Sally’s Strawberry Roll-up Cake for a Celebration @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Whoo-hoo! Time for a celebration--and that means cake! I have two books coming out this month, the paperback edition of THE MANGO MURDERS, and the hardcover and ebook editions of book 16 in the Key West food critic mysteries, A DELICIOUS DECEPTION. This cake, while a little fussy, was the perfect celebratory treat. You could also use it for our country’s 250th anniversary—just add some decorative blueberries! The recipe started on Sally’s Baking Addiction, but I tweaked it to make the production a little easier on the chef.

Ingredients for the cake

Four large eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk

2 teaspoon teaspoons vanilla extract

One cup cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar for dusting

Separate the eggs into two bowls. Beat the egg whites with 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar until stiff peaks appear.

In the second bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining half cup sugar, the whole milk, and the vanilla extract, until thick and light.

Gradually fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the cake, flour, baking soda and salt into the batter. Mix gently until just combined.

Ahead of time, prepare a 10 x 15” baking pan. Butter the pan, add a piece of parchment paper over top, and butter that too. Meanwhile, sift the 2 tablespoons of confectioners sugar onto a thin tea towel or a piece of parchment. (You will use this for rolling the cake.)

Bake the batter in the prepared pan for 15 to 16 minutes. When the cake is done, flip it onto the sugared cloth or parchment, and carefully roll it up. Let rest until cool. (This step shapes the cake so it doesn’t break later.) Meanwhile, prepare the filling. 

Ingredients for the filling

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup freeze dried strawberries, making 1/2 cup ground  

1 cup heavy cream

1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Fresh strawberries for decoration, optional but recommended 

Grind the cup of freeze dried strawberries, then drop in the cream cheese. Whip this until combined—the cream cheese will be a lovely pink color. Add the sugar and vanilla, pulse those in until combined.

Whip the heavy cream until thick, and gently fold this into the cream cheese mixture.

Unroll the cooled cake and spread it with cream cheese frosting. Cover the frosting with thin slices of strawberry. Roll the cake with frosting back up. Use the remaining frosting to decorate, along with leftover strawberries. (I had every intention of learning to pipe the icing into roses, but ran out of time!)

This makes a good sized and beautiful cake. Leftovers should be refrigerated and can be frozen. (We only had one piece left and I had my doubts, but it still tasted amazing!)

A DELICIOUS DECEPTION, coming July 14 at a bookstore near you!

Book 15 in the Key West series, paperback edition of THE MANGO MURDERS, is in bookstores July 7!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.

Happy Canada Day from Vicki Delany. Celebrate with a Maple Walnut Pie

Darci kindly exchanged days with me so I could wish all my Canadian (and Canadian-friendly) readers a happy Canada Day.  Today marks one hundred and fifty-nine years since Confederation, which on July 1, 1867 brought the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia together into the Dominion of Canada, an independent dominion of the British Empire. Other provinces later followed. Today, it’s called Canada Day, when I was young it was known as Dominion Day.  

Canada Day is a national holiday and is often marked by barbeques, picnics, fireworks, and other celebrations. 

Few things are more Canadian than maple syrup and this gorgeous pie, reminiscent of a traditional Quebec sugar pie, features it perfectly.

Although maple trees don’t grow in Western Canada, we still think of it as the Canadian symbol (the leaf is on the flag, after all).  For this recipe I used Fosterholm syrup, tapped and prepared, bottled and sold about ten kilometers down the road from my house.

Whether or not you’re having a Canada Day gathering, I hope you’ll try this recipe, particularly if you have a sweet tooth!

Canada Day Maple Walnut Pie

Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups (300 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (225 g) cold unsalted butter, thinly sliced

2/3 cup (150 ml) ice water

Filling:

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 cup (250 ml) 35% cream, plus more for brushing

1 cup (250 ml) maple syrup

2/3 cup (65 g) walnuts, chopped

1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

Pastry:

In a food processor or stand mixer, or by hand, combine the flour and salt. Incorporate the butter into the flour, leaving some butter lumps. Gradually add the water and combine just until the dry ingredients are moistened. The dough will be soft and sticky.

Cover dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until firm.

Lightly butter and flour 8-inch pie or tart pan with a removable bottom.  (If you don’t have a removable bottom a standard pan will work but it might be harder to get out of the pan)

Filling:

Whisk together the cornstarch and flour. Add the egg and mix well. Add the cream and syrup. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Simmer for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.

Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream. Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour.

Assembly:

With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

On a lightly floured work surface, roll half the dough into a circle and place it in a prepared pie pan.   

Spread the maple cream over the dough, Sprinkle the nuts over the cream.

Roll out remaining half of the dough and place on top of the pie.

With a pastry brush, lightly cover the top of the tart with cream. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Cut two small slices (about ½ inch each) in center of pastry,

Bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry is nicely golden. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

To continue the Canada Day celebrations, I’d like to offer a copy of MORE THAN SORROW,  one of my Canadian-set books, to two MLK followers. A copy will go to Canadian readers and one for a friend in the U.S.  All you have to do to enter is tell me what’s the official pie of YOU! That you eat or cook or both, don't have one? Tell me that too, and what country you are writing from. Don’t forget to include your email so I can contact the winners.

Shrimp With Pearl Couscous and Fried Capers -- Dinner with Leslie Budewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  I’m always searching for the Holy Grail – a dinner that’s packed with flavor, easy enough for a weeknight, and light on the prep. Bonus points for a one-pot dish – and double points if it’s pretty and colorful, too, because don’t we all want that?

This dish, adapted from a NY Times recipe reprinted in the Seattle Times, scores on all counts. 

Pearl couscous, sometimes called Israeli couscous, differs from its Moroccan cousin, the version many of us know from tabbouleh and other salads, mainly in size and texture. Both are made from semolina, but the pearl variety is rounder—think a small lentil. I found both traditional, the color of most pasta, and tri-color, colored with spinach and tomato. For this recipe, I used the tri-color. 

The crispy capers were a delight! I used a mesh strainer to rinse and drain them, then wrapped them in a paper towel so the excess moisture didn’t trigger an explosion. Kitchen explosions are generally bad. 

We made half—that’s what’s shown in the pictures. The intro to the original suggests gently folding a a can of cannellini or garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained, and warmed, into the couscous once it’s thoroughly cooked. Next time!

And if you think you're seeing a lot of me this week, you are! Our Spotlight Sunday post features me and my Food Lovers' Village books -- and there's still time to comment and have a chance to win a copy of Death al Dente, winner of the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel! 

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Shrimp With Pearl Couscous and Fried Capers

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1/3 cup, capers, rinsed, drained, and patted dry

8 medium garlic cloves, minced 

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1½ pounds shelled, raw shrimp, deveined

kosher salt

1 tablespoon grated lime zest, plus ¼ cup lime juice 

1-1/2 cup pearl couscous, uncooked

2-1/2 cups vegetable broth or water, plus more as needed

½ cup chopped fresh mint leaves 

½ cup chopped parsley leaves and tender stems

In a stock pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add the capers and stir with a slotted spoon, until they begin to darken and turn crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low. With the slotted spoon, remove capers to a small plate lines with a paper towel and set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons oil to the pot, and stir in garlic and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the garlic begins to turn golden and fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and a pinch of salt and cook until they turn pink, stirring so both sides cook evenly, about 2-3 minutes total. Spoon shrimp and as much of the garlic as you can to a small bowl or plate. Add lime zest and juice, stirring, and set aside. 

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to pot, and increase heat to medium-low. Add the couscous and toast, stirring regularly, until golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add broth or water, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the couscous is al dente and most of the liquid has evaporated, 7 to 10 minutes. Check regularly and add more liquid if needed. Remove from heat.

Stir to fluff. Add shrimp and herbs. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and lime juice. Spoon into bowls and top with the crispy capers. 

Enjoy! 

Serves 4.

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.

Release Day News! ALL SHELL BREAKS LOOSE is on bookshelves now . . . by Molly MacRae!

 Congratulations to our own Molly MacRae on the release of

ALL SHELL BREAKS LOOSE

Haunted Shell Shop Mystery #3 

On North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island, Maureen Nash sells exquisite seashells to locals and tourists—with Bonny the shop cat and the ghost of a Welsh pirate for company. And when needed, she steps in to help the police solve a murder . . .

Dr. Irving Allred is boasting around town that he’s about to get his hands on an authentic haunted sword. But minutes after Maureen hears the story, a woman walks into the Moon Shell, sword in hand. She found it while walking her bulldog on the beach—and its blade is stained with what looks like blood. Looks like it’s time to call the sheriff’s department.

Allred is furious that his prize is now in police custody—and even more agitated that an unknown buyer was trying to outbid him. He’s convinced the sword will lead him straight to the ghosts he’s been hunting. He’s not the only one on the Outer Banks who’s been searching for spirits, though. An odd visitor also showed up at Maureen’s shop claiming the ability to sense them . . . though somehow she didn’t seem to notice Maureen’s spectral friend hanging about.

When a man who’d been camping nearby is found cut down along the shore, Maureen starts providing some unofficial assistance to Captain Rob Tate by digging into the island’s maritime history. But it’s not the only mystery she’s facing—because the shop’s resident ghost is seeing ghosts himself . . .

 Available now wherever books are sold!

Welcome to the Food Lovers' Village -- #giveaway #Spotlight Sunday

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Most of you know me for my Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, where Pepper Reece runs a spice shop and solves crime. It’s a delicious series to write, inspired by the tastes, smells, and scents of a place I first encountered as an 18-year-old college girl, and still love. (Here’s my first Spotlight, back when we started the feature, on what inspired the Spice Shop mysteries.)

I also write the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, where Erin Murphy runs a local foods market in her family’s hundred-year plus Mercantile in the heart of the village of Jewel Bay, Montana, and solves crime. 

It takes a village . . . to catch a killer.

And I'll be giving one lucky reader winner's choice of a Village mystery. Read on, friends! 

 

Death al Dente won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel!

No surprise that Jewel Bay is based on the town where we live. I had to change the name so I could kill people. It really is the perfect cozy village, filled with great food, art galleries, live theater, and live music, on a bay formed where two rivers meet to create the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Behind both real and fictional towns are several mountain ranges formed, as Erin likes to say, by the glacial hand of God. (With help from a series of earthquakes and floods, back in geologic time.) Wilderness abounds – along with a 36-hole golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. And there’s a real-live dude ranch literally 5 minutes from the village – just drive across the one-lane bridge and turn left. . 

You can’t make this stuff up.

I’ll admit, that’s not what most people think of when they imagine a small town in Montana. And that’s what makes it the perfect cozy setting. 

A patient of Mr. Right sent his bookmark through the wash!

So where did Erin come from? She’s half Italian, as you can tell by her name. Like me, she left Montana and worked in Seattle. I wanted her to have experience in retail and in groceries, so I made her a grocery buyer for SavCo, the international warehouse chain. (At the time, our niece was a buyer for Costco, though not in groceries.) That gave her the skills to come home and take over the struggling Merc and give her widowed mother, Francesca, a chance to focus on her own line of pastas and sauces – and a new romance. 

And her name? Like the husband of a friend of my mother, Tom Murphy decided that because his wife had named the first two, it was his turn. And when she showed up on St. Patrick’s Day, her name was obvious.

Sadly, Tom Murphy was killed during Erin’s senior year of high school, in a hit-and-run that’s never been solved. Not until Erin returns home. I’ve lost count of how many readers finished the first book, Death al Dente – or murder not quite well done – and asked if we would ever find out what happened to him. Yes, yes, yes! Erin uncovers clues in each of the first three books, in addition to solving the crime in that book, and solves the mystery of her father’s death in Butter Off Dead, the third in the series.

The Food Lovers’ Village series includes five novels and a short story collection, with five short stories featuring Erin and the Villagers, and a prequel novella set in 1910, the year Erin’s great-grandparents, Paddy and Kate Murphy, married and started the Merc. Turns out Erin’s sleuthing skills may be inherited! 

The one lane bridge dressed up for the holidays -- and on the cover of my Christmas short story, The Christmas Stranger! (Available in the collection Carried to the Grave and as an e-book standalone.) 

I hope you’ll take a visit to the Food Lovers’ Village with me. Find out more about the books and read excerpts and praise on my website.  And as a gift to my readers, newsletter subscribers get two free short stories, including “The Picture of Guilt,” in which Erin and her beau make a surprising discovery while huckleberry picking. If you’re new to the series, it’s the perfect taste of the Village! 

Here's a link to one of my favorite Village recipes, Grilled Caprese Kabobs from Treble at the Jam Fest, the 4th Village mystery. I'll be back Tuesday with a yummy recipe for Shrimp with Pearl Couscous and Fried Capers. 

I love visiting new-to-me places on the page! Talk to me about some of your favorite armchair travel. If you've been to the Food Lovers' Village, on the page or IRL, tell us what you love about the place and the books! One lucky reader will win their choice of a Food Lovers' Village mystery -- and if you've read them all already, we'll come up with something else! (Leave your email address to enter. US and Canada only. Winner to be announced Wednesday, July 1.)  

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.