugar

The toothpick test DOES NOT WORK. This cake is done when the corners are golden and crusty; the center should be jiggly. Cool completely in the tin and serve from same.

It can be halved to make two 8×8 square tins. I recommend baking them both at the same time on the same shelf and checking it 5-10 minutes sooner.

If you’d like to compare and contrast my 2 most popular holiday bakes – here’s the fudge recipe:

Becky’s Fudge

Line a 9×9 pan, tin, etc., with parchment paper (I use a glass casserole dish)

1 14-oz can sweetened, condensed milk

18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Dash of salt

1½ tsp vanilla extract

The trick is to stir the chocolate constantly. Never let it sit. It will burn.

I’ve mixed this up with peanut butter chips and mint chips in the past (1 part flavored to 2 parts chocolate). You can also add toppings, like caramel sauce drizzle or crushed candy canes. The sky is the limit. Obviously, a lot of people add nuts. I like to blitz Werther hard candies in my food processor and sprinkle them over the top before completely cooled. Yum.

Store both the cake and the fudge in air-tight containers. Christmas themed tins are an excellent option for gifting. But a plain tin with a pretty ribbon & bow are just as effective. And doesn’t require washing when the goodies are gone.

If you’re ever in the market for a gingerbread cookie recipe which doesn’t suck, hit me up. I’ve got one. And my shortbread biscuits are pure heaven.

What’s your favorite holiday goodie? Comment below for a chance to win my latest book.

If you try one of, or both of, the recipes above, please send me an email or find me on FB, Twitter, etc., and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays!

It’s exquisite torture watching you. For your sake, I hope you meet my expectations… Public Defender Hannah Patel is being stalked by a man obsessed with her. Detective Doyle Murphy hopes to redeem himself by protecting Hannah, but neither expect their forced closeness to create genuine feelings. Their burgeoning romance pushes her stalker over the edge. Will love or madness win?

A city girl, born and bred, Becky tends to set her stories in and around southeast Pennsylvania, or at least has a character or two from the area. She wrote her first book in kindergarten and even then, her style leaned toward suspense. In addition to being a mother and grandmother, she works as a legal professional when she’s not writing, reading, or dancing. And Becky’s proud to tell people she’s making her own dreams come true…one happily ever after at a time.

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This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the award-winning romantic suspense Fall to Pieces wherein the heroine of YESTERDAY’S OVER is first introduced. Suggest a book for me in the comments below and a randomly chosen winner will be chosen.

Traditions Define the Season by Becky Flade

The male lead in Yesterday’s Over is an anthropologist, a scientist who studies humanity and human behavior, biology, cultures, societies, linguistics, and the traditions that define present and past humans. That resonates with me in particular as we head into a season that is largely defined by its traditions.  

The Sunday before Thanksgiving our neighborhood holds a Thanksgiving Parade featuring local bands, schools, floats, and more. For me and my family, that’s the start of the holiday season. We set up at the firehouse on the route (home away from home for my oldest friend, a Philadelphia Firefighter) as they put out food and goodies for families and friends [plus, you know, bathrooms].

It begins, every year, with motorcycles: the Philadelphia Fire Department, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia Fallen Heroes, and the Philadelphia Veterans motorcycle clubs fill the Avenue. The roar is thrilling and heralds the start of the parade. Old neighbors come back and mingle with the new. Generations huddle together in field chairs or resin patio furniture they carry to the Avenue while kids dance in the street, hunks of soft pretzels stored in their cheeks like holiday chipmunks. At the end of the parade, Santa rolls by and his elves walk the curb-line, collecting letters and wish lists, and handing out candy canes.

After we go home, we change into warm comfy clothes and watch our favorite holiday specials: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, A Muppet Family Christmas, the Polar Express, etc. It’s like a mini-Christmas because the very next day, we go back to Thanksgiving preparations and we don’t embrace Christmas mode until December 8th, the Immaculate Conception when I put out my nativity set.

It’s the traditions that define humanity and my favorites are the ones that flood this time of year.

In the rubble of a massive explosion that rocked Philadelphia, bones are discovered beneath the remains of a row house.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Trudy Beasley prides herself on providing answers and closure to victim’s families, but the mystery surrounding the skeletal remains is something she’s never seen before. Could whoever did this still be loose in the city? Trudy’s instincts demand she pursue the truth.

Forensic anthropologist Benjamin Roberts disagrees. Ben sees the puzzle as an academic challenge, not a legal one.

As the investigation progresses, Trudy and Ben are pulled closer together, until their professional relationship crosses the line and they find themselves in each other’s arms. Will their newfound romance survive when someone is willing to kill again in order to keep secrets buried along with the bones from being unearthed?

A city girl, born and bred, I tend to place my stories in and around southeast Pennsylvania, or at least have a character or two from the area. Home is where the heart is and I make mine with my children and grandchildren. When I’m not busy living my own happily ever after, I’m writing about someone else’s.

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Buy the book at Amazon.