Wedding Cake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “About what?” Hannah was genuinely puzzled.

  “About Chef Duquesne’s murder. I can always do a background interview with anyone you choose.”

  “Great idea!” Hannah praised him. “Have you interviewed Helene Stone yet?”

  “No. I was planning to do that this afternoon. I even asked her if she’d be free around four-thirty for a background interview.”

  Hannah gave Michelle a meaningful glance that said, How about that? He must have read my mind. And Michelle gave her a glance right back that said, You’re right. This is perfect. It means you don’t have to confront a Food Channel judge before the competition tonight.

  “Was that sisterly telepathy?” Ross guessed, noticing the unspoken exchange.

  “Yes. Tell him about the elevator in New York, Michelle. I’ll go see if the Honey Drop Cookies are cool enough to taste.”

  Once Ross had learned about the suspicious incident on the elevator, he turned to Hannah. “So what do you want me to ask her?”

  “See if you can think of a way to get her to tell you where she was and what she was doing on the night that Chef Duquesne was murdered. And if you can, see if she’ll mention anything about her relationship with him, whether or not she thought he was a good chef, and what she thought of his comments at the judging table.”

  “Piece of cake,” Ross said and then he gave Michelle an apologetic look. “Sorry if that brought back bad memories.”

  Michelle laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Working on this case with Hannah has been really good for me. I’m not that sensitive about it anymore.”

  The cookies were still very warm, but Ross reached for one. “Good cookies!” he said after his first one. “I really like these, Hannah. The flavor is complex. I can taste the cinnamon and the honey, but . . . there’s another flavor that’s . . . I can’t think of the best word to describe it.”

  “Deeper?” Hannah suggested. “A little darker, smokier, and more mysterious?”

  “Yes, that’s it! What is it?”

  “Cardamom. I used the ground kind, but you can also buy the pods and grind the seeds yourself. It’s a very powerful spice.”

  Michelle began to smile. “If you use too much, it’s awful! I did that once when I made Great-Grandma Swensen’s cardamom bread and nobody could eat it!”

  “It reminds me of some other spices, but it’s different,” Ross said, taking another cookie from the plate. “It tastes a little like cinnamon, with a tiny bit of cloves thrown in.” He turned to Michelle. “You mentioned your great-grandmother’s cardamom bread. Does cardamom come from the Nordic countries?”

  “Hannah?” Michelle threw the question to her.

  “No, but they use a lot of it in baking sweets. It’s also used in Indian cuisine, and it’s often found in spice mixtures like curry. Then it’s used as a savory in meat dishes.”

  “Where does it grow?” Ross asked, obviously curious.

  “The biggest exporter of cardamom is Guatemala, but it’s not indigenous there. A German planter imported it before the First World War. It’s also grown in India, Pakistan, and other parts of Indonesia.”

  “And it’s really expensive!” Michelle added.

  “How expensive?” Ross asked her.

  “I just bought a bottle of ground cardamom, and it cost me almost ten dollars at the grocery store.”

  Ross finished the last of his coffee and stood up. “Could I get a doggy bag for some of these cookies?” he asked them. “I might not have time to eat once I get ready and drive out to the lake.”

  “Only if you promise not to give some to a doggy,” Michelle said, getting up from her stool to get one of their cookies-to-go bags.

  “Okay. I guess I should have said a people bag.”

  “And please don’t give any to a certain judge you’re going to interview,” Hannah warned him. “She might like them better than what we’re baking tonight.”

  Ross nodded. “I promise I won’t share with her. And I promise I’ll do my best to get the information you need.”

  “I know you will,” Hannah said, rising from her stool and waiting while Michelle packaged the cookies so that she could walk Ross to the door.

  “See you later, ” Ross said, pulling her out the door and shutting it behind them. “I have to go back to the station after the competition tonight, but I’ll stop by with my interview and we can go over it first. Would you like to go out to breakfast?”

  “Yes, but let’s save that for another morning. Michelle and I will make something for breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good to me. Do you have a practice session tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes, but it’s not until eight.”

  “Is six-thirty too early to come over?”

  “It’s perfect. I’ll see you after the competition and again tomorrow morning.”

  Hannah made a move to go back inside, but Ross pulled her into his arms. “Not so fast, wife-to-be. I’m in desperate need of a kiss.”

  Hannah just had time for a brief laugh before Ross kissed her and she completely forgot what he’d just said. She also didn’t notice that the afternoon had turned colder and a light snow was beginning to drift down from a sky that had turned from blue to leaden gray. She didn’t notice, or think about a single thing until Ross released her and turned to open the door for her.

  “Better go inside,” he told her. “It’s snowing.”

  “It is?” Hannah glanced up at the sky and blinked. “When did that happen?”

  Ross grinned and gave her a gentle push inside. “Go get warm, Hannah. I’ll see you at the competition tonight.”

  Hannah stood there in the warmth of the kitchen for a moment, and then she realized that Michelle was staring at her. “What?” she asked.

  “Your hair’s wet. Better go towel it off.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  “I’m never going to get married unless I look like you do right now.”

  Hannah blinked and shook her head to clear it. “You mean with wet hair?”

  “No, I mean so much in love that you’re in a daze. I wasn’t sure at the very beginning, but now I am. You got the right guy, Hannah. Nobody you ever dated made you look this way before.”

  HONEY DROP COOKIES

  DO NOT pre-heat the oven yet. This dough must chill before baking.

  1 and ½ cups melted butter (3 sticks, 12 ounces, ¾ pound)

  2 cups white (granulated) sugar

  ½ cup honey (I used orange blossom honey)

  2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

  2 teaspoons baking soda

  1 teaspoon salt

  2 teaspoons cinnamon

  ½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly ground is best)

  ¼ teaspoon cardamom (if you don’t have it, you can substitute more cinnamon for the cardamom)

  4 cups flour (don’t sift it—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  ——————

  ½ cup white sugar in a small bowl for rolling the dough balls

  Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat it on HIGH for 1 minute. Leave the bowl in the microwave for another minute and then check the butter after to see it’s melted. If it’s not, give it more time, in 20-second increments, until it is.

  Take the bowl out of the microwave and mix in the white sugar. Mix until it’s all combined.

  Add the honey to the bowl and mix it in. Mix until it’s thoroughly incorporated.

  Let the butter, sugar, and honey mixture sit on the counter while you get out the eggs.

  When the mixture in the bowl is not so hot it’ll cook the eggs, add them to the large bowl and stir them in thoroughly. Be sure to mix until they’re well combined.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: Lisa and I use a stand mixer to mix up this cookie dough down at The Cookie Jar. You can do it by hand at home, but using an electric mixer makes it a lot easier.

  Sprinkle in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Mix until all of the ing
redients are well combined.

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

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: You don’t have to be painstakingly precise when you add the four cups of flour. No one’s going to know if one cup is a little bigger than the next one. Just make sure you mix after each addition of flour.

  The dough will be quite stiff after you add the flour. This is exactly as it should be.

  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least two hours. (Overnight is even better.)

  When you’re ready to bake, take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit, still covered with the plastic wrap, on your kitchen counter. It will need to warm just a bit so that you can work with it.

  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

  While your oven is heating to the proper temperature, prepare your cookie sheets. You can either spray them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper. (The parchment paper is more expensive, but easier in the long run. If you use it, you can simply pull the paper over to the wire cooling rack, cookies and all.)

  Prepare a shallow bowl by filling it with a half cup of white sugar. This is what you’ll use as a coating for the cookie dough balls you’ll roll.

  Take off the plastic wrap and roll the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls with your impeccably clean hands. Roll each dough ball in the bowl with the white sugar, one ball at a time, and place it on your prepared cookie sheet, 12 dough balls to a standard-sized sheet.

  Press the dough balls down just a little so they won’t roll off when you carry them to the oven.

  Hannah’s 3rd Note: If you form the dough into smaller dough balls, the cookies will be crispier. If you choose to do this, you’ll have to reduce the baking time. If I roll smaller balls, I start checking the Honey Drop Cookies after 8 minutes in the oven.

  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they’re nicely browned. The cookies will flatten out, all by themselves. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

  Hannah’s 4th Note: Honey Drop Cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, the same way you’d roll coins in a wrapper, put them in a freezer bag, and they’ll be fine for 3 months or so.

  Michelle’s Note: When I make these at my rented house just off the Macalester campus, I put the rolls in a box and write “FROZEN KIDNEYS FOR HANNAH’S CAT” on the box. So far, none of my roommates, every one of them a cookie hound, has ever opened the box to see what’s inside.

  Yield: 8 to 10 dozen, depending on the size of your dough balls, tasty, honey-infused, and delicious cookies.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  “Big smile,” Michelle said, looking much more confident than Hannah felt at this point in the competition.

  Hannah put on the biggest smile she could muster and made a mental note to ask Michelle how she had managed to speak without moving her lips. Did they teach ventriloquism in the acting class at Macalester College? Hannah doubted it, but she’d do her best to remember to ask the minute they were through presenting their cookies and had retired to the greenroom.

  As she looked down at the plate Michelle had arranged, Hannah was pleased. Their Butterscotch Sugar Cookies looked wonderful, and so did the crystal dessert dishes Delores had given her. Hannah had filled them with the vanilla cream pudding she’d made. They’d discussed it on their way to the competition and both Hannah and Michelle had decided that their accompaniment for the cookies should be Emmy’s Vanilla Custard, the recipe that Hannah had gotten from Lisa’s late mother. It had been a difficult choice and they’d debated the virtues of Great-Grandma’s Chocolate Pudding and Lisa’s mother’s vanilla custard, but they’d finally agreed that the rich chocolate taste of their great-grandmother’s pudding might mask the mouth-watering scent and taste of their Butterscotch Sugar Cookies.

  “The champagne is ready?” Hannah asked, just as soon as one of the Food Channel cameras had moved away from their baking station.

  “I de-corked it, or whatever you call it, and it’s in the silver bucket. You deliver the dessert and cookies. I’ll take care of the champagne. I checked with Dick and he taught me how to fill the glasses so they don’t foam over.”

  “Do you have a white napkin to use when you serve it?”

  “I’ve got it. And Dick also taught me the correct way to wrap it around the champagne bottle.”

  “Don’t forget to put the butterscotch liqueur in the bottom of the flutes before you pour in the champagne.”

  “I won’t. Sally’s going to be thrilled that we used the same champagne cocktail that she served at Doc and Mother’s wedding reception. How about the coffee?”

  “It’s ready to go in the hot carafes.” Hannah gestured toward the serving cart.

  “And we’re going to leave it there for the judges to help themselves after we serve the first cup?”

  “Yes, exactly the way we did with the Double Rainbow Swirl Wedding Cake.”

  “I think that’s a smart move on our part. Then nobody can accuse us of trying to get the judges smashed when we serve coffee, too.”

  Hannah turned away slightly to hide her grin from any wandering camera that might be panning across their workstation. “If I thought it would do any good, I would have told you to give each judge two or three glasses of champagne.”

  “Really?” Michelle asked.

  Hannah could see that her sister was a bit shocked and she rushed to reassure her. “No, of course not. But I really want to win the cookie challenge.”

  “You will. Those Butterscotch Sugar Cookies are the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. Sally said she tasted a couple of every one of the practice cookies and ours were the best, hands down.”

  Hannah glanced at the judges. Now there were only four of them. To her relief, Helene Stone looked just as friendly as she’d been before. Ross must have done a good job interviewing her.

  “Ross just waved at you,” Michelle said, nudging her older sister.

  “Thanks.” Hannah smiled and waved back. She wished she could be as confident as Michelle seemed to be, but she was simply too nervous and the butterflies in her stomach had soared into the sky once again.

  “Ready?” Michelle asked, as the announcer walked to center stage.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Hannah managed to say, a scant second before the camera focused on them.

  “Miss Hannah Swensen and her assistant, Miss Michelle Swensen. You’re up first, ladies. Please present your entry to the judges.”

  Hannah walked forward. Thank goodness she didn’t have to pour the champagne! As nervous as she was right now, she’d probably spill it on one of the judges. She managed to keep the smile on her face, and her nervousness began to abate slightly as she pushed her serving cart toward the judging table. I did my best, I did my best, I did my best, she repeated her personal mantra for the night in her mind.

  “What is this lovely creation?” Helene Stone asked when Hannah presented her with an antique crystal dessert dish containing Lisa’s mother’s favorite vanilla custard recipe. The dessert dish sat on a crystal plate and Butterscotch Sugar Cookies were arranged artfully around it.

  “The dessert dish contains Emmy’s Vanilla Custard. The recipe came from my partner’s mother and it’s the best vanilla custard I’ve ever tasted.” Hannah turned to give Michelle a nod. They’d decided, on the drive to the competition, to take turns speaking.

  “And the cookies are Butterscotch Sugar Cookies,” Michelle continued smoothly. “They’re Hannah’s own creation.”

  “Champagne?” Jeremy Zales asked, accepting the flute Michelle had just poured for him.

  “Yes,” Hannah answered. “There’s a half-ounce of DeKuy-per Buttershots in the bottom. That’s a butterscotch liqueur. The remainder of the flute is filled with domestic champagne. We used Korbel Brut tonight.”

  “Are you trying to influence us with champagne?” LaVonna Brach ask
ed.

  Michelle laughed. “Would it work?” she asked, clearly teasing the whole judging panel.

  “It might, but I see a couple of coffee carafes,” Christian Parker said. “Is that for us?”

  “It is. We’ll serve from the first carafe and we’ll leave the second carafe with you so that you can have refills,” Hannah told him. “Since we’re in Minnesota and sweets are usually accompanied with a strong cup of coffee, we decided we’d better stand on Minnesota tradition and provide strong coffee for you.”

  “And we’re glad you did,” Jeremy Zales said, accepting a cup of coffee from Hannah. “Now let’s see how well your cookies go with this vanilla custard.”

  The next few moments were filled with no comments, none at all. Hannah was beginning to get worried when LaVonna Brach put down her spoon and asked a question.

  “Is there any butterscotch flavor in this pudding?”

  “No,” Hannah answered. “Michelle and I thought it would be too overwhelming and take away from the flavor of the cookies.”

  “And you were right,” Christian Parker said.

  “Agreed,” Jeremy Zales offered his opinion. “As far as I’m concerned, the cookies are a stand-alone, but the vanilla custard is a very good accompaniment.”

  “Thank you, Miss Swensen and Miss Swensen,” Helene Stone said, smiling at them. “Just as a matter of curiosity, have you ever thought about using cardamom in this vanilla custard?”

  “Yes,” Michelle answered. “We tried that, but both of us decided that the compelling flavor of the cardamom overshadowed the butterscotch in the cookies.”

  “And you were right,” Christian Parker said again. “Cardamom is its own unique flavor.” He turned to Helene Stone. “Wouldn’t you agree, Helene?”

  “I would,” Helene Stone said, giving him a smile. “I just wanted to know if they’d tried it. The mark of a good dessert chef is to try new flavors and judge whether or not they enhance the original creation.” She turned to face Hannah and Michelle. “Please leave your cookies. I’d like to have more later.”