I celebrated my graduation a month ago & shared photos taken by family members. I recently received the professional video & the pics! I’m sharing with all! Thanks for all the kind words, gifts, and congrats for my major accomplishment!

#TheCandyBeachSeries #CandyBeachSeries #MartinLutherKing #MartinLutherKingJr #Holiday #CeceliaDowdy #ButterscotchBliss #holidayweekend #threedayweekend #romance #romancenovels #inspirational #Christianromance #Christianfiction

I hope all of you have been enjoying the first couple of weeks in the New Year!

Thursday was a bit strange in our neck of the woods. Our power went out due to a car accident. I believe someone hit a pole or something.

I’ve been working remotely since the beginning of Covid.

Since I need internet access for my day job, I drove to my workplace – just as I pulled up to my workplace, my son texted me. He told me the power was back on!

So, I ended up returning home. My workplace is only five miles from my house, so, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But, later, that same day, we lost our internet connection. The lost connection is only affecting our household – our neighbors still have their connection. We can’t watch TV or connect to the internet. What a drag!

We called our provider and was told that something short-circuited and that the earliest they could come out was Sunday.

We’ve been using a hot spot to connect.

It’s funny how you don’t appreciate the simple day-to-day pleasures that are taken for granted, until they are broken or gone.

Working Late & Butterscotch Bliss

My day job continues to be hectic. Yes, it’s great that I’m finally done with my Master’s Degree, but work continues to take up a lot of my free time. I’ve been working 12-hour days and I’m ready for a break!

Some of you have asked what ever happened to Butterscotch Bliss, the free story that I was working on that will only be available to newsletter subscribers. I plan on getting that done later this year. I will keep you posted.

Stress Eating!

Since things have been so hectic lately, I’ve been doing some stress eating. Since I was sick over the holidays, I didn’t get a chance to do any baking.

I made THE BEST CAKE! The cake is so buttery. The recipe calls for 4 sticks of butter – 2 for the cake – 2 for the frosting.

I wish the icing looked smoother. I might take a cake decorating class, when I have time, to learn simple decorating techniques. I googled some methods to smooth the icing – but I was too tired to try! I made this cake on a weekday!

I’m sharing the recipe. If you try it, let me know if you like it! I gobbled 4 pieces of cake in one day! I’m not kidding! This cake was so addictive!

Yellow Butter Cake:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans or line them with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder until well combined.
3. Add the softened butter to the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, ensuring each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Pour in the milk and vanilla extract, then beat the batter on medium speed for about 2 minutes until smooth and well combined.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
8. Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

Instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, beat the softened butter until creamy.
2. Gradually add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to the butter, mixing on low speed until combined.
3. Add the vanilla extract and 4 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add more cream or milk if needed to achieve the desired consistency.

Assembly:

Once the cakes have cooled completely, place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread a layer of chocolate frosting evenly over the top. Place the second cake layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining chocolate frosting.

Decorate as desired and enjoy your delicious moist buttery yellow cake with chocolate frosting!

Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

I hope all of you enjoy your 3-day weekend. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is so special. Take some time to relax, think and reflect on this special day.

If you have a craving for a book, keep The Candy Beach Series in mind. So many nice reviews have been posted on Amazon for this series. All of them are available in both paperback and e-book. Treat yourself, and if you’ve already read them, then purchase copies for your friends!

5-star Amazon review for Bittersweet Dreams – book 3 in the series:

This book was so good I had to read it to the end before I could stop. I even read while eating lunch and supper. This author knows how to write a fantastic story. Great job!!

Have a blessed week! Let me know if you try the cake recipe! If you’ve read The Candy Beach Series, I’d love to know which novel was your favorite! I love hearing from all of you!

#HappyNewYear #food #foodie #cooking #stutter #stutterer #romance #romancenovels #Christianfiction #CeceliaDowdy

I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year!

As mentioned in my last newsletter, we had cornbread, black-eyed peas, greens, and chicken for New Year’s.

Here’s a picture of our meal! It was delicious! I had purchased a huge bag of greens from the store. The bag was about twice the size of what I’d normally purchase. I don’t think I’ve ever made such a big pot of greens in my life! We were eating greens for days. They were delicious!

We cooked the chicken in the air fryer.

Now that Christmas is over, and winter is here, many of you may have time to settle down and read a good book during the cold winter months!

I wanted to share how I came up with the premise for my novella Sugar and Spice.

Have you ever known anybody who stutters? Do you know what they did to overcome their stutter?

When my son was young, between the ages of 3-7, he suffered from stuttering. His stutter was quite strong, and we had to go to speech therapy for years. We ended up seeing three different therapists for long blocks of time.

When my son was having sessions with his last therapist, I was speaking with her. I asked her if she’d ever had any male adult patients who stuttered. She told me that she had one. She said that this man had stuttered his entire life. The only reason he was seeking help was because he had a high-level corporate job and they required that he get help for his stutter. I believe she said he had to speak to many people, and his stutter caused issues.

Of course, she didn’t tell me the identity of this person. She may not have been at liberty to share the details outlined above.

After our conversation, I thought about it. I thought, how terrible for this poor man! What if he wanted to go out on a date with someone? What if he stuttered so badly that he couldn’t even ask a woman out?

That thought stayed planted in the background of my mind for years. Sometimes, I might get a kernel of an idea and it’s rooted into my head for a long time. I might not even realize I’m actually thinking of a story until years later.

My one conversation with my son’s speech therapist grew into Sugar and Spice. In Sugar and Spice, Mason is a stutterer. He’s also an identical twin. Here are more details about this amazing love story:



Sheila Parks is stunned when Mason Smith, the identical twin brother of her ex-boyfriend Reese, moves to Blue Spring and opens a bakery. Reese’s cruel breakup still bothers her and seeing somebody who looks just like him is a painful reminder of her predicament. Unemployed, Sheila needs financial help and it appears that Mason can assist her with her problem. Can she learn to trust a man who looks just like her ex?

Mason is stunned when Sheila storms into his bakery, mistakenly thinking that he’s Reese. Mason is used to comforting his womanizing brother’s ex-girlfriends. A stutterer, Mason has always had a hard time socializing with others. However, he finds himself smitten with beautiful Sheila. Can he control his stutter so that he can ask Sheila to be his date to his grandmother’s Christmas birthday party?

Both Sheila and Mason deal with past pains as they work together during the Christmas season.

Sugar and Spice is a sweet, emotional Christmas romance that you will always remember! Download now! This is a nice treat for you and all of your friends!

Have you ever known anybody who stutters? Do you know what they did to overcome their stutter?

Have a blessed week! Let me know if there’s anything exciting or troublesome going on in your life right now! I love hearing from all of you!