THE DEVIL’S HOLIDAY CUPCAKES
DEVIL’S FOOD WITH BUTTERCREAM ICING and PEPPERMINT SPRINKLES
Servings: 12
INGREDIENTS FOR CUPCAKES
½ cp unsweetened cocoa powder
½ light brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee
1 cp hot water
1 stick unsalted butter
¾ cp sugar
1 ½ cps flour (or gluten free flour)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (room temperature if possible)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. In mixing bowl whisk cocoa powder, coffee, brown sugar, hot water and set aside
3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda and set aside.
4. In mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together, beating well until well mixed. Add the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time with the flour mixture in between the eggs. Then the cocoa mixture, alternating between eggs, flour and cocoa mixtures, beating gently until the entire mixture is combined. Do not overbeat batter.
5. Divide the batter evenly into 12 cupcakes (lined) and bake for 20-25 minutes until a tester comes out clean.
6. Cool before frosting.
INGREDIENTS FOR ICING:
½ cp unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cps confectioner sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tb milk or dairy free milk of your choice
A handful of peppermint candies or one or two candy canes
DIRECTIONS
1. Cream butter in stand mixer until smooth
2. Gradually add in sugar until mixed in
3. Add vanilla and mix
4. Add milk and beat 3 to 5 minutes until it looks awesome
5. Frost the remaining cupcakes that thieves didn’t take
6. Take the peppermint candies or candy canes and using a grinder or mallet, crush them into pieces and sprinkle the pieces on top of your cupcakes
7. Enjoy!
The Devil Chronicles
Book Two
Kay Freeman
Genre: Contemporary Gothic Romance
Publisher: Kay Freeman
Date of Publication: 02/10/2024
ISBN: 979-8-9853618-4-1
ASIN: B0CQ4KH1K9
Number of pages: 247
Word Count: 68,180
Cover Artist: Consuela Parra
Tagline: She was supposed to be my wife, not my rival’s slave.
Book Description:
I promised to go legit. The truth—I can’t. It’s who I am.
When I break the news, River returns my ring and relocates like I knew she would. I don’t tell her the rest. My only hope, he sees the engagement is off and decides our deal is too and leaves her alone.
If he doesn’t and takes her, she’ll become his and I'll never escape the hell I've created.
Excerpt
"We need to
postpone the marriage." My words echo through the cavernous space,
sounding harsher than I intended. The yellow flames from the candles reflect in
River's eyes and a tear slides down her cheek. It's like when you're passing a
car wreck; I don't want to look, but I can't stop myself. My bedroom is the quietest
room in The Palace, which is the reason I brought River here. Everywhere else
in the house is frenzied and boisterous with my employees getting ready for
work. They live here with me and that's the way it's always been, and it seems
it's going to remain that way.
River's
shoulders slump. "I can't believe you're doing this, Cruz." She
collapses onto my throne, carved from ebony. I purchased the piece at auction.
It was a steal. In the past you had to come from royalty to sit on one or kill
someone who did. Most people today don't feel comfortable sitting on one unless
it’s in jest. You need a large ego to do it, which suits me fine. No one sits
on it but me. River realizes she's made a mistake and gets up quickly. Her face
crumples. "Why must we?"
"I thought
I could, but I can't. I've lived in The Palace since I was twelve and—"
River staggers
toward me. "You promised. You said we'd be a family. You're going back on
your word." Her forehead wrinkles.
"I can't
give up a business I'm good at it. I've done it a long time and—"
"You have
Monsters now. It's a nightclub, and it's legal, not against the law like…"
But she holds the rest of her words, while holding her hands at the same time.
She doesn't call it a whorehouse, a brothel, or any of the other nasty names people
use to describe what I do.
"Be
realistic, River. Monsters doesn't come close to earning enough money. It’s
just another Chicago nightclub. I make ten times the amount in receivables in a
single day with The Palace. I'm sorry, River, but I can't give it up, or any of
the others…yet. I've got too much overhead."
"But maybe
someone else can run it and—"
"I can't;
no one else can manage the women."
"When will you
be ready to marry and give up the brothel?" River twists her engagement
ring. The smell of burning sage is the only thing keeping me strong. I want to
take back my words before I say them. Do anything to stop what's coming. But it
has to be done. I need to make her go. I'd said several chants to build my
strength earlier, but it won't protect us from what will happen when I say
these next three words.
About the Author:
Kay Freeman spent the early part of her career as a professional artist. She's shown her work throughout the United States under her professional name, Kay A. Klotzbach. She was awarded two Geraldine Dodge fellowships for her paintings from the state of New Jersey. Kay was a full-time art professor in South Jersey for over twenty-three years and was granted a Princeton mid-career fellowship for her teaching and her community-based learning projects from Princeton University.
Kay decided to pursue her passion for writing after her manuscript, Truth Moon, was selected by Romance Writers of America's RAMP program in 2021, which led to the publication of her debut novel, Truth Moon, by The Wild Rose Press. Kay has gone on to self-publish four other novels. She also writes a publication for romance authors, What Do Romance Authors Think About, a free newsletter, on substack.
Freeman is passionate about contemporary gothic and suspense romance. Kay loves to balance dark characters with more spiritual ones when writing her novels, providing ways for heroes and heroines to transform themselves into better people. Besides her passion for art, reading, and writing, she loves blues music, tequila, her husband Barry. This list is not intended to be in any particular order. Kay lives in Wilmington, DE, in a mid-century, modern kit home designed by Donald Scholz that she and her husband are still in the process of restoring.
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