Buttercream Bump Off (29 page)

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.

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 red
¹
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting rolled in shredded coconut and topped with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss.

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.

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 . . .

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!”

Angie glanced at her watch. “We have twelve minutes.”

“We’d better run,” Mel said.

Together they bolted through the kitchen and the bakery. Mel turned and locked the front door behind them. Then they pounded down the sidewalk of Old Town Scottsdale, past a western wear store, a Mexican import store, a jewelry store, and around the corner, a tattoo parlor and a hair salon.

Mick, the owner of the tattoo parlor, stepped outside as they whizzed by. At six foot four with a shaved head and covered in ink, he was fairly intimidating, but Mel and Angie knew he was a big old softie who had a weakness for Mel’s Moonlight Madness coconut cupcakes.

“Where’s the fire?” he called after them.

Angie opened her mouth to retort, but Mel grabbed her arm and kept running. “No time! Chat later.”

They hit the entrance to the Civic Center Mall and had to dodge an elderly couple, who stood admiring the bronze sculpture of three horses running, entitled
The Yearlings
. Mel loved the sculpture, too, but this was not the time to stop to admire it.

They had to turn their registration form in to the Scottsdale Art Association office, which was housed in one of the small buildings that encircled the many fountains and sculptures that made up the Civic Center Mall. The mall, a two-acre park, was one of Mel’s favorite spots in the city. She frequently walked to the library on the opposite side just to enjoy the lush flowers, trickling fountains, and beautiful public art that filled the meticulously tended area.

A small group of tourists blocked the path ahead as they admired a short fountain that formed a ball of water. Mel followed Angie as she cut around them and onto the grass. Like track stars they jumped over the narrow stream that fed a larger fountain and raced down the slope farther into the park.