Cooking the Books: Sugar Plum Poisoned by Jenn McKinlay
By Doreen Sheridan
October 25, 2023
Mel DeLaura isn’t super thrilled when her business partner and best friend, Angie Harper, announces that an old friend from Angie’s roadie days is coming into town. Shelby Vaughn is an up-and-coming country singer Angie met while on tour with her musician ex-boyfriend. Shelby is about to do a week-long residency in a Scottsdale, Arizona, hotel for the Christmas season and wants Angie and Mel’s bakery to provide cupcakes for her VIP section at every night’s performance.
Angie is, of course, enthused enough to want to offer their services gratis, but Mel is far more wary. She doesn’t know Shelby and is admittedly a little jealous at how close Angie is with the singer. Meeting Shelby helps assuage her fears: the young woman is sweet and down-to-earth—if seemingly ruled by her new manager, Doc Howard.
Doc and Angie—and by extension Mel—quickly butt heads over what Shelby is and isn’t allowed to do. When Doc is found dead backstage while holding one of Mel’s cupcakes, Mel finds herself unwittingly drawn into yet another murder investigation. Doc was a man with controlling tendencies and plenty of enemies, but was he the intended victim? Angie is sure that Shelby was the real target, at least until she starts learning more about her supposed friend’s murky past. Will Mel and Angie be able to figure out whodunnit before anyone else is killed?
With a subplot revolving around Mel having to suddenly take responsibility for providing Christmas dinner not only for her own family—including her very particular mother, Joyce—but also for the large DeLaura clan, this is an eventful novel that deftly juggles its plot threads with humor and charm. It’s been a while since I’ve spent time with this cast of characters, but it didn’t take very long to catch up on what’s happened since I checked in on them last. It certainly took no time to get back into enjoying their shenanigans. Shelby is an excellent addition to the cast, a seemingly innocent young woman who’s either plagued by misfortune or playing a far deeper game than anyone expects.
As always with this series, there was an entire section at the end devoted to delectable cupcake recipes. Of the five listed here, I decided to try out this one:
Sugar Plum Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon allspice
¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup milk
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put paper liners in the cupcake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
In a large bowl, mix in the butter and sugars together until fluffy.
Mix each egg in one at a time.
Add the vanilla and the milk, and beat until well blended.
Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
Fill each liner three-quarters full. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Allow to cool completely before frosting. Makes 18.
Frosting
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
In a large bowl, cream the butter and the vanilla. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed and adding the milk as needed. Scrape the sides of the bowl often. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes in big swirls using a pastry bag.
Garnish with a variety of sprinkles and holiday candy like peppermints or spiced gumdrops.
Jenn McKinlay publishes the best cupcake recipes in the business, bar none! I have literally never had a cupcake of hers that was anything less than professional bakery quality. Her instructions are clear and always make for a delicious baked good.
The sugarplum cupcake recipe I chose here was no different, of course! The spice cake variation was delightful, with a perfect balance of density and moistness, flavor and crumb. I did use a little less confectioners’ sugar when whipping up the frosting, so you can definitely adjust that to taste, but otherwise it is perfect as-is.
Next week, we travel to the Pacific Northwest to make a down home dish that’ll stick to your ribs while joining forces with a trio of ex-wives to clear a good-for-nothing’s name. Do join me!