Cinnamon Roll Murder (Hannah Swensen, #15)(44)

“Atta girl!” Delores said, reaching out to touch Hannah’s cheek. Then she picked up Hannah’s dessert fork, cut off a generous bite of flourless chocolate cake, and handed it to her. “Have some chocolate. And after we finish our desserts, we’ll tell you all our ideas for giving Doctor Bev the boot.”





PUCKER UP LEMON CAKE

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



Hannah’s 1st Note: I think it’s possible to make this cake by hand, but it will take a strong arm to do it. Lisa and I use an electric stand mixer. Some people may still have a food grinder in their kitchen cabinet. If you do, get it out and use it. If you don’t, use a food processor and the steel blade.





1 large lemon (choose one with perfect skin—you’ll be using that, too!)

1 cup golden raisins (Regular raisins will also work.)

cup pecans

2 cups all-purpose flour (Don’t pack it down. Just scoop it out and level off the top of your measur- ing cup with a table knife.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and ? cups white (granulated) sugar

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

1 teaspoon lemon extract (Use vanilla if you don’t have lemon.)

? cup whole milk

2 large eggs

? cup whole milk (This brings the milk total up to one cup.)





Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular cake pan. (Alternatively, you can spray it with baking spray, the kind with flour in it.)



Wash the outside of your lemon. Then juice it and save the juice. (You’ll use it in the cake topping.) Pick out the seeds and throw them away, then cut the pulp and rind into 8 pieces.



If you have a food grinder, grind the lemon pulp and rind with the raisins and the pecans. If you don’t have a grinder, simply put the lemon pulp and rind into the bowl of your food processor, and add the raisins and the pecans. Process them with an on and off motion until they’re chopped as finely as they’d be if you’d used a food grinder.



Set the ground lemon, raisin, and pecan mixture aside in a bowl on the counter.



Measure out one cup of flour and put it in the bowl of your electric mixer. Add the salt, baking soda, and white sugar. Mix them together at LOW speed.



Add the second cup of flour. Mix that in at LOW speed.



Add the softened butter, the lemon extract, and the ? cup of whole milk. Beat at LOW speed until the flour is well moistened. Then turn the mixer up to MEDIUM HIGH speed.



Beat for 2 minutes. Then shut off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.



Turn the mixer on LOW and add the eggs, one at a time, beating all the while. Then beat in the rest of the whole milk. Once the eggs and the milk are incorporated, turn the mixer up to MEDIUM HIGH.



Beat for 2 minutes. Then shut off the mixer, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.



Remove the bowl from the mixer. You’re going to finish this cake by hand.



Gradually add the ground lemon, raisin, and pecan mixture to the mixing bowl, folding it in gently as you go. The object is to keep as much air in the cake batter as you can.



Pour the cake batter into the pan you prepared earlier, smoothing out the top with a rubber spatula.



Bake the Pucker Up Lemon Cake at 350 degrees F. for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a thin wooden skewer or a cake tester that’s been poked into the center of the cake comes out clean. (I started testing my cake at 40 minutes, but there was still sticky batter clinging to the tester. The last time I baked this cake, it took the full 50 minutes.)



When your cake is done, take it out of the oven and place it on a wire rack or on a cold burner on the stovetop.



Pucker Up Lemon Cake Topping:





cup lemon juice (from the lemon you juiced ear- lier)

? cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

? cup finely chopped pecans





Hannah’s 2nd Note: You must make the topping and put it on your cake while the cake is still piping hot from the oven.



Drizzle the cup of lemon juice over the top of your hot cake.



Mix the ? cup of sugar with the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. (I usually mix them together with a fork.)



Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture over the top of your cake.



Sprinkle the finely chopped pecans on top of the sugar and cinnamon.



Let your cake cool to room temperature. Cover it, and refrigerate it. You want to keep it nice and moist.



You can serve Pucker Up Lemon Cake at room temperature or chilled. It freezes well if you wrap it in foil and put it in a freezer bag.





Chapter Fifteen


“Ready?”

When Michelle opened the door, Hannah braced herself for the orange and white, fur-covered bundle that would arrive in her arms with the same impact as a bowling ball. But nothing, absolutely nothing, happened.

“Where is he?” Hannah asked, racing inside to see why Moishe hadn’t greeted her in his usual way, and leaving Michelle to follow her.