Blueberry Cream Cupcake & Murder (A Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 2) (10 page)

BOOK: Blueberry Cream Cupcake & Murder (A Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 2)
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She’d used up the last of her savings to help save her nana’s café from bankruptcy and changed the name and style, while adding her nana’s warm touch to the café and after a grand re-opening, the Cozy Cupcakes Café was now on its way to a new change.

One of the changes includes catering to the community. Last month they’d done Bea’s Salon and Nail Spa in downtown Berry Cove. And then the mayor had a party that required their pastries. And now the Berry Cove Gazette received Cozy Cupcakes catering for their weekly staff meetings.

Dana felt a lump climb in her throat. That one was awful because the critic who’d slammed the café’s re-opening turned up dead with a cupcake in his mouth.

Yeah, and she’d been questioned about it. Though she wasn’t a formal suspect.

Okay, positive thoughts, Dana. That was in the past. Focus on the present. The present is a gift to be opened, enjoyed and cherished. 
She recited one of the Cozy Cupcakes Saying of the Day, which often came with their treats. Something new Dana had thought of. Incorporating her nana’s wise sayings and using her former skills as a copywriter when she worked for a New York ad agency.

“By the way, is Mr. Renaldo here?”

“Well, of course he is. Somewhere. Can’t seem to find him. Just set those cakes down here. I’ll figure out what to do with them later. Make sure you let security know when you leave.”

“Sure will.”

The woman turned around to leave and left Dana alone, disillusioned.

Dana sighed deeply. She was glad she was only delivering there and didn’t live there. It was true, a house did not make a home. She certainly didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy and invited there.

She didn’t want the frosting to melt so she wandered around looking for the fridge. She was just told that they had more than one fridge. The kitchen had another adjacent area and she wondered over there with the tray of cupcakes.

Before she could get further, she tripped and fell smack hard on the ground. The cupcakes went splat right into her face. She had whipped cream and tasty fruity-filled cupcakes on her face. Great!

She was toast.

She was done for.

What the heck was in her way?

She got up, rubbing her aching shin and took a better look.

When she stood up and brushed herself off, she tried to wipe the frosting off her face along with the embarrassment she felt but it didn’t work quite well. She needed a mirror. She turned her gaze south to look down to see what she had tripped over.

What she saw was a long pair of black dress pants and shoes sticking out from beside the gigantic stainless steel fridge.

Oh, no.

Dana felt her stomach turn over.

Her heart stopped.

She gasped.

“Oh, my God!” Her heart pounded hard and galloped in her chest. She thought it was going to leap out of her body.

If she was not mistaken, it was Mr. Renaldo!

The rich elder groom-to-be. Or the rich elder groom-that-
was
!

Her customer.

This was terrible!

Dana’s eyes swept across his lifeless-looking body. Mr. Renaldo’s eyes were closed and his lips and skin looked as blue as the blueberries in the kitchen. She didn’t need to check his pulse or anything to realize one thing...

He was caput, all right.

Who on earth did this? How
did
he die?

Why, oh, why was it that she was always stumbling upon dead bodies?

*    *    *  

 

 

Thank you for reading
Blueberry Cream Cupcake & Murder
(A Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery, Book # 2)

 

Coming soon…

More delightful stories set in the cozy small town of Berry Cove in the Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery series.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Ann S. Marie
enjoys reading and writing cozy mysteries and solving mind-boggling puzzles with intriguing suspects. Join her email list for updates on more cozy mysteries that will make your toes curl and your heart smile. You can send her an email at
[email protected]
with the subject line:
Email Sign-Up
.

She loves to hear from readers.

 

*    *  *

 

***RECIPE ON THE NEXT PAGE***

Recipe

 

Dana Sweet’s BLUEBERRY CREAM CUPCAKE RECIPE 

 

Fresh Blueberry Cupcakes with Blueberry Whipped Cream Frosting

 

Prep Time:
Approximately 30 minutes

Total Time:
Approximately
60 minutes

Yields:
12 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

 

        
1 cup of fresh (or frozen blueberries) ***should yield approx. 1 cup of pureed blueberries when blended (use ¾ cup for the cake mixture, then ¼ cup for the frosting)

        
1 ½ cups of all purpose flour

        
1 ¾ teaspoon of baking powder

        
½ teaspoon of salt

        
1 cup of softened butter or margarine

        
1 ¼ cup of sugar

        
2 large eggs

        
1 ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

        
½ cup of almond milk (vanilla flavor)

        
 

        
Frosting:

        
 

        
1 ½ cups of heavy whipped cream

           
  ¼ cup of blueberries pureed ***(see above and use from the left over pureed blueberries from the cake mixture).

        
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar

        
1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract

        
                           

        
             

        
                           

Directions:

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius)
  2. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners
  3. Set aside
  4. In a high-powered blender, place sliced blueberries and chop and mix into a puree
  5. Set blueberry puree aside
  6. In a large mixing bowl, add softened butter or margarine and beat at medium speed
  7. Then gradually add sugar and continue to beat well for approximately 2 minutes
  8. Add eggs to the mixture and beat well
  9. Add vanilla extract to the mixture and beat well
  10.                     
    Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture gradually to the mixing bowl
  11.                     
    Add Almond Milk and continue beating well in mixer
  12.                     
    Add in blueberry puree (approximately ¾ cup, then leave the rest for frosting later)
  13.                     
    Divide cake batter evenly among the 12 cupcake cups and fill each to approximately 2/3 full
  14.                     
    Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until cake is golden brown
  15.                     
    Remove cupcakes from baking pan and cool
  16.                     
    Set aside
  17.                     
    In a large mixing bowl, add whipped cream, sugar, vanilla extract and mix on high speed for approximately 4 minutes
  18.                     
    Slowly add the remaining blueberry puree (1/4 cup) to the mixture and continue to blend for another 30 seconds
  19.                     
    Once cupcakes have been completely cooled, place frosting in cake decorator with star-tip and pipe frosting around the top of the cupcake swirling it up high and then decorate with a blueberry on top (if desired).
  20.                     
    Cupcakes may be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK: Blueberry Cream Cupcake & Murder (A Dana Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 2)
5.79Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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