Christmas Cupcakes and a Caper

by D. E. Haggerty

  “Donald may not have been a rapist, but he was a cheat. He stole Tanya’s paper for some class and turned it in before she could. When Tanya tried to hand in her paper, she was accused of cheating. She had to re-write the entire paper in two days, which resulted in a B grade. Since she’s a straight-A student, she was not amused.”

  “When did this happen?” I hadn’t heard anything about these accusations. And, trust me, normally I’d hear. The professors and teachers at college are the worst gossipers. Nothing remains secret on campus for long.

  “Last year. In some history class.”

  “Last year! Then why wait to kill Don?”

  “She didn’t know Don was the one who stole her paper. When she was accused of cheating, her professor refused to tell her who she allegedly cheated from. But then Don started bragging about cheating at the frat party. Tanya and Allison confronted him. He admitted to taking her paper. Tanya lost her mind.”

  “They seriously killed someone over a college research paper?” Anna shakes her head. I can’t believe it either. I know the pressure to do well at school is intense, but this response is crazy. Plain and simple.

  “This makes no sense. Why didn’t Tanya just show the teacher her notes and previous drafts?” I ask. “It should have been easy enough to prove the paper was hers.”

  Ben shrugs. “I don’t know all the ins and outs, but Don turned his paper in early. When Tanya showed up a week later, it didn’t look good for her.”

  “Okay. Enough about the stupid paper. I want to know why the body was dumped in front of the bakery. We make delicious cupcakes here. Is nothing sacred anymore?” Anna and her cupcakes. Don’t get me wrong. I love them as much as she does but sacred?

  “Um, Callie is actually to blame.” I gasp. What? Ben grabs my chin and turns me towards him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it was your fault.” He drops a soft kiss on my lips before explaining. “It seems both Tanya and Allison got Bs in your Intro to German Literature class. They did not appreciate your grading system.”

  “Okay. That settles it. Those two are one cupcake short of a dozen,” Anna declares.

  “And stupid. Talking about their escapades in the restroom at school?” Kristie shakes her head.

  “What happens now?” I ask once the chatter about how stupid and crazy Allison and Tanya are settles down.

  “Allison cut a deal with the DA. She’s testifying against Tanya in return for a lighter sentence.” I nod not at all surprised. It’s obvious Tanya is the ringleader of the duo.

  “I can’t believe we didn’t realize those two were the killers the whole time,” I complain. “It seems entirely too obvious now.”

  “You were too trusting. Not wanting to believe two of your students killed another student over a grade.” Maybe. But as far as I’m concerned, trusting is not a character flaw. At least no one else was injured while we totally missed what was in front of us.

  “I’m still disappointed we didn’t get to catch the killers,” Anna pouts.

  Logan shakes his head and chuckles as he pulls her closer. “Good thing I love you, pixie girl. Otherwise, you’d be too much work”

  Anna freezes. “L-l-love?”

  “Please,” Logan scoffs. “How can you have not figured out I love you by now?”

  “You never said it!”

  He leans down and teases his nose against her neck. “Pay attention, pixie. I show you every day.” She twists on his lap and her lips meet his. Pretty soon they’re making out as if they were at home and not in my apartment.

  Kristie and Tyler stand. “That’s our cue. We’re out of here,” Tyler announces.

  “See you tomorrow,” Kristie shouts.

  Thankfully, Logan hears Kristie’s shout and stands with Anna in his arms. “We should get out of your hair, too.”

  I follow them to the door and lock it behind them. I stare at the door a moment. Thoughts of the murder far from the forefront of my mind. I finally have Ben home at a decent hour. It’s time to confront him about what’s going on – why he’s acting strange. But when I turn around, he’s slumped in the chair fast asleep. Not time to confront him after all. I grab a blanket and cover him before walking away.

  Chapter 14

  All I want for Christmas is you. And a cupcake. Or two.

  Anna knocks on my office door before marching right on in. Why does she bother knocking? “Come on. We’re ready.”

  I look up and laugh at the picture she presents. “What the heck are you wearing?” She’s dressed from head to toe in black with her green and red striped hair peeking out from beneath a black beanie.

  She twirls, showing off her outfit. “I’m all set for the stakeout. Let the stake’ing-out’ing commence.”

  “I’m pretty sure stakeout is not a verb.”

  Kristie joins Anna. “Come on, let’s go. I heard Ben and Tyler talking. They’re supposed to be going to a bar right about now.”

  I growl at Kristie’s words. A bar? Really? We’ve hardly had a moment to spend in each other’s company, but he’s going to hit a bar? And after I nearly called this whole stakeout thing off. Glad I didn’t.

  “Ben and Tyler? Why wasn’t Logan invited?”

  I ignore Anna’s question as I start marching to my car. I am woman and one thing is for sure – Ben is going to hear me roar tonight. “What bar?” I ask as Kristie and Anna pile in the car behind me.

  “Wait!” I slam on the brakes at Anna’s shout. “Aren’t you going to change? You can’t do a stakeout dressed like a sexy schoolteacher.” I’m still in my ‘professional’ clothes from attending a meeting at college this afternoon.

  “I’m not doing a stakeout. I’m going to find Ben and I’m going to confront him. No more letting him get away with whatever he’s doing. I am done. D-O-N-E. Done.” I thrust the car into gear and peel out of my parking spot. When I get to the end of the alley, I realize I have a problem. I have no idea where I’m going. I raise an eyebrow at Kristie.

  “Turn right. They’re at The Taproom.”

  Now I’m really angry. I love The Taproom. Not only do they have tons of beer on tap – obviously – but they serve great bar food. Why didn’t Ben ask me to join them?

  “Oooh, we should get some of their onion rings while we’re there. I love their onion rings,” Anna chimes in from the backseat.

  “You mean you didn’t bring any food for the stakeout?”

  Anna snorts at Kristie’s question. “Of course, I did. But onion rings beat cold junk food any day.”

  It takes less than ten minutes to drive to The Taproom. Kristie and Anna argue the entire time as to what makes the perfect food for a stakeout. I ignore them. I could not care less about stakeouts and food right now. As soon as the car is parked, I jump out and slam my door and start stomping to the front door of the bar. Kristie grabs my arm and steers me to a side entrance.

  “What are you doing? This isn’t the entrance.”

  “Trust me.”

  “Oh goodie, a secret entrance. I love it!” Of course, Anna does.

  Kristie leads us to a staircase, and we start trudging up the stairs. After the second floor, I stop to catch my breath. “How far up are we going?”

  “A bit further.” Kristie grabs my arm and starts dragging me.

  “I need to do more cardio,” Anna pants. “You’d think being on my feet all day would keep me fit.”

  “Not when you eat all the merchandise.” Anna can only grunt in response to Kristie’s teasing. I don’t say anything either. I can’t. I can barely keep up with Kristie as it is.

  We finally reach the end of the stairs and encounter a door marked ‘roof entrance’. “What are we doing here?”

  Anna claps her hands. “I love it! Are we going to spy on Ben from the roof? Oh fudge, I should have brought my binoculars.”

  “Go ahead, Callie.” Kristie nudges me forward and I have no choice but to push the door open. My eyes widen at the vision in front of me. A tent has been erected on the roof with a table
smack dab in the middle. The table is decorated with flowers and candles while the tent is almost completely covered in fairy lights making the area look like something out a romance novel. An over-the-top romance novel.

  “What’s going on?”

  Ben appears at my side. Where was he hiding? “Would you care to join me?” he asks as he holds out his arm for me to take.

  I nod before wrapping my hand around his bicep.

  “But what about the stakeout?” Anna shouts. I look to see Kristie shoving her out the door towards the stairwell. “I’ll explain everything,” she says and then shuts the door. I’m left alone with my boyfriend on the rooftop.

  Ben walks me to the table and then pulls out a chair for me. I take a seat and wait for him to sit across from me before asking again, “What’s going on? What are you up to? You’ve been acting weird. What were you doing on my computer anyway? And why have I hardly seen you for the past month?” The questions pour out once I get started.

  “I was going to wait but …” With a shake of his head, he lets his words trail off.

  “Wait for what? What is happening?” I practically shout. I’ve run out of patience. I need to know what’s going on with my boyfriend – now.

  Ben stands and grabs a small box from a table to the side of the tent. A box I have no trouble recognizing. The logo from the bakery, Callie’s Cakes, is plain to see. “What—”

  “Give me a second.”

  I huff but don’t say anything.

  With the box in his hands, Ben comes around the table and kneels in front of me. “I’m sorry I’ve been working tons of overtime lately. I needed the extra money.” Before I get a chance to ask why he needs money, he opens the box. I gasp. A diamond ring sits smack dab in the middle of the frosting on top of a red velvet cupcake. “Callie Muller, will you marry me?” I start to say yes, but he cuts me off yet again. “Before you say yes, you need to know I’m not waiting to get married. I want to marry you as soon as possible. I’ve saved up the money for the wedding and the honeymoon. It’s burning a hole in my pocket.”

  I snort. As if insisting we get married as soon as possible is a reason to say no. “Give me the ring already.”

  Ben chuckles and pulls the diamond out of the cream cheese frosting. He doesn’t bother cleaning it before shoving it onto my finger. I don’t get a chance to admire the ring before he pulls me out of my seat and into his arms. His lips cover mine and I forget the gazillion questions I’d planned to ask. Questions? What questions? The man of my dreams is in my arms and he wants to marry me. Me!

  “Thank you, Callie,” he whispers into my ear when we’re forced to pull apart to catch our breath. “But we still need to talk about your penchant for getting involved in murder investigations.”

  Thank you for reading Christmas Cupcakes & a Caper. Word-of-mouth is crucial in the cutthroat world of publishing. Seriously, it’s totally cutthroat. Too bad there’s no swashbuckling. That sounds like fun. Spoiler alert: I have no idea what swashbuckling is. But seriously, it would be a huge help if you could leave a review of Christmas Cupcakes & a Caper. It doesn’t have to be more than a sentence, maybe two. Just follow this LINK.

  Did you miss the start of the Death by Cupcake series? Check out the first chapter of Never Trust a Skinny Cupcake Baker, Book 1 in the series.

  Recipes

  You’ll find recipes for all of the cupcakes mentioned in Christmas Cupcakes & a Caper below. For pictures, please head on over to my website www.dehaggerty.com.

  Chapter 1

  Guinness, Whiskey & Irish Cream Cupcakes

  I promise these won’t burn your esophagus like they did Callie’s!

  Makes 24 cupcakes. And no, I’m not telling you the calories. That just ruins the experience! I use metric weights and temperature combined with cups for volume. This is what happens when you grow up in a country without the metric system but end up living most of your adult life in a country that does have the metric system. You got all confused and mix things up!

  Ingredients

  For the cupcakes:

  - 1 cup Guinness stout

  - 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

  - ¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

  - 2 cups all-purpose flour

  - 2 cups granulated sugar

  - 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

  - ¾ teaspoons salt

  - 2 eggs

  - ⅔ cup sour cream

  For the Whiskey Ganache Filling

  - 8 ounces (226 grams) bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

  - ⅔ cup heavy cream

  - 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

  - 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I snuck mine from the hubby’s liquor stash)

  For the Bailey’s Frosting

  - 2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature

  - 5 cups powdered sugar

  - 6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream

  Directions

  Make the Cupcakes

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Prepare two muffin tins with cupcake liners.

  Place the Guinness and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

  Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until just combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat until it starts to come together, about 30 seconds. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined.

  Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

  Make the Ganache Filling

  Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place the heavy cream in a small saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Immediately pour it over the chocolate, then let it sit for two minutes.

  Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the mixture from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped, about 30 minutes.

  Fill the Cupcakes

  Using a paring knife, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down.

  Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, divide the prepared ganache between the centers of the cupcakes.

  Make the Bailey’s Frosting

  Whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until completely incorporated. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

  Using your favorite decorating tip, frost and cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

  Chapter 2

  Christmas Peppermint Coffee

  I can’t have caffeine but I promise it’s just as good without the extra jolt!

  Ingredients

  - 8 ounces (225 grams) brewed coffee

  - 8 ounces (225 grams) chocolate milk, heated until steaming (I use Chocomel)

  - 1 ounce (28 grams) peppermint syrup

  - Chocolate syrup

  - Whipped cream

  - Crushed peppermint candies

  Directions

  Heat chocolate milk until very hot, but not boiling. Add the hot coffee and syrup to the milk and stir. Using a large glass, add chocolate syrup, pour in the mocha and top with whipped topping and crushed candies.

  Chapter 3

  Eggnog Latte Cupcakes

  These cupcakes are supposed to made with eggnog because – Christmas! I thought eggnog was going to be impossible to find in the Netherlands. I spent days researching a Dutch drink – Advocaat – to see if I could use it in
stead. But lo and behold, I found eggnog at the British/American store when I went to buy shortening. (I also found some candy I usually don’t eat and shouldn’t eat, but that’s a different story.)