Welcome to Recipe for Romance!
It’s February! Can you believe we survived the first month of 2025? Yeah, me either, but here we are. I think we need some comfort food.
Let’s get started. I’m sharing a snippet of IN PLAIN SIGHT, a Sapphic romantic suspense of a woman on the run. Triss is starting over with a new life, and her bisexual self is waking back up. At the grocery store. Over coffee.
Available Now: In Plain Sight
Triss turned a corner to go down the coffee/tea aisle and stopped short.
A beautiful woman with straight black hair streaked with silver pulled up in a messy bun stood considering the Chai selections. She wore a baggy, deep red chenille sweater over a black turtleneck and patterned red leggings. The pattern looked like little squirrels holding acorns, curled in balls, or running. They were adorable.
Attraction immediately flared in Triss’s chest, and she took a few steps down the aisle before her mind caught up with the interest.
Whoa back there, girl. You’re trying not to be noticed, remember?
She stumbled, and the woman looked up, unusual pale blue eyes like a husky dog focusing on her. Triss swallowed hard and forgot to smile as she took in the breasts that fit the woman’s tall body. Triss estimated the woman’s height to be about 5’8” on a trim body with rounded hips and a taut ass.
She jerked her gaze away from said ass when the woman snorted in amusement, and Triss ducked past to get to the herbal teas, her face burning.
What happened to me? I used to be a bold, beautiful bisexual and I could talk to any girl from here to the Sierras.
But now she was hesitant. Another wound she could lay at her husband’s feet.
EX-husband! I did everything to get out before I died.
Physical wounds, too, but she wasn’t going to think about those first two months of her marriage. The next two had been full-on planning to get away.
And now I have. New start, remember?
So she turned back around and drew up short as she found the pale-eyed woman right next to her, looking over her shoulder.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Did I see you checking out my ass?”
Triss blinked then gave her a goofy smile. “Yeah. Sorry. It was very nice to look at.”
The pale-eyed woman grinned. “Thank you very much.” She held out her hand. “Briona.”
Gluten-Free Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Originally, this recipe was Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, but we didn’t have raspberries or cream cheese. Don’t worry – it turned out awesome and delicious, and high in anti-oxidants. Plus, it’s delicious. However, it does take 4 bowls, so don’t be surprised that you’ll be washing things.
INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING
1/4 cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese or goat cheese
1 egg white
1 cup blackberries (saved for later)
To make the filling: Mix together cream cheese or goat cheese and sugar on medium-low speed until creamy. Add egg white and mix on low until combined. Set aside. (bowl #1)
INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (we used Bob’s Redmill GF 1:1 baking flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5.5 Tbsp butter – softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C) and grease a 9 inch spring form pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set aside (bowl #2)
With your electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium-low speed in a large bowl (bowl #3). Add egg and yolk, and vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour mixture, alternating with the sour cream. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth gently with a spatula.
Spread cream cheese mixture on top of the cake batter. Place berries into the filling all over the cake top.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE TOPPING
1/3 cup white sugar or packed brown sugar
1/2 cup GF flour
3 Tbsp butter – chilled and cubed
To make the topping: Combine sugar, flour, and cubed butter in a bowl (bowl #4). Work with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture is crumbly and well combined.
Sprinkle the streusel topping over the blackberries until completely covered.
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool entirely on a rack. When cool, run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the sides of the pan and release the ring of the spring form pan.
Can be stored in the fridge for up to 7 days (if it lasts that long).
How awkward moments turn into something potentially lovely. Enjoyable excerpt, Siobhan, and a delicious-sounding cake.
Great excerpt and the recipe looks amazing.