MYSTERY AUTHOR ELIZABETH LOGAN (AKA CAMILLE MINICHINO) WHIPS UP BOSTON CREAM PIE AND A NEW ALASKA DINER MYSTERY

Camille Minichino aka Ada Madison aka Margaret Grace aka Jean Flowers aka Elizabeth Logan is the author of twenty-eight mystery novels in five series, plus many short stories and articles. Learn more about her, her various pseudonyms, her books and check out her blogs at her website. 

The Bear Claw Diner sits on a road that’s as busy as it ever gets in Alaska, on the highway between Anchorage and Denali National Park. While its owner, Charlie Cooke is often busy investigating homicides, Victor, her young Chef, takes advantage of the occasions by changing up the menu.

 

In “Murphy’s Slaw,” the third book in the Alaskan Diner Mysteries by Elizabeth Logan (me again), Victor has taken an interest in regional foods outside of Alaska. He’s come up with offerings such as Philadelphia cheese steak, Denver omelet, Maryland crab cakes, and various Florida pies with key limes. Charlie and the rest of the Bear Claw staff were resisting spam, apparently still a hit in Hawaii. Victor defended the dish by noting that he’d found a recipe for a spam and rice combo wrapped in seaweed.

 

Coincidentally, Victor landed on one of my favorites: Boston Cream Pie, the official Massachusetts State Dessert. The not-quite-a-pie but more-than-a-cake treat originated at a famous Boston hotel nearly two hundred years ago. A native of Boston, I like to spout trivia about it now and then. I often put words in Victor’s mouth, like the fact that the world’s largest BCP was displayed at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in 2005: 16 feet in diameter, including 1,300 pounds of cake, 800 pounds of filling, and 500 pounds of chocolate frosting. 

 

That could keep me happy for approximately the rest of my life.

 

“It weighed more than a ton,” Victor tells us, doing the math. 

 

Here’s the recipe for a more normal size BCP. This is a three-part dessert, but well worth the time and effort. 

 

Boston Cream Pie

 

Ingredients:

 

Cake Layers

2 eggs

2 cup cake flour

1 cup sugar

2-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Cream Filling

1-1/2 cup milk

2 tsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 egg

1 T vanilla extract

 

Chocolate Frosting

1/4cup water

2 T sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 

Cake Layers Directions

 Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans or line bottoms with waxed paper.

 

For the cake layers: Separate eggs; place whites in a small bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

 

In a small bowl with an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Very gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Add egg yolks, oil and 1/2 cup milk to flour mixture. With electric mixer, beat until smooth, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add remaining 1/2 cup milk and vanilla. Beat just until combined. Fold beaten egg whites into batter. Divide batter into prepared pans.

 

Bake cake 20 to 25 minutes or until centers spring back when gently pressed. Cool in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen cakes around edges and turn out onto racks. Cool completely. 

 

Cream Filling Directions

In a 1-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup milk to boiling. In cup or small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup milk, cornstarch, sugar, pinch of salt, egg and vanilla until blended.

When milk comes to boiling, gradually stir in cornstarch mixture with wire whisk. Return to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute or until thickened to pudding consistency. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

 

Chocolate Frosting Directions

In 1-quart saucepan, heat water and sugar to boiling. 

Add chocolate chips. Stir until glaze is smooth. 

Remove from heat. Cool 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.

 

Assemble

To assemble, place one cake layer, upside down, on a serving plate. 

Spread with cream filling. 

Top with remaining cake layer, right side up. 

Spoon glaze over top; spread to edges of cake. 

Refrigerate until frosting appears set.

This recipe serves 8, generously. Enjoy!

 

Murphy’s Slaw

An Alaska Diner Mystery, Book 3

 

Charlie Cooke loves many things, like the Bear Claw Diner, the heated steering wheel of her car, and her orange tabby cat Eggs Benedict. Something she has never loved is the state fair. So when her best friend Annie Jensen begs her for a fair day, she’s reluctant.  But Annie isn’t the only one who wants her to spend a day among farm animals and deep fried food. A vendor has been murdered, and Trooper Graham needs his favorite part-time sleuth to dig up the truth, and Charlie is happy to oblige. 

 

The case grows personal when Charlie learns the victim is Kelly Carson, whom she and Annie were friends in high school. If Charlie wants to find justice for Kelly, she and Annie will have to work together to weed out the killer.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AUTHOR CAMILLE MINICHINO CRAFTS MYSTERIES AND MINIATURES

Camille Minichino is turning every aspect of her life into a mystery series and a miniatures project. Her protagonists in five series are a retired physicist, a miniaturist, a math professor, a postal worker, and the owner of a diner in Alaska. She’s published 28 novels and many short stories. Learn more about Camille at her website and blog.

Modeling Life

As far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by miniatures. Not teddy bears or baby dolls or little amorphous creatures with enormous ears (or no ears at all),  but very small replicas of real life things. Dollhouses, roomboxes, standalone scenes.

 

To be more exact: a world where one foot gets mapped into one inch, the standard dollhouse scale.

 

I’ve also been fascinated by novels, another sort of modeling, where as readers and writers we map the real world into a different universe with fictional people and the furniture of our choice.

 

Combining these two passions, I’ve created dollhouses or separate scenes to match all my cozy mystery series. (You can go to my website and find a “Slideshow” under Mystery Novels.)

 

Probably not every miniaturist has a replica of a mortuary like the one that’s featured in the Periodic Table Mysteries, or a post office to complement my Postmistress Mysteries, but to me it seems the obvious thing to do.

 

Now it’s time for me to build a scene from my newest series, the Alaska Diner Mysteries, written as Elizabeth Logan. It will be a while before an entire miniature diner is ready, but here’s a sneak peak for Lois Winston/Anastasia Pollack’s crafty blog. The photos are a glimpse into a typical scene in both of the first two books of the series—my protagonist Charlotte “Charlie” Cooke loves sitting in her rocking chair with Benny, her orange tabby, on her lap, sometimes sharing the ups and downs of her day, sometimes reading aloud. 

I’ve included photos with two versions of the scene. The photo above is a draft, much like the draft of a novel. I toss mini things around the way I toss ideas around, trying various combinations of words and scene elements. In the draft photo, I haven’t decided whether to use the brown or the white rocker, which plant to add, what “toys” to scatter on the floor, where to place Benny. Is the pizza stool good enough for a table or shall I use nicer furniture? Should there be a carpet in this family room? And so on.

 

The photo at the top of this post shows what I decided on as the final version, or close to it, one I was ready to glue down. You’ll see that I ditched the hat, for a possible Hawaii scene some other time! I added a tiny mouse, the way I might write a little humor, even into the plot of a murder investigation. I thought this second pose for Benny was more active, and the spoon was too over the top. I came up with a feather toy and more of the “yarn” that Benny likes.

 

In other words, I edited.

 

Which brings me to one more similarity between writing and miniaturing:

 

The mouse is no more a threat than a rodent that might appear in a chapter of my novel. They're both works of fiction. 

 

When I put a roof on a dollhouse I don't have to worry about the materials really being weatherproof. Like readers, dollhouse admirers assume all will be well if it rains. 

 

In the world of dollhouses, as in the world of novels, there's no laundry to do, and a houseful of carpeting can be changed in a matter of minutes. Complete remodeling may take a week! 

 

In my dollhouses, all the plumbing works, as do all the appliances. In my mystery novels, the good guys always win and justice is always served.

 

No wonder both are so satisfying.

 

Fishing for Trouble

An Alaska Diner Mystery, Book 2

 

Summer has come to Elkview, Alaska, bringing twenty hours of sunlight every day, not to mention a surge of tourists and seasonal workers. Chef Charlie Cooke is eager for a busy yet relaxing season, but when a young man working a summer job at the local fish processing plant dies moments after walking into the Bear Claw Diner, she’s quickly swept into the investigation.

 

Soon, through her best friend Annie Jensen, Charlie learns that another student worker at J and M Processing has disappeared, leaving more questions and fewer answers. The near-endless sunlight gives plenty of time to search for clues, but Charlie will have to work with Annie and local reporter Chris Doucette to net the killer before anyone else gets hurt.

 

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