A food fight with cupcakes is what starts the events rolling in this cozy mystery. When the frosting is cleaned out of their hair, the owners of Fairy Tale Cupcakes have to run a team building seminar and their goal is to bake 1,000 cupcakes. Things might have gone smoothly but someone had to get murdered and now Mel needs to find the killer and make killer cupcakes at the same time.
This is book #5 of the Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series. The series is set in Fairy Tale Bakery and is easily one of my favorite cozy mystery series. In book #5 the characters have grown and become more rounded and so has my affection for this series.
Cozy Mystery Novel Series with Recipes
Book Review
Outline and Tone:
Do you agree with the idiom, no publicity is bad publicity? When it comes to sales, I would agree. When it comes to a person’s reputation, I don’t agree. Melanie and Angie get themselves into a pickle when a photoshoot for SWS magazine goes awry, very awry. To make up for the magazine’s lost revenue, Fairy Tale Cupcake agrees to host a team building event of baking 1,000 cupcakes with the crew from SWS magazine. I can’t imagine how awkward it would be to have non-bakers in a kitchen. I remember barely having enough patience to do little cooking projects with my kids when they were young. On top of the stress that comes from running an impromptu team building, cupcake baking seminar, someone dies. Ok, so someone is murdered. The suspects are many as the victim’s reputation dwindles under close inspection.
In addition to the mystery, Mel and Angie’s relationships continue to either grow or dwindle as well. For me, this is where author Jenn McKinlay has made this cozy mystery series such a winner. Protagonists Melanie and Angie are just relatable enough to go with them on the rollercoaster of each book. They are also different enough from each other, that everyone can see a bit of themselves in one of them. For this novel, I saw myself in Melanie. I won’t give away any spoilers, but her relationship with Joe hit home with me a few times in this novel.
The author:
Jenn McKinlay is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her website not only lists all of her books but has a pretty fascinating bio page. She is a skateboarder, has been in a glider plane, and has lived both on the east coast and in the west. I would tell you more, but I rather encourage you to check out her website. Jenn McKinlay has an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Give her a shout out on social media and let her know what you think of her books and desserts.
What is not to like?:
There are just some books that are hard to find fault with. I suppose I did find myself talking back to Mel a few times when I thought she should be talking more, to stand up for herself. Other times, I found myself thinking she was too harsh. However, that is also why she is a relatable character. Just like all of us, we don’t get relationships right all of the time.
The verdict:
This series is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Each book has a good, plausible mystery, dynamic characters, and good recipes. I will wholeheartedly recommend this novel and this book to anyone.
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
Fantastic Pistachio Cupcakes
Assemble the Ingredients
Start by taking a cup of whole pistachios and grinding them in a food processor.
Preheat the oven to 350.
The recipe calls for you to line cupcake pan with paper liners. Instead, I use silicone cupcake liners.
Reusable, oven and dishwasher safe comes in many colors.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, butter,
Another of my favorite kitchen tools is OXO Good Grips 7-Piece Nesting Measuring Beaker Set
I used the one cup beaker for the milk and 1 teaspoon beaker for the vanilla extract.
Also add sugar, vanilla, and pistachio extracts.
I simply could not find any pistachio extract in my grocery store so I headed to Amazon. I am really glad I did because this
LorAnn Pistachio SS Flavor, 1 dram bottle (.0125 fl oz – 3.7ml – 1 teaspoon) – 2 Pack was not only priced well, but added a great flavor.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until smooth. Stir in the ground pistachios.
Sizes are easy to read on the measuring cups.
Scoop the batter evenly into paper liners.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool before frosting.
Makes 24.
Assemble the Ingredients
Cream Cheese Fig Frosting Recipe
Cream Cheese Frosting with Fig Garnish
Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until frosting is smooth.
Put frosting in a pastry bag and pipe onto cupcakes in thick swirls, using an open tip. Top with a slice of fresh fig. Much like the pistachio extract, I could not find any fresh figs either. Back to Amazon and I found this package of dried figs that contain single serving packages of figs. This was perfect for this recipe as I only had to open 2 of the single serve packages for the fig garnish. The figs are fantastic and taste like the inside of a fig newton.
Pistachio Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Fig Frosting from: Going Going Ganache cozy mystery novel
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 stick butter, softened
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pistachio extract
- 1 cup ground pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Line cupcake pan with paper liners. OR use reusable silicone cupcake liners
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, butter, sugar, vanilla, and pistachio extracts.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until smooth.
- Stir in the ground pistachios.
- Scoop the batter evenly into paper liners.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Let cool before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting with Fig Garnish
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- Fresh or dried fig slices for garnish
Instructions
- Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until frosting is smooth.
- Put frosting in a pastry bag and pipe onto cupcakes in thick swirls, using an open tip.
- Top with a slice of fig.
What would I do differently next time?
It is possible the pistachios were ground a little too fine. Or perhaps next time I would grind most of them and then chop some with a knife so there were some bigger pieces.
Try these other recipes from Jenn McKinlay. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes from Pumpkin Spice Peril. Tinkerbell, lemon and raspberry cupcakes, from Sprinkle with Murder.
