Please welcome guest Mary Karnes! #Recipes and #giveaways

 

Please welcome today’s guest author, Mary Karnes! She’s a professional wedding planner and writes the Wedding Planner Mysteries, where not only do murder and mayhem occur on the page, but wedding mishaps ensue. Mary is sharing two recipes, the first for preserving the top tier of the wedding cake for the first anniversary. I like that the method can be used for any cake that you want to make ahead of time. And the second recipe is for healthy breakfast muffins, which appeared in her first book, WEDDING BRIDE AND DOOM. Many thanks to Mary for offering both books in the series as a double giveaway today! ~ Kim Davis

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Here’s Mary Karnes to tell us more:

What’s your favorite part of a wedding? Mine is the wedding cake. As a wedding planner, I see a lot of wedding cakes. My two favorites are my own daughters’ cakes.

               

Some couples splurge on flowers or lighting décor to make their venues pop. I’m of the opinion that a wedding cake is the way to make the most of your decorating budget. You have to provide a dessert for your guests, so why not choose something that does double duty as dessert and an iconic symbol of a wedding?

Are you familiar with the old-fashioned custom of freezing the top layer of your wedding cake? I actually froze my own wedding cake forty-one years ago…and it was awful. But when my second of four daughters got married eleven years ago, I decided to give it another try. I did a little research on the best way to freeze pastries long term. Below are the supplies needed and the steps to take.

Materials needed:

Wedding Cake
Flat cardboard larger than the diameter of the cake
Plastic Wrap
Foil
A large plastic container with a lid
Masking or duct tape
Plenty of freezer space for the bowl

 

Instructions:

Place the cake on cardboard and cover it loosely with plastic wrap, then wrap in foil. 

Place the cake in a plastic bowl and secure the lid with tape. Put into the freezer. Wait a year!

When it’s time to defrost, take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cake from the bowl and take off the foil wrap. Let the cake sit on the countertop defrosting for six to eight hours, wrapped loosely in plastic. Slice and enjoy!

 

 

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After wedding planner Kate Ludlow has several hectic days of work and investigating, her teen daughter, Ellis, treats her to breakfast in bed serving these nutrient-rich muffins alongside honey-laced tea.

Moon Rock Muffins

 These are dense muffins but quite moist. A tasty way to get fiber and fruit into your diet!

Makes 22 to 24 muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas
Fifteen pitted prunes*
1 apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (or 1/2-cup applesauce)
1-1/4 (5.5 ounces) cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (2.5 ounces) ground flaxseed
1/2 cup (2.5 ounces) oat bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips
1 cup Craisins or raisins (or a combination)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake wrappers and spritz wrappers with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, flaxseed, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

Place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, bananas, prunes and apple into a large mixing bowl. Using a hand-held immersion stick blender, puree until the mixture is blended and the apples and prunes are very tiny pieces. (Alternately you can use a food processor to puree the ingredients together.)

Add dry ingredients to the fruit mixture and stir by hand just until moistened.

Add chocolate chips and Craisins/raisins and gently stir until incorporated.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full with the batter. I like to use a spring loaded ice cream scoop for this.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking period. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. 

These will keep for five days stored in an airtight container. If you live in a hot and/or humid place, store in the refrigerator. Alternatively, wrap individual muffins in plastic wrap or foil and place in a freezer-safe plastic bag. Freeze for up to four months. Remove muffins from the freezer as needed, leaving the plastic wrap on, and thaw until room temperature. Reheat in the microwave for a few seconds and enjoy!

*If you don’t have an immersion blender or food processor, place prunes in a heatproof dish with 2 tablespoons of water and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 1-1/2 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly, then finely mince before adding to the recipe. Either use applesauce or grate an apple and mash the bananas with a fork before proceeding with mixing the wet ingredients together.

 

                          💕 Click here for a free printable PDF of the muffin recipe!💕

    

 

WEDDING BRIDE AND DOOM

California wedding planner, Kate Ludlow, moves back home to New England after her marriage implodes. In tow is her teen daughter Ellis, unhappy and nervous about the move. Suddenly, Kate’s responsible for turning her part-time wedding planner gig into a full-time business. Kate’s off to a good start, too, when she books the society wedding of the year. The prosperity of her business is dependent on the success of Marcy Simpson’s wedding. The joy of an unlimited wedding business is intoxicating. But when Kate’s best florist is murdered, her focus changes from pulling off the year’s most glamorous wedding to saving her own skin—for Kate’s suspect number one for the murder. Further complicating her life, Kate’s old high school flame, Brian McAllister, is the police detective assigned to the murder case. The spark is definitely not gone from their connection, as they have unfinished feelings. Throw in a scavenger hunt for an antique missing family ring, the job transfer of Kate’s ex to New England, and quirky and endearing townsfolk, Kate has more than she can handle—almost.

SAVE THE FATE

Wedding Planner Kate Ludlow is back with her fun circle of small-town New England friends. Life is clipping along well for Kate. Her wedding season is off to a great start; she has reconnected with her former high school boyfriend, and her teen daughter is happy and looking forward to a fun summer. At the town’s traditional kick-off to summer party, “Strawberry Moon,” Jack Malone, the town’s prodigal son, surprises the population with his appearance. He’s the best baseball player the whole of New England has ever produced, and he now plays professional baseball in Los Angeles. He hasn’t been home in years but has returned home to marry a local girl. He taps Kate to be his wedding planner, and she couldn’t be happier; what a boon this will be for her business!

Jack reconnects with old friends and, apparently, old enemies, too, as his body is found in the Connecticut River on his third day home. Jack’s high school girlfriend and Kate’s best friend, Jen, is the prime suspect. She can’t or won’t give an alibi for the time of Jack’s death. But she’s not the only person who looks guilty. A new business partner has come to Eastbury looking for Jack, claiming Jack cheated him in a business deal gone wrong. Then there’s the high school rival who lost everything in a decade’s old confrontation with Jack. The state police leading the investigation into Jack’s death feel certain Jen is their killer, so Kate has to act. If Jen won’t help herself, Kate will have to step in to save her, but this won’t help her fledgling relationship with her old/new love, Brian, who is Eastbury’s lead detective.

Mary Karnes, a college English major and former teacher, is the mother of four who raised her family through six corporate moves. She always dreamed of being an author and dabbled with writing throughout the years. Once the children were grown and out of the house, she started a wedding planning business while simultaneously chasing her dream of being a traditionally published author. Her ‘Wedding Planner Mystery Series’ was born, with her business providing delicious subject matter for her books.  

The first in the Wedding Planner Mystery Series, WEDDNG BRIDE AND DOOM, debuted August 2023, and the second in the series, SAVE THE FATE, published October 2024. Book Three, UNVEILED SECRETS, will be published in September 2025.  

Mary resides in New England with her husband, Ken, and her mini-dachshund, Lucky. She is hard at work on something a little different, a stand-alone domestic thriller. Her door is a revolving one with her children and grandchildren visiting frequently. 

Connect with Mary:

Website * Facebook * Goodreads * Bookbub * Instagram * Amazon Author Page

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Book Giveaways! 

Two winners will receive either a copy of WEDDING BRIDE AND DOOM or SAVE THE FATE! 

To enter, comment below and tell me if you have any tips on preserving your baked goods for eating later, or if desserts never last long enough for there to be a need. Be sure to include your email address!  

Contest is limited to U.S. residents only and will be open through Wednesday, August 20, 2025. 

STRAWBERRIES AND LIME SPONGE CAKE WEDDING TRIFLE #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Chef Martha Hubbard brings this dessert to serve at Hayley and Nathan’s wedding reception in A DEADLY FEAST by Lucy Burdette. She layers the ingredients in individual-sized mason jars, but you could also serve slices of the cake garnished with whipped cream and strawberries. It would also be nice with raspberries or peaches, depending on what’s in season.

For the strawberry layer:

2 cups hulled and halved or quartered strawberries

Sprinkle of sugar

For the whipped cream layer:

2 cups whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cake:

6 large eggs, separated

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

1½ cups sugar, divided

2 teaspoons grated lime rind

¼ cup lime juice

¼ cup water

1¼ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar and set aside.

Whip the cream until stiff with the powdered sugar and vanilla. Put this in the refrigerator while you make the cake.

In a large bowl, combine the egg whites with the cream of tartar and beat with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. (You can test this by slowly withdrawing the beaters from the eggs. Soft peaks should stand up with the slightest droop at the top.) Next, gradually add ½ cup of the sugar, beating until whites are stiff but not dry.

In another large bowl, place the separated yolks. Beat them with unwashed beaters until thick. Add the remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until the yolks are very thick and ivory colored.

To the beaten yolks, add the grated lime rind, lime juice, and water, beating until just blended. Beat in the flour and salt at a very low speed. Add the beaten egg whites to this mixture, and fold them in with a rubber spatula—gently.

Turn the cake batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Cut through the batter several times with a knife to break up any air bubbles and then smooth the top.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes to an hour. The top of the cake will appear golden and the cake should spring back when lightly touched.

Invert on a wire rack to cool. Loosen cake from the sides of the pan with a spatula. Set on a serving plate.

When the cake is completely cool, cut it into bite-size squares. In small mason jars, alternate squares of cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Refrigerate until it’s time to serve.

​ABOUT A DEADLY FEAST:

Before Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow's family descends on the island for Thanksgiving and her wedding to heart throb Detective Nathan Bransford, she has one last assignment--a review of a seafood tasting tour conducted by her friend Analise Smith. But when one of the tourists collapses on the last stop, Analise begs her to investigate before the police destroy her business and shut down the local Key West eateries on her tour. Pressure mounts when Analise calls a second time to request that Hayley meet with Chef Martha Hubbard, who prepared key lime pies for the tasting tour and is terrified that someone poisoned her pies to ruin her reputation. Chefs all around town are preparing their versions of a Thanksgiving feast, but with a murderer on the loose, will Hayley and her friends have anything left to be thankful for?

Praise for Lucy Burdette's Key West mysteries:​

“There’s a lot to love about this series—deft plotting, likeable characters, and an ending that always satisfies. But one of the things I love the best is how the author transports her readers to Key West with every page, describing real landmarks and restaurants with such realism that I feel I’m actually there. Magical and delicious fun!”

—Suspense Magazine

Clinical psychologist Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib) has published 17 mysteries, including the latest in the Key West food critic series, A Deadly Feast (Crooked Lane Books, May 2019.)  Read more at https://lucyburdette.com. You can also find Lucy on Facebook and Instagram.

One More Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Icing #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I know, you've seen a lot of strawberry recipes come out of this blog--and strawberry season is almost over! But I couldn't resist sharing this last cake. If we were forced to choose, I think it was our favorite.

And also in the good news department, I made it as a sheetcake. So not only does it serve a good-sized crowd, there's no fussing with layers. I'm pretty sure Hayley Snow will be making this for a special wedding pre-celebration in KILLER TAKEOUT (coming next April.) Not saying whose, in case you haven't finished FATAL RESERVATIONS...

And it would be perfect for reading while snacking on Daryl's new book, FUDGING THE BOOKS, and Peg's BERRIED SECRETS! Congratulations you two!!

For the strawberry cake:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup chopped fresh strawberries 

Butter well a 9 by 13 inch pan, and heat oven to 350.

Using an electric mixer or food processor, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in one at a time. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl. Add the flour to the butter mixture, alternating with adding the buttermilk. (I used a cup of milk with one tablespoon of cider vinegar instead of buttermilk.) 

Pulse in the chopped strawberries until they are small pieces and the batter begins to look pink.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out dry. Cool the cake on a wire rack.




For the strawberry icing:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
1/3 cup sugar

Beat the cream cheese with the strawberries until mostly smooth. Add the vanilla and half the sugar, beat that in. Whip the cream with the remaining sugar until thick. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese/strawberry mixture. Spread the icing on the cooled cake and refrigerate until serving. Decorate with strawberries if desired.

FATAL RESERVATIONS is on bookshelves now! 

And you can follow Lucy on Facebook,

Twitter,

Pinterest,

and Instagram!

Dr. Who Wedding Cake from a Cupcake Menorah + Chipotle Cranberry Sauce by Cleo Coyle

Doctor Who Cake design
and photo by Laine Barash

This is one busy week! We are celebrating Chanukah, Thanksgiving, and the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, the longest running sci-fi TV show in history. Am I going to cover all of that ground in this post? You bet'cha!

To get my recipe for
Blue Velvet Cupcakes in a
"keeper" PDF document,
click here.

First up the Festival of Lights, which begins at sundown tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 27) and is observed by the kindling of lights on a unique candelabrum (a menorah). One additional light is added on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night.

Last year, I posted a recipe for Blue Velvet Cupcakes that I used to make a tasty cupcake menorah. If you'd like that recipe, click here.  

And this recipe led to the one below:

a Tardis blue Doctor Who Wedding Cake!

THE BLUE WEDDING CAKE STORY: Last year, after I posted my Blue Velvet Cupcake recipe, one of our many very kind blog followers, Laine Barash, remembered it when her daughter announced her plan to get married.

But this wasn't just any marriage. This was a story of two hearts broken and mended; two souls lost and found. Johanna tells their story in her own words below...

“Chris and I married in 2001. Neither of us were especially nice people at the time. I started to change and he did not. It got really bad. We separated...and the divorce was final 1/11. I didn't speak a word to him. Then one day I agreed to meet him for coffee. I could see instantly the changes he had made. And with each day since then I am more proud of the man he has become. The man he was meant to be. And I'm grateful, I never stopped loving him. Just knew that we all deserved better. So we've both made a ton of changes. We both have a long way to go, but we have direction. And each other. And our son. And God. So I'm proud to go through life as his wife!” ~ Johanna Rothberg Banfill (photo by Shana Rothberg)

After Chris lost his wife and then turned himself around to win her back, the couple decided to officially re-tie the knot on their original anniversary, November 13. 

Of course, I was touched by their story and delighted to hear that Laine was able to use my recipe to inspire her creation of a very special wedding cake, a Doctor Who cake of Tardis blue. 

Why a Doctor Who cake? 

Because the bride and groom are huge fans of the show and the bride requested it. 

Why Tardis blue? 

Because TARDIS is the name of the ship Doctor Who uses to explore the universe (TARDIS = Time And Relative Dimension In Space). And the ship is disguised to look like a blue British police box. (When the series first aired back in 1963, these boxes were a common sight in Britain.) 

In the wider universe, blue is commonly associated with harmony and faithfulness, which means this beautiful slice of cake is perfect for a wedding like Johanna and Chris's...

Photo by Laine Barash

Laine Barash

Laine's Tardis Blue

Doctor Who
Wedding Cake

Recipe courtesy Laine Barash for the wedding
of her daughter, Johanna, and son-in-law, Chris

Directions: To make the cake, follow Cleo Coyle's Blue Velvet Cupcake recipe (click here for the recipe) with these adjustments:

1 – Use two cake mixes, for two 8-inch square pans and two 10-inch square pans. 



2 – When you mix up the batter, increase the amount of coloring gel paste. For Cleo's Blue Velvet Cupcakes, she suggests 1 to 2 teaspoons of Wilton brand Royal Blue gel paste (pictured). For the Tardis Blue Doctor Who Cake, increase that to one full ounce (one jar) of Royal Blue gel paste per cake mix, and a tiny glop of violet. (That's 2 ounces of gel paste total and 2 tiny glops of violet for the 2 cake mixes that create the batter for your four layers of wedding cake.)


3 – When you divide the batter among the pans, you will notice that they are not as full as usual, and that’s okay. Bake these layers at 300° F. and they will bake up more level, which means you will not have to slice off any domes to even them out. Frost, top with a Doctor Who cake topper and serve to oohs and ahhs galore!

Blessings and
Congratulations to you,
Johanna and Chris!

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Finally, this week, we are also 

celebrating Thanksgiving!

For my Smoky, Zesty Chipotle
Dipping Sauce recipe, click here.

A few months back, I shared my favorite recipe for smoky, zesty Chipotle Dipping Sauce (click here for the recipe). 

I use it for veggies and chips, but also to make Chipotle Tuna Salad and Chipotle Turkey Salad, a good use for turkey leftovers this weekend!

About the same time that I first posted this recipe, I decided to make a Chipotle Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving.

This little decision led to weeks of debate at the Coyle household. I thought it was a great idea. Marc (my husband) thought nobody would like a recipe that radically changed traditional cranberry sauce.

Then, last week, The New York Times came out with its Thanksgiving menu, and (wouldn't you know it), they suggested a "spicy" cranberry sauce with jalapenos and cayenne. Ha! (Do culinary minds think alike or what?)

This jazzed up tuna salad sandwich was made with
my Chipotle Dipping Sauce. This weekend, I'll be
mixing it with our leftover Thanksgiving turkey to
make Chipotle Turkey Salad.

Pictured below is an even better idea: Use my Easy Chipotle Cranberry Sauce recipe for your traditional Black Friday turkey sandwich. 

When Marc finally tasted it, he admitted the Chipotle Cranberry Sauce on the cold turkey sandwich brought a nice zing to the roasted meat. 

The smoky, spicy flavor notes of the chipotle paired beautifully with the sweet-tart taste of the cranberries. Now he wants to try the sauce with some Indian dishes as a revved-up chutney. Sounds good to me...I'll keep you posted!

Cleo Coyle's
Easy Chipotle
Cranberry Sauce

Although I had been planning a "spicy" cranberry sauce for months, the NY Times beat me to the punch. Still, I think mine is a better recipe. Why? It's so much easier! The Times version has several ingredients and steps. You're welcome to their version. But I'll stick with  my way. It's a snap...

1. PREPARED SAUCE VERSION: Whether you're using canned cranberry sauce (whole or jellied) or you're using prepared homemade sauce, all you have to do is warm it in a small saucepan until it loosens up and becomes more liquid. Now open a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (pictured). Dip a spoon in and measure out one teaspoon. Stir it into your warmed cranberry sauce. Taste...if you'd like it hotter, add more. If you'd like it even hotter, chop up a chipotle pepper and stir it in. Remove from heat, allow to cool, and serve. I use it on cold turkey sandwiches with mayo.

2. FROM SCRATCH VERSION: Follow the directions you like best, using whole cranberries, water, and sugar. Your favorite recipe may also include orange juice, orange zest, and/or fresh or dried and ground ginger. Once you begin the cooking process with the cranberries, open a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Stir in one teaspoon of the sauce for a mild spicy flavor. Add another teaspoon or two for a hotter version. For the very hot version, chop up a few peppers and stir them in, as well. Finish cooking the sauce, cool, and serve.

Just be sure to warn your guests 

which sauce is traditional and which is spicy...
and please do have a...

Happy Chanukah! &
Happy Thanksgiving!

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Yes, this is me, Cleo (aka Alice). 

Friend me on facebook here.

Follow me on twitter here. 

Visit my online coffeehouse here.

To view the
Coffeehouse Mystery
book trailer, click here.

 

Coming
December 3rd...

Billionaire Blend: 

A Coffeehouse Mystery
by Cleo Coyle 

*Starred Review*
--Kirkus

"Top Pick"
--RT Book Reviews

"...a highly satisfying mystery."
~ Publishers Weekly

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are bestselling

works of amateur sleuth fiction set in a landmark

Greenwich Village coffeehouse, and each of the

13 titles includes the added bonus of recipes. 

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure

Book #1 of 
The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries, which Cleo writes
under the name
Alice Kimberly
To learn more, click here.