Ten Most Delicious Desserts Inspired by Novels
by Andrea Lochen
As an avid reader with a major sweet tooth, I love when
authors include the recipes for the yummy desserts they’ve made me drool over
throughout their book. It’s a marriage
of two of my favorite activities—reading and baking! And if you’re a book club member, what better
treat to bring to your meeting than a dessert straight out of the novel? Here are ten of my favorite book-inspired
desserts!
1) Southern Caramel
Cake from The Help by Kathryn
Stockett
Who hasn’t wanted to try a bite of the scrumptious-sounding
caramel cake that Minny makes in The Help? (Maybe not so much her chocolate pie,
however!) Though Stockett didn’t include
the recipe in the back of her book, this food blog has the The Junior League of
Memphis Cookbook recipe that supposedly inspired her.
2) Coconut Cake from
Amy E. Reichert’s The Coincidence of
Coconut Cake
The titular coconut cake in Reichert’s The Coincidence of Coconut Cake earned its place on the cover of
this heartwarming book. To the main character, Lou, baking her grandmother’s
cake is the ultimate expression of love. In the book, those who get to eat it
earned their slice, which certainly made me crave a piece all the more!
3) Crème Caramel Flan
from Anita Hughes’ Island in the Sea: A
Majorca Love Story
In Hughes’ newest novel set in Spain, she describes how Majorca's
restaurants serve a mouthwatering variety of delicious fresh fish and locally
grown vegetables and how many diners like to end the meal with a dessert that
satisfies any sweet tooth while not being heavy or cloying. This creme caramel flan recipe certainly does
the trick!
4) Lemon Cream Cake
from Juliette Fay’s Shelter Me
Fay introduces the concept of “pology cake” in her first
novel, Shelter Me, as something you
bake for someone you’ve wronged in the hopes of that person forgiving you. Though according to Fay, it doesn’t need to
be a particular kind of cake, her recipe for lemon cream cake in the back of
the book and on her author website sounds fabulous!
5) Peanut butter bars
from Kitchens of the Great Midwest by
J. Ryan Stradal
Though there are several delicious dishes described in
Stradal’s debut novel about Midwestern foodie culture, it was the blue-prize
winning peanut butter bars recipe from Lutheran church lady, Pat, that caught
my eye. I made this for my book club and
these chocolate-frosted bars are just as decadent as they sound!
6) Thumbprint Cookies
with Jam from Kelly Simmons’ One More Day
Baking figures prominently in Kelly Simmons’ book because in
One More Day, the main character,
Carrie Morgan, bakes with her grandmother, as she did when she was a little
girl. However, it's not clear whether her grandmother is dead or alive! These thumbprint jam cookies look like just
the thing to bake when you’re in a nostalgic mood (or simply in the mood for
something buttery and sweet)!
7) Mantecadas from Tina
Ann Forkner’s Ruby Among Us
In Ruby Among Us
by Tina Ann Forkner, Kitty and her granddaughter Lucy spend a lot of time
together talking over cookies and tea. Lucy even has a special tea cup that she
drinks out of with her grandmother Kitty who is keeping a lot of secrets about
Lucy’s past. Below is a link to Kitty’s
secret recipe for Lucy’s favorite cookie, Mantecadas. Yum!
8) Nanaimo Bars from Miracle Beach by Erin Celello
Nanaimo Bars are served in the cafeterias of the ferry
boats between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada. In Miracle
Beach, when main characters Magda and Jack come to the Island, they fall in
love with the sinfully sweet bars.
Author Erin Celello testifies that they’re amazing!
9) Damascus' Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake from The River Witch by
Kimberly Brock
In The River Witch,
a family feast brings an estranged southern family together. When ten-year-old
Damascus Trezevant’s summer ends with a bounty of pumpkins, she sets out to
heal deep wounds with a sweet, old recipe for Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake and
faith in the magic of a mother’s love.
You won’t be sorry you tried this recipe!
10) The Best Chocolate
Cake Ever from The Repeat Year by
Andrea Lochen
What dessert list is complete without a delectable
chocolate cake? In The Repeat Year, main character Olive is named after her maternal
grandmother who passed away the week before she was born. In addition to her grandma’s name, Olive also
inherited her recipe for the “best chocolate cake ever” which her mom bakes as
a peace offering for their family in a time of major transition.
What are your favorite
recipes inspired by novels? Comment
below!
Andrea Lochen is the
author of two novels, Imaginary Things
and The Repeat Year. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from
the University of Michigan and her BA in English at the University of
Wisconsin. Since 2008, she has taught
undergraduate writing at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. When she isn’t teaching, reading, or baking,
she is hard at work on her third novel. To
learn more about her, visit her website: www.andrealochen.com.
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