Another Faust and Devil’s Food Caramel Cake

This past weekend, I picked up Another Faust, a YA novel by siblings Daniel and Dina Nayeri. I’m inhaling it late at night. I should be folding laundry instead, but this contemporary retelling of the classic deal with the devil story won’t let me go.

 Five troubled children disappear. Five years later, five gifted teens crash New York’s a list scene at Marlowe Academy, a school for the crème de la crème of Manhattan. Is their benefactor, Madame Vileroy, all she seems? What price will they pay to purchase their dreams? 

Another Faust is full of black desire, broken souls and twisted illusions.   

Oh, yeah. I’m in.

 Interested? Check out the Authors’ Web Site. They are sponsoring an Another, Another Faust writing contest. Submit your own Devil’s bargain story (3,000 words or less) and you might a win signed copy, a handwritten deleted scene, a feature interview and article, and the opportunity to get your work in the hands of publishing professionals.

If Another Faust whets your appetite, check out these sites highlighting other retellings of the classic Devil’s Bargain story.

What do Little Shop of Horrors, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, and Ghost Rider all have in common? Explore the roots and retellings of Faust at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Faust

Old School Faust Legends: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/faust.html

Read about the granddaddy of them all: Goethe’s Faust

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/hum_303/faust.html

Hungry for more? Try my Devil’s Food Caramel Cake. No blood pact is required to bake this sweet treat.

Devil’s Food Caramel Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Devil’s Food Cake (Duncan Hines is best)

1 cup buttermilk (or add 1 tbsp. lemon juice to 1 cup regular milk)

½ vegetable oil

3 eggs

7 to 10 oz. package of milk chocolate covered turtles, chopped

1 tbsp. cocoa (I like Hershey’s Dark)

½ cup caramel topping

Your favorite chocolate frosting (homemade or from a can)

More turtle candies for garnish

 Grease two 9 in. round baking pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, buttermilk and oil. Add the eggs. Beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in the turtle candies and the cocoa. 

Pour batter into baking pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pans. Spread caramel between layers. Frost cake with chocolate icing and sprinkle additional turtle candy bits over the top of the cake.

Binge!