Wednesday, July 16, 2014


It's
Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 
another great cozy mystery!

Today's recipe comes from the first book in 
Jenn McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery Mystery series 
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER. 


This series is my all time favorite cozy mystery series! It also happens to be the first cozy series I read.
With Jenn's writing style and my love of all things cupcakes, it's a match made in Heaven!

On to the recipe!

TINKERBELL CUPCAKES
Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting rolled in Pink Sugar

Lemon Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


   Preheat over to 350 degrees

   Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes

   With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon  zest

   Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl

   In another bowl, combine lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla

   Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour

   Use an ice cream scoop to fill a paper-lined cupcake pan

   Bake 20 minutes

   Makes 24

Photo courtesy Jenn McKinlay

Raspberry Buttercream

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup raspberries (wash and dry thoroughly)

   In large bowl, cream shortening and butter

   Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed

   Scrape sides of bowl often

   Add raspberries, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy

   Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use

   Make 3 cups if frosting (icing)


To add a sparkle, roll sides of frosting in pink sugar (or sprinkle)

I can't wait to make these myself! 

Want to appear on my blog?
Take photos making a recipe 
featured on my blog
 and email them to me at
 lisaksbookreview@aol.com 
I will post them on an upcoming 
 Cozy Food Friday!

You can find SPRINKLED WITH MURDER and the rest of the Cupcake Bakery series by Jenn McKinlay, and at your local bookstore or online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Learn even more of SPRINKLED WITH MURDER below!

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Keeping my theme going my... 
Book Beginnings this week is also from
SPRINKLED WITH MURDER by Jenn McKinlay

"Does she really think we don't see her?" Angie DeLaura asked her best friend and business partner Melanie Cooper.

Mel blew her blonde bangs off her forehead and came around the counter of the cupcake display case to glance out the front window with Angie.

"How many times has she driven by today?" she asked.

"Seven times since we opened this morning, and twelve yesterday."

"You'd think if she was so worried about our shop stealing her customers, she'd be slaving away in her kitchen baking something."

"You'd think," Angie agreed.

Just then the icing pink, refrigerated van did another slow drive by their window. Angie and Mel smiled and waved. Olivia Puckett, the driver of the van and owner of a nearby bakery called Confections, gave them a wide-eyed stare and stomped on the gas, bumping the curb with one of the van's tires in her haste to get away.

"Maybe she'll get a flat ," Angie said.

"We can always hope," Mel agreed. 

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice

Continuing with the SPRINKLE WITH MURDER theme
My Friday 56

Mel felt the same helplessness she'd felt when her father died. She'd watch her own mother suffer and grieve, and had not known what to say or how to help. Now she was watching one of her closest friends go through the same thing, and again she didn't know what to do. Granted, she was not paralyzed by her own sense of loss this time, but still, she felt woefully inadequate to help ___.
Lisa's Note: Sorry, didn't want to spoil anything by giving a name. ;-)

Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are finally living out their dream as the proud owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. But their first big client is a nightmare. She's a bridezilla who wants 500 custom cupcakes for her wedding.

When Mel stumbles upon the bride-to-be dead-by-cupcake, she becomes the prime suspect. To save themselves and their business, the ladies need to find the real murderer, before the cupcake killer ices someone else.

Jenn is the New York Times
bestselling author of
several mystery series.
She lives in sunny AZ in a
house overrun with kids,
pets and her husband's
guitars.

Visit her website at:

As always, please leave a comment and 
let me know what you think!
Also, become a Follower of my blog by 
clicking on the link in the 
upper right hand corner of this page.








 



















13 comments:

  1. These sound delicious! And I love Jenn's books!

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  2. Jenn's books are fantastic-- and I love the cupcake series. I've read them all. And, oh heck, I wish someone would just bake these cupcakes for me . . .

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  3. That recipe looks really good. I like the sound of the book too. I'll have to add it to my wishlist. Happy reading!

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  4. Oh my gosh, those cupcakes are so delicious looking my teeth hurt just looking at them. Thanks for sharing this. I haven't read the book, but it looks like fun.

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  5. Those cupcakes look so good. Now I want one!

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  6. Puckett definitely didn't want to be seen. Your cupcakes look delicious.

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  7. I've yet to read a cozy mystery, I can't help but smile at them whenever I see them on bookshelves at my local book store. Thanks for sharing your delicious recipe!

    Sparrow's BB & Friday 56

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  8. Oh my...those cupcakes look delicious and the cozy sounds entertaining. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  9. I love this series! I've been dying to make some of her cupcake recipes but haven't been able to yet. Her library series is even better than the cupcakes and I'm dying to try the milliner ones.

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  10. Not so crazy about lemon but I'm surely going to try the raspberry buttercream. :-)
    I really love culinary mysteries so I will keep watch for this series.
    Happy weekend!

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  11. I would love to take credit for any one of the photos, but I didn't make any of the cupcakes. Jenn McKinlay sent me the one with the cupcakes or the cupcake plates. She made those herself.

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  12. I am so far behind on this series. I read the first one a year ago. I own several others. And yet other books keep jumping in line to be read first.

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  13. Oh, those cupcakes have me hungry! :D I can relate to the narrator's discomfort with grief; it can be so hard to know what to do or say.

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