That's such a cute sounding book! I think that the most difficult, and potentially expensive part, about childrens' books are the graphics. I hope that you get yours soon. Line drawings are a little easier than painting, but no matter what type, it can really hold up a book.
I have a cake recipe that I want to try, and you might like, come fall. It's a sweet potato sheet cake, but I imagine that A - you could use canned pumpkin in the place of sweet potatoes if you wanted to, and B - that it wouldn't have to be a sheet cake. I am sure that making it into a layer cake would be fine, or even cupcakes.
Also, it starts with a box mix for a yellow cake, but you could make your own from scratch.
It's got an orange flavored cream cheese frosting.
The ingredients for the cake are:
1 medium orange
1 box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ Yellow Cake Mix
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
And, the frosting:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon orange extract
Reserved grated orange peel
The other things that I think would be fine to change are:
The use of the spice. I have made pumpkin/sweet potato baked goods with less or no spice. Sometimes I use the spice, but sometimes I just use cinnamon or cinnamon with cardamom.
For a long time I did not understand why people who liked sweet potatoes did not like sweet potato pie. I eventually learned that they don't like the overwhelming amount of spice in it. So, I would spice to taste, rather than by the recipe. I make my sweet potato pies exactly like a pumpkin pie, and no one seems to mind it. I love a good pumpkin pie!
In case it's something that you want to think about come fall, here's the link:
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/sweet-potato-sheet-cake/037b01b3-272f-4f61-883d-74d8e1dc90e6
One thing that I like about using sweet potato in cake batter, is that it can make it so moist. I make a sweet potato muffin, and it's moist, and bouncy light. That's true of any fruit puree addition, such as unsweetened applesauce.
Okay, enough cake chitter-chatter! I have a woman calling today to ask questions about certain vegetable growing. Last year we spoke to her for about 45 minutes, and got paid for it! This is the same person/company. They want to know things like cation exchange ratios, rate of application of fertilizers, water, compost, etc. Pest reduction techniques, etc. etc. etc....45 mins. worth! So, I am reviewing our annual garden notes to re-familiarize myself with what we have done in the past, varieties grown etc. This time they are specifically interested in strawberries and tomatoes.
Back to work for me!
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