“I’ll say,” Tate agreed. “You can’t pay for this kind of publicity.”
“Hey, gorgeous.” Roach appeared and looped an arm around Angie’s shoulders. “Got a minute?”
Angie glanced at Mel, who nodded. They wound their way through the tables towards the door. Mel turned to find Tate watching them. He looked as if he were waiting for an earthquake to hit.
“You never told her how you feel,” Mel said.
“I . . . It didn’t seem fair,” he said. “She’s cared for me for so long. I was such an idiot. He makes her happy. How can I ruin that for her?”
“Are you kidding me?” Mel asked. “Well, it’s nice to see your stupid streak will remain unbroken.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“It means . . . Oh, forget it. If you’re not man enough to tell her how you feel, then you don’t deserve her,” Mel said. “And if she moves to Los Angeles with him, then I am holding you personally responsible.”
Tate opened his mouth to argue, but Mel waved him off. She was not in the mood to hear it.
“The natives are getting restless, dear,” Joyce said. “You’d better get on with the drawing.”
Mel glanced around the room. It was true. These people had buttercream coursing through their veins. They were amped up and ready for the contest.
Mel stepped up onto a nearby stool. “Thank you, everyone, for coming to our bakery today and for entering our Fairy Tale Cupcake contest. Without further ado, I am going to draw the name of our lucky winner.”
Tate hefted the box off the counter and held it up high for Mel.
“And the winner is . . . Wait.” She paused. “Drum roll please.”
Angie and Roach moved up closer to the front, and the two of them and Tate began to make rolling noises with their tongues.
“The winner is . . .” Mel said it again as she shoved her hand into the box full of slips and grabbed one from the middle bottom. She knew she couldn’t play favorites, but she really wanted Marty to win. He and Beatriz were standing front and center, and even though he had a few years on her, they made a lovely couple.
She held the paper in her hands and then carefully unfolded it. “The winner is Olivia Puckett. What?”
Mel was so surprised, she stumbled from her stool and would have fallen if Tate hadn’t caught her at the last second.
A delighted laugh that sounded more like a cackle erupted from the back of the bakery, and Mel glanced up to see Olivia standing there looking quite pleased with herself.
“You owe me a night on the town, Cooper,” she said. “Tell your driver to pick me up at my house at seven.”
With that, Olivia swept from the bakery. The crowd followed her until it was just Tate, Angie, Roach, Joyce, Mel, Beatriz, and a crestfallen Marty.
“How did she . . . ?” Mel muttered. “What are the odds?”
Mel glanced at the box. Had Olivia sabotaged her contest? Mel shoved her hand back into the box and pulled out a fistful of entries.
“Mel, you can’t pick someone else,” Angie said. “Olivia won it fair and square.”
“Really?” Mel asked. She began to unfold the papers.
Olivia Puckett. Olivia Puckett. Olivia Puckett. “She got me. That evil, conniving, miserable woman got me.”
“But how?” Angie began unfolding papers, too. Every one read the same name: Olivia Puckett.
Mel glanced up at her new friend. “I am so sorry, Marty. I don’t know how she managed this.”
“That’s all right,” he said. He turned to Beatriz. “I guess we’ll have to cancel our date.”
“What?” she asked. She tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and gave him an outraged look. “Are you ditching me?”
“I mean, I just figured you wouldn’t want to go out with me if it wasn’t a five-star restaurant and a limo.”
“Martin Zelaznik, what kind of girl do you think I am?” she asked. “I said yes to you, not to a fancy restaurant. Now you pick me up at six, or don’t ever bother showing up to another one of my yoga classes.”
She strode towards the door, and Marty turned and grinned at Mel. He yanked the lapels of his suit jacket into place and hurried after her.
“All’s well that ends well,” Joyce said. “Well, if you don’t need me anymore, I am going shopping. I still need to replace my heart attack dress.”
“Maybe you could downgrade it to an angina dress,” Mel said.
“Funny, very funny,” Joyce said. She blew them all an air kiss and left.
“Walk me out?” Roach asked Angie.
“Sure,” she said.
Mel and Tate were silent as the door shut behind them.
“ ‘Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,’ ” Mel said.
“Again with Casablanca?” Tate asked.
“It just seemed appropriate,” Mel said.
Tate pulled his apron over his head. “I think ‘We’ll always have Paris’ may be more accurate.”
They were silent for a minute. Mel wanted to comfort her friend, but she didn’t know how.
“Has she told you her decision?” he asked.
“No. You?”
“No.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know yet,” Mel said.
Tate glanced through the front window, where Angie was wrapped in Roach’s arms. “Maybe. Listen, I’m going to go.”
He gestured to the back door, and Mel nodded. She understood. He was going to slip out the back so as not to have to see Angie and Roach up close. Understandable. She set about cleaning up the slips that littered the counter.
Olivia had gotten her good. She wasn’t sure how, and she wasn’t sure when, but she did know there would be payback involved.
It was hard to believe that a mere few weeks ago her mother had been in here giddily announcing her first date. And now, one of Mel’s students sat in jail under arrest for the murder of Baxter Malloy. Rumor had it Poppy Gatwick had fled the state to be with her parents on Long Island. It appeared Jay had been right: Without the ability to buy Poppy pretty things, he couldn’t buy Poppy. The perfect couple was not so perfect after all.
A pair of arms wrapped around her from behind, and Mel happily leaned against the familiar chest of Joe DeLaura.
“The jury convicted,” he said.
Mel spun around in his arms with a joyous cry and hugged him tight. “You won, Joe, you won! That’s wonderful. Let’s go celebrate.”
“No.” He shook his head at her. Mel studied his face, and in his warm brown eyes she saw the same look that she had seen when she first realized she was in love with him.
“No?” she asked. “Don’t tell me there’s another case.”
He grinned. “No, no case.”
“Then what is it? You should be ecstatic, you should go out and pound some bubbly and howl at the moon.”
“I had bubbly last night,” he said. “While I watched you sleep.”
Mel hung her head. “I fell asleep on you. I’m sorry. I tried so hard to stay awake, really, I did.”
Joe pulled her close. “Don’t be sorry. It made me realize what a selfish jerk I’ve been, falling asleep on you like I have. My only defense is that I just wanted to be with you, even if it was only in my sleep.”
“Oh, Joe.” She had thought she couldn’t love him more than she already did. She was seriously mistaken.
“Holding you while you slept was one of the nicest evenings I’ve ever spent,” he said. “I felt like everything was right in my world because I had you in my arms.”
“I felt the same way about you all those nights I spent watching you sleep,” Mel said. “If it was the only way I could have you, then that was fine with me.”
He cupped her face and said, “Let’s run away together.”
Mel looked back out the window. Angie was here—for now. It was her turn to run the bakery for a while. Mel dropped her apron on the counter, took Joe’s hand, and didn’t look back.
R
ecipes
Kiss Me Cupcakes
A mint chocolate chip cupcake with red and white swirled mint icing and a big Hershey’s Kiss planted in the middle.
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon mint extract
½ cup milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag Hershey’s Kisses
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the mint extract. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Add the chocolate chips, after dusting with flour to keep them from sinking while baking. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Makes 18 cupcakes.
Mint Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon mint extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
Red food coloring
In a large bowl, cream butter and mint extract. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl often. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Divide the frosting in half and put one half in a separate bowl. Use red food coloring to dye one half of the frosting red1 and leave the other half of the batch white. To decorate the tops of the cupcakes, use a pastry bag with a star tip and work from the center of the cupcake to the edge, letting the stripe get wider (using more pressure on the bag) as it gets to the edge. Alternate the colors so that the frosting resembles a hard peppermint candy. Top with a Hershey’s Kiss wrapped in silver foil.
Orange Dreamsicle Cupcakes
An orange cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream and garnished with a candied orange peel.
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated and whites beaten until stiff
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon orange extract
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ cup orange juice
Candied orange peels (for garnish)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, sugar, egg yolks, zest, and orange extract in a large mixing bowl. Cream these ingredients together thoroughly. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together in a separate mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients a third at a time alternately with the orange juice. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Spoon batter into cupcake liners until half full.
Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 18 cupcakes.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk (or whipping cream)
In a large bowl, cream butter and vanilla extract. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl often. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. For best results, keep icing in refrigerator when not in use. This icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Rewhip before using. Makes 3 cups of icing.
Cupid’s Bliss Cupcakes
A white chocolate cupcake with a circle of white chocolate cream cheese icing around the edge with raspberries in the middle and drizzled with raspberry syrup on top.
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
Fresh raspberries
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt the chopped white chocolate by heating it in 30-second intervals in the microwave. Stir well with a fork after each interval. The chocolate is ready when it’s smooth when stirred.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the melted white chocolate and vanilla extract. Alternate adding the milk and the flour mixture. Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20-23 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean or the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip. Makes 18 cupcakes.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 ounce white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons milk or cream
2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar
In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter, and melted white chocolate. Beat in vanilla extract and milk, then add in the confectioners’ sugar gradually until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. It should be a bit stiff to allow piping along the edge of the cupcake. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe a circle on the outer edge of each cupcake. Fill circle with fresh raspberries. Drizzle raspberry syrup (see below) on top.
Raspberry Syrup
7 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen (thaw slightly)
¾ cup lemon juice
1¾ cups sugar
2¼ cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine raspberries, lemon juice, sugar, and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until raspberries are soft, about 15 minutes.
Strain raspberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve; use the back of a spoon and press down to get all of the juice through the sieve. Discard raspberry seeds and pour extracted juices into pan. Simmer over medium-low heat until reduced by one-half or to the consistency of syrup, 20 to 25 minutes. Add vanilla extract at the end of cooking time.
Due to reader demand, I am including this cupcake recipe as mentioned in my last book, Sprinkle with Murder. This is one of my faves and the cupcake that Mel makes when she has trouble sleeping—thus the name.
Moonlight Madness Cupcakes
A chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting rolled in shredded coconut and topped with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss.
1½ cups flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
1½ cups sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
¾ cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup water, warm
1 bag shredded coconut, sweetened
1 bag Hershey’s Kisses
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla extract, and water. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Scoop into paper-lined cupcake pans and bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 18 cupcakes.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk (or whipping cream)
In a large bowl, cream butter and vanilla extract. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl often. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. For best results, keep icing in refrigerator when not in use. This icing can be stored up to 2 weeks.
Rewhip before using. Makes 3 cups of icing.
To finish the Moonlight Madness Cupcakes, spread a generous amount of the vanilla buttercream frosting on top of each cupcake with a rubber spatula, then roll the top of the cupcake in a bowl of shredded coconut before the frosting dries so the coconut will adhere to the frosting. Top with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss.
Turn the page for a preview of Jenn McKinlay’s next book in the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries . . .
Death by the Dozen
Coming soon from Berkley Prime Crime!
“Fifteen minutes!” Angie DeLaura yelled. “We have to turn the registration form in by ten o’clock or we’re locked out of the competition.”
Melanie Cooper scrambled into her tiny office with Angie hot on her heels. Paperwork was scattered all over the top of her desk. There was a reason she was a cupcake baker and not a bookkeeper. She did much better with her pantry organization than with her file cabinet.
She ran a hand through her short blonde hair in exasperation.
“I know I put it here,” she said. “Why didn’t I turn it in last week like I planned?”
“Because you had a hot date with my brother,” Angie said. “And you forgot.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mel said. She couldn’t stop the silly grin that spread across her face as she remembered her romantic evening with Joe DeLaura. A heavy sigh escaped her and Angie snapped her fingers in front of Mel’s face and said, “Snap out of it!”
Mel shook her head, trying to regain her focus.
“You start on that side of the desk and I’ll start on this side,” Angie ordered as she dug into a stack of cookware catalogs.
Mel shuffled through a pile of flyers advertising Fairy Tale Cupcakes’ unique flavors and special occasion cupcake tiers. Sure enough, stuck by a smear of royal frosting to the back of the flyers was their registration form for the Scottsdale Food Festival. “I found it!”
Buttercream Bump Off Page 20