The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place and Tiger Cake

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book 4: The Interrupted Tale 

by Maryrose Wood

I can hardly wait to read The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series with my son. This series is so much fun—and educational, too! Plus, the educational parts only enhance the delightfulness of the books. Author Maryrose Wood does a brilliant job of inserting information into her narrative in a way that never makes the reader want to skip over the more didactic bits, thanks to her sense of humor.

The Incorrigible series follows young governess Penelope Lummly (aka Lummawoo) as she begins her new position at Ashton Place caring for Lord and Lady Ashton's three new wards—recently discovered living in the woods with a pack of wolves. Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia Incorrigible, as they become known, are wild but bright and eager to learn. Penelope Lummly, a “Swanburn Girl” (i.e., a graduate from the Agatha Swanburn School for Poor, Bright Females), is more than equal to the task of teaching and loving the wolfish children.

Beyond learning the ropes of her new position, Penelope also falls into the need to do some detective work: Who are the children's parents? Where are her own parents? Who may be trying to harm them? She learns a little bit more in each installment of the series, but, as of book 5, still has a lot to figure out.

Link to The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book 1: The Mysterious Howling on amazon.com: The Incorrigible Children Book 1 

I chose to make a Tiger Cake to go with the fourth book because Penelope is teaching the children about poetry—especially iambic pentameter and William Blake's “The Tyger”. Tigers and cake are both reoccurring themes in this book. In addition to frequent recitations of Blake, the children dress up as “Postal Tigers” when delivering mail around Ashton Place, and, of course, they are always very excited about cake!

This cake is made with olive oil instead of butter or vegetable oil, which—in addition to a half teaspoon of white pepper—gives it a very interesting flavor! It may not seem like it'd be a popular children's cake, but recipe author Alice Medrich says that it was named by a five-year-old boy who adored it. I will also include a link to Alice Medrich's wonderful cookbook, Bittersweet, which includes this recipe as well as my favorite brownie recipe ever! (And many, many other delicious-sounding recipes for chocolatey treats!): 

Bittersweet

Tiger Cake:

½ c. cocoa powder (not Dutch Process)

½ c. sugar

1/3 c. water

3 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

2 c. sugar

1 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. White pepper

5 eggs

1 c. milk

1. Whisk cocoa powder, ½ c. sugar and water together in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
   
   
   
   
   
2. In another bowl, whisk flour and baking powder together.
3. In bowl of electric mixer, whisk sugar, olive oil, vanilla, salt and pepper. Add eggs, one at a time, and continue to whisk until the mixture is thick and pale.
4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then ½ c. of milk; another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, the rest of the milk, and the rest of the dry ingredients. Whisk between each addition.
5. Stir 3 cups of batter into the cocoa mixture.
6. In alternating layers, pour the cocoa and regular mixtures into a greased and floured 12-cup bundt pan. Because the batter is fairly thin, the layers will naturally swirl while baking.
   
   
   
7. Bake at 350 F for 60-70 minutes.