Beyond the Book: Rachel and Clint's House

Welcome to a new edition of Beyond the Book. Today, I’d like to show you the house Clint bought for Rachel. The house belonged to their friend Mrs. Jones. When she moved to Texas to live with her son, she sold the house to Clint. The house is old and needs some work, but Clint and Rachel don’t mind. It’ll be a labor of love to them. It already looks better. Clint painted it for Mrs. Jones even before she sold it to them. I like the red door and black shutters very much.

Rachel wants a new swing to put on the porch. She saw this picture on the internet and plans to copy it. Here's a picture of her inspiration room.

Rachel plans to cover the swing with pillows made from the fabric pictured below. Won't it be pretty?

Rachel’s parents love the house. Cynthia, Rachel’s mother went to a flea market and saw this beautiful antique cake stand which she bought for Rachel. Clint immediately asked for a chocolate cake. Mrs. Jones gave Rachel her recipe so Clint wants Rachel to try it out.

Here’s Mrs. Jones’ cake recipe.

2 cups flour
4 TBSP cocoa
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter
1 tsp soda
½ cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Sift flour and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Place butter, oil, water, and cocoa into a saucepan and bring to a rapid boil. When mixture boils, remove from heat and pour over sugar and flour mixture. Mix well with spoon and add buttermilk, soda, eggs and vanilla. Beat lightly and pour into greased and floured 13 X 9 X 1 ½ inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Wet Chocolate Frosting

1 stick butter
4TBSP cocoa
6 TBSP evaporated milk
1 box powdered sugar
Place butter, cocoa, and milk in saucepan. When mixture comes to a boil remove from heat and add 1 box powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Pour over cake while hot.
Be sure you try the cake. It’s good!

The Sentence is available at most retail outlets and at http://www.astraeapress.com

The picture of the house and swing came from Pinterest.
The fabric is found at http://peasinapod.typepad.com/peas-in-a-pod/2012/04/the-apple-of-my-eye.html
The cake stand is found at http://www.evansvillecakelady.com/rentals.html