Carrot Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #10)(23)

Whisk the milk, vanilla extract, baking soda and eggs together in a small bowl. (I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.)

Add the egg mixture to the large bowl. Stir it until it’s thoroughly incorporated.

Pour the batter into a 9-inch by 13-inch greased and floured cake pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes. When the cake begins to shrink away from the sides of the pan, it’s done.

Hannah’s 3rdNote: This cake is delicious without frosting, or just lightly dusted with powdered sugar. If you want a frosting, try the one below. Start making it 5 minutes before the cake is due to come out of the oven and the frosting and the cake will be ready at the same time.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

? cup (1 stick) butter

3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used

Hershey’s)

1/3 cup milk

1 one-pound box of powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the butter, cocoa powder, and milk in a medium-size saucepan (The one from before that you didn’t wash.) Bring them to a boil, stirring constantly.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla. Stir in the powdered sugar, a half-cup at a time, until the frosting is thickened, but still “pourable.” (If that’s not a word, it should be.)

Pour the frosting on the hot cake, and spread it out quickly with a spatula.

Hannah’s 4thNote: Interruptions happen and it’s not always possible to finish the frosting at the same time you take the hot cake from the oven. For that reason I’ve come up with an alternative fudge frosting, one that can be poured over a piping hot cake, a warm cake, or a stone cold cake. Here it is:

NEVERFAIL FUDGE FROSTING

? cup (1 stick, ? pound, 4 ounces) salted butter

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

1/3 cup cream

? cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

? cup chopped pecans (optional)

Place the butter, sugar, and cream into a medium-size saucepan (You can use the one from the cake that you didn’t wash.) Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn down the heat to medium and cook for two minutes.

Add the half-cup chocolate chips, stir them in, and remove the saucepan from the heat.

Stir in the vanilla and the chopped pecans, if you decided to use them.

Pour the frosting on the cake and spread it out quickly with a spatula. If you’re pouring it on a warm cake or a cold cake, just grab the pan and tip it so the frosting covers the whole top.

If you want this frosting to cool in a big hurry so that you can cut the cake, just slip it in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a half-hour or so.

Hannah’s 5thNote: Marge says that this cake smells so good, you might have to keep it under lock and key until it’s cool enough to cut.





Chapter Eight


“Thanks, Hannah.” Mike snapped his notebook closed to show that their interview was over, but when Hannah made a move to rise to her feet, he reached out to stop her. “Just one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You mentioned that you spent some time with the victim last night at the dance.”

Through no choice of mine, Hannah wanted to say, but of course she didn’t. “That’s true. I told you I was sitting in a booth with Gus and his relatives.”

“And they were discussing things they remembered from their childhood?”

“Right.” Hannah glanced longingly at the cake that sat on the counter. She’d been closeted with Mike in the kitchen of the lake cottage for over thirty minutes. Normally, being closed up with Mike in an isolated cottage at Eden Lake might have been an opportunity for romance, but not today. Mike was all business. He was the detective, and she was the person who’d found the body. There were guidelines to follow, and Mike was following them.

“Would you like another piece of cake?” Hannah asked, hoping for the diversion of chocolate.

“No thanks. I gained half a pound yesterday and I’ve got to watch it. But you go ahead if you want to.”

Hannah sighed. She could have used another piece of Marge’s cake, but she didn’t want to admit it in front of the man who curtailed his calories if he gained an ounce. “I’m fine. Did you have anything else you wanted to ask me?”

“Just a couple of things. Let’s get back to the conversation you had at the dance last night. From what you told me, it sounds like it was a family discussion that didn’t have much to do with you.”

“That’s exactly what it was, at least most of the time. Marge tried to include me, and so did Gus, but we didn’t have a lot in common, especially when they started talking about the people they’d known in school.”

“Did they mention anyone in particular?”

Hannah shrugged. “A couple of classmates that Mother probably remembers, and some teachers.”

“And you didn’t know any of the people they mentioned.”

“Only the ones that still live in Lake Eden. And there weren’t that many of them.”

“So you weren’t interested?”

“Not really.”

“Then why didn’t you make an excuse and leave?”

“I couldn’t leave, not without asking them all to slide over and let me out. I was in the middle of a six-person round booth with Gus, Patsy, and Mac on one side, and Marge and Jack on the other.”