When you love your job, it is more than just work. That is how Maura Beth, a librarian in a small Mississippi town feels about her job. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with her about the value of a library. Will her Cherry Cola Book Club be enough to convince the town council to keep the library open? Will the Cherry Cola Sheet cake influence them? It influences me to keep reading and baking!
This is book #1 in a 6 book series. If you are looking for a series that has a nice arc of beginning, middle and end, then start reading this one!
The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee
Novel with Recipes
Book Review
Outline and Tone:
The first of the Cherry Cola Book Club series. This book takes the time to set up characters and the setting. Set in a small Mississippi town of Cherico, the local library is in dire straits. Maura Beth Mayhew is the young librarian with her first job as head of a library, but a local council member is not happy with any of it. This is a story of people, friendship, and reading. It is not a cozy mystery. Everyone gets to the end alive, but maybe not happy. The first meeting of the Cherry Cola Book Club, Maura Beth brings a delicious cherry cola cake (see recipe below). However, everything else fails to go as planned. Will Maura Beth be able to get enough of the town’s residents, from retired teachers to the young crowd to help her convince the town counsel to keep the library open?
The author:
Ashton Lee is a pseudonym for Robert Dalby who is from Mississippi (just like the setting of the novel) and he is the son of a writer. Lee studied at Sewanee: The University of the South in Mississippi. He has declared The Cherry Cola Book series has come to an end after the 6th book. Dalby left a message for his fans on his Facebook page explaining his next steps. He is now writing cozy mysteries under the pseudonym Robert Kuehnle. That series is set to have at least 4 books.
What is not to like?:
Perhaps because it is the first book in the series, the book spends quite a lot of time building characters and establishing the setting of the small Mississippi town. I am sure the exposition will pay off in future books, but sometimes the pacing seemed slow.
The verdict:
The cherry cola cake is outstanding! It is simply delicious. Don’t miss it. The novel has a great set up for the series. With the many characters there are countless ways for the group to find mischief and make for interesting reads.
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
Cherry Cola Sheet Cake Recipe
Assemble the ingredients
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix flour, salt, and sugar in bowl and set aside.
In separate pan, bring to a boil the cola drink, oil, butter, and cocoa. Wisk the ingredients to blend the cocoa powder into the liquid ingredients.
Add hot liquid to the mixing bowl that has the dry ingredients and beat heavily.
I prepared this with my mom’s small Kitchen aid Artisan Mini Plus 3.5 Qt. Stand Mixer and it worked great. If you have a small kitchen, consider getting this small but mighty stand mixer.
It is worth it to get the larger stand mixer. This is big enough to handle any recipe and most recipes when doubled!
After the hot ingredients are mixed into the dry ingredients, then add buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla, cherry liquid, cherries, and eggs and continue beating.
I love these OXO Good Grips 6-Piece Measuring Spoons. In 3 words, easy to read. I had when I have to tilt measuring spoons back and forth under light to see what size it is. These are super easy to read.
When well mixed, pour into sheet cake pan sprayed with non-stick spray and bake for twenty-five minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cherry Cola Sheet Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- dash salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup cola beverage
- ⅓ cup oil
- 1 stick butter
- 3 Tbsp dry cocoa
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbsp maraschino cherry liquid
- 1 jar maraschino cherries, finely chopped
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Mix flour, salt, and sugar in bowl.
- In separate pan, bring to a boil the cola drink, oil, butter, and cocoa.
- Add hot liquid to the bowl and beat heavily;
- then add buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla, cherry liquid, cherries, and eggs and continue beating.
- When well mixed, pour into sheet cake pan sprayed with non-stick spray
- bake for twenty-five minutes at 350 degreesFahrenheit.
When the cake has come out of the oven and is mostly cooled, prepare the frosting. And pour it over the cake. The frosting recipe calls for pecans, but I know there are 2 types of people in this world; people who like nuts in baked good and those who do not. I do not like nuts in baked goods and I certainly did not want the nuts to interfere with the cherry taste, so I left them out.
Cherry Cola Sheet Cake Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- 3 Tbsp cocoa
- 6 Tbsp whole milk
- 3 Tbsp maraschino cherry liquid
- 1 pound confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the butter, cocoa, and milk until the butter has liquefied;
- add the remaining ingredients and beat well.
- Pour icing onto cake while it is hot or still warm for ease of spreading
- cut when the cake has cooled.
What would I do differently next time?
This is a tough question because the cake was a huge success with everyone I fed it to. The only thing I might do differently is insist the cake be refrigerator chilled before serving. Hopefully I can wait that long!
If you are a chocolate lover, like me, try these Cocoa Snaps with some of the leftover cocoa from this cake.
