Wedding Cake Murder (27 page)

Spray the inside of a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. You can also use nonstick
baking
spray, the kind with flour in it, if you prefer. If you don’t have nonstick baking or cooking spray, you can grease the inside of the cake pan with butter and then flour it, but don’t forget to knock out the excess flour.

Hannah’s 1
^st
Note: When I make this at home, I use my stand mixer for the cake batter. You can also do it by hand, but it takes some muscle.

Mix the cup of softened, salted butter with the white sugar until it’s thoroughly blended and is nice and fluffy.

Add the salt, vanilla extract, and baking powder. Mix them in until they’re thoroughly incorporated.

Add the eggs one by one, mixing after each addition.

Hannah’s 2
^nd
Note: If you add the eggs all at once, it’s very difficult to mix them in. If you add them one at a time and mix in each egg after you add it, it’s much easier.

Add the flour in one-cup increments, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Hannah’s 3
^rd
Note: DO NOT add the flour all at once and then try to mix it in. I did that once and had flour all over my kitchen floor.
(And then Moishe came in for a drink of water and tracked flour all over my condo. This
is when I learned that most cats don’t like to have their feet washed!)

Spoon
half
of the batter in the cake pan and spread it out with a rubber spatula. Leave the rest of the batter in the bowl for later.
(You don’t have to measure out exactly half of the dough. Just eyeball it. No one’s ever going to complain if you’re off by a quarter-cup or so.)

Once half of the cake batter is in the pan, it’s time to make the filling. Use another bowl for this.

Put
half
of a 12-ounce
(net weight)
bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl.
(I usually use a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.)

Add the ounce of salted butter and the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Heat in the microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Let the mixture sit in the microwave for 1 minute, and then take it out and try to stir it smooth. If you can do this, you’re done heating the chocolate mixture. If you can’t do this, heat the chocolate mixture in 20-second intervals with one-minute standing times, until you can stir it smooth.

Set the chocolate mixture on the counter. Stir in the cinnamon and the nutmeg until they’re well-incorporated.

Drizzle the chocolate mixture over the batter in the cake pan.

Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips
(approximately one cup)
over the batter as evenly as you can.

Hannah’s 4
^th
Note: There is a reason why you don’t melt ALL the chips in the bag. It has to do with texture. The whole chips will soften during baking and the melted chips are almost like a chocolate sauce. This means that after your Chocolate Coffee Cake is baked, you’ll have something that resembles chocolate sauce enhanced with cinnamon and nutmeg in the center with little soft nuggets of pure chocolate in each serving. It’s just yummy!

Give the remaining cake batter another stir and then drop spoonfuls on top of the chocolate. Spread the batter out carefully with the rubber spatula.

Hannah’s 5
^th
Note: Don’t worry if the cake batter doesn’t cover the chocolate completely—the batter on top will fill in as it bakes and the crumb topping that you will make next will cover the rest.

To make the crumb topping, mix the brown sugar and the flour in a small bowl.
(I generally use a fork to do this.)

Add the softened butter and mix until it’s crumbly.
(You can also do this in a food processor with chilled butter and the steel blade.)

Sprinkle the crumb topping over the pan as evenly as possible.

Bake your Chocolate Coffee Cake at 350 degrees F. for 45 to 60 minutes. To test for doneness, use a cake tester, a thin wooden skewer, or a long toothpick. Insert it one inch from the center of the pan and pull it out again. If it has chocolate on it, that’s perfectly okay, but if it also has sticky unbaked dough clinging to it, your cake needs to bake at least another 5 or perhaps 10 minutes.

When your cake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Michelle’s Note: I like this coffee cake slightly warm and I’ve discovered that if you cut it in square servings, you can reheat it in the microwave and it tastes like fresh-baked. It’s really great for breakfast with a cup of strong hot coffee.

Chapter Nineteen

H
annah had just pulled into her parking spot in back of The Cookie Jar when her cell phone rang. She took it out of her purse to answer it and was surprised to hear Lisa’s voice.

“Where are you?” Lisa asked.

“I’m here. I just pulled into my parking spot in back.”

“Okay. Don’t bother coming in,” Lisa said. “Claire called to say that the wedding dresses she ordered for you came in this morning. She wants you to come over and try them on right away. Your mother and Andrea are already there waiting for you.”

“My
mother
is there?”

“Of course she is. You didn’t really think you could get away with trying on wedding gowns without your mother, did you?”

“I guess not.”

“Go ahead then. It has to be done and you might as well get it over with. Take Michelle with you. They want her, too. Claire has to take her measurements for her bridesmaid dress.”

“Are you busy?” Hannah asked her.

“We’re packed. Even Stephanie Bascomb is here. In all her glory, of course.”

“Stephanie got a new outfit?”

“And how! I heard her tell Becky Summers that she just bought several designer suits from Claire. And she’s wearing a huge emerald ring. I told Herb, and he said that our mayor must have really done it this time! Hurry up, Hannah. They’re waiting for you.”

Hannah sighed in resignation. She had to do it. There was no other choice. “Okay, Lisa. Michelle’s with me and she can lead the sacrificial lamb to slaughter.”

“What was all
that
about?” Michelle asked when Hannah ended the call and slipped her phone back into her purse.

“Mother and Andrea are waiting for us at Beau Monde. The wedding gowns that Claire ordered came in this morning, and I have to try them on.”

“Okay. Let’s go then.” Michelle opened the passenger door.

“Wait. Do you think I could get out of it if I sneaked into the kitchen and hid in the pantry?”

Michelle shook her head. “Not a chance. Mother would sniff you out. I tried hiding in my closet when I was a kid. Mother found me and spanked me. Just go over to Claire’s and do it.”

“That was Lisa’s advice,” Hannah said, accepting her fate as she got out of her cookie truck and shut the door behind her.

Hannah hesitated at the door to Claire’s shop. She hated to try on dresses. There was something about standing in a little dressing room, even though Claire’s dressing rooms were beautifully decorated and roomier than most, facing your worst figure faults in the mirror, and garbing your body in unfamiliar garments that could make you look more unattractive than you had before you put them on. She was still trying to think of some excuse, any excuse short of death, to save herself from the ordeal when she remembered what Lisa had told her about Stephanie Bascomb’s new outfits and where she’d purchased them.

“Come on, Michelle!” Hannah urged her sister, yanking the door open and practically running inside.

Michelle grabbed Hannah’s hand. “Hold on a minute. Tell me what changed your mind so fast. Just a second or two ago, you were heading for Claire’s shop with the speed of an arthritic garden snail, and now you’re acting like you can’t wait to get inside.”

“Murder changed my mind,” Hannah said, leading the way to the inner door that opened into the dress shop itself. “I just remembered something Lisa told me on the phone. She said that Stephanie Bascomb is next door in the coffee shop, wearing an expensive new outfit she got right here from Claire. And Lisa also said that the outfit Stephanie was wearing wasn’t the only one she’d bought over here.”

“So you’re going to see what Stephanie told Claire about the mayor’s new affair?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Then you won’t mind trying on wedding gowns?”

“I didn’t say that, but I’ll trade a half hour of my time, even if it means trying on new clothes, for information that’ll help me solve a murder case!”

Five minutes later, after greeting her mother and Andrea, Hannah was sitting on a gold velvet settee, waiting for her torment to start. She’d accepted the offer of a cup of tea that she probably wouldn’t drink, and followed Claire to the largest dressing room. Now she was waiting for Claire to return with the selections that had been chosen specifically for her.

Hannah picked up the tea, took a sip, and stared at her archenemy, the tall three-way mirror that showcased her less than perfect figure from many more angles than she wished to view.

“Here we are,” Claire called out cheerily, opening the door and hanging a half-dozen garments on the ornate hooks that protruded from the opposite wall. “I’ll be right back.”

Hannah gazed at the creation on the nearest hook and groaned softly. It was gorgeous, a fairytale wedding gown that was festooned with tiny pearls and expensive and intricate lace. Hannah had no doubt that it had been featured on the cover of
Vogue
or
Brides
magazine.

“I know,” Claire said, catching Hannah’s shocked expression as she came back with another armload of gowns. “I told your mother that you couldn’t wear that gown, but . . .” Claire paused as Hannah burst into laughter. “What did I say that’s so funny?”

“You said you
told
my mother,” Hannah repeated. “You know better than that, Claire.”

Claire smiled and looked slightly embarrassed. “Yes, I
do
know better. Nobody can tell your mother anything when it comes to fashion.”

“Exactly. I’ll try it on first. That’ll prove to her that you were right.”

“Do you need help with all those tiny buttons?” Claire asked, moving the gown to a closer hook.

“Probably, but there’s something I’d like you to do for me first.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to find my other glass slipper.”

Claire burst into laughter. “You’re right, Hannah. It
does
look like the gown Cinderella wore. Do you think your mother will admit that this gown is all wrong for you?”

“Never. But she might say that
I’m
all wrong for this gown.”

Claire and Hannah shared conspiratorial smiles and then Claire left the dressing room, closing the door behind her. “Just call me when you’re ready to button,” she called out, her voice muffled through the door. “I’ll be right here.”

The moment Hannah took the wedding gown off the hanger, she knew she was in trouble. The skirt had so many layers of net between the silk underskirt and the lace and pearl overskirt that it could stand up on the dressing room floor by itself. There didn’t seem to be any way she could pick it up and get it over her head by herself unless . . .

Hannah sighed as she eyed the gold velvet settee. She might be able to get into the skirt if she climbed up on the cushions and launched herself into the middle of it. But what if she missed? She might rip this obviously expensive dress.

“No,” Hannah said aloud. The gown was probably worth more than she made at The Cookie Jar in a year, and there was no way she could afford to buy it if she damaged it. Actually, she couldn’t afford to buy it anyway. She was only trying it on to prove that Delores had been wrong. Would her mother pay for an expensive, damaged wedding gown? Hannah thought about that for a moment. Yes, Delores might pay for it, but Hannah would never hear the end of it. There was no way she could take a risk like that! She hated to ask for help, but there was no other recourse.

“Claire? I can’t do this by myself.”