Frosting and Friendship (17 page)

“I love those cookies,” she says, peering into the saucepan. “Save me some, okay?”

“There's only ten of us, so there'll be some left over.”

“I gotta run,” she says. “Have a fun meeting.”

“We will. Bye.”

Today is the day I host the Baking Bookworms. Last month, when Isabel hosted, she made us little fruit tarts and lemon bars. Everyone couldn't stop talking about how good everything tasted.

But it didn't bother me.

That's who Isabel is. A wonderful baker. And today I will show the girls who I am. A girl who will make easy snacks, because they're good too, and it's okay. Whatever works, just like Chef Smiley told me.

When the dough is done, I lick the wooden spoon before I throw it in the sink.

“Sweet Uncle Pete, that's good!” I say.

“I recognize that saying,” Mom says as she and Dad walk into the kitchen. “Are your no-bake cookies almost done?”

“I just need to put them on wax paper and let them set up.”

“Want me to help you?” Dad asks.

“Okay. Thanks.”

“How's that new song coming along?” he asks as he gets two spoons out of the drawer for us.

“We finished it and started working on another,” I tell him as I scoop up a big chunk of dough.

“Wow. I'm so proud of how hard you guys have been working. How many songs are you up to?”

“Six,” I tell him. “Six good ones. We wrote a couple that we ended up throwing out. They just weren't good enough.”

Dad stops and looks at me. He's got a funny look in his eyes. A look that says,
I think you're going to like what I'm about to say.

“You know, I was thinking . . .”

He waits.

I poke him in the stomach. “What? Tell me.”

“Five songs is a good little set. My band's been asked to play at a company picnic coming up in June. It'll be a great venue—outside, at the park, while people mingle and eat their hamburgers and hot dogs. I'm thinking it'd be nice to have a little opening act. There'll be quite a few kids there who don't
really want to hear a bunch of old fogies singing.”

I drop my spoon on the counter. “Really? Dad, are you serious? You don't think they'd mind?”

“Actually, I already asked the guy who hired me,” he says with a smile. “He loved the idea.”

I stand on my tiptoes, throw my arms around my dad's neck, and give him a big hug. “Thank you! Abigail and Zola are going to be so excited.”

The doorbell rings, interrupting our special father-daughter moment.

I pull away from Dad and check the clock. Then I look at Mom. “Uh-oh. Somebody's early.”

“Go see who it is,” Mom says. “Dad and I'll finish these.”

I quickly wipe my hands on a towel and then head to the door. It's Sophie and Isabel and their moms.

“Hi, Lily,” Sophie's mom says. “Hope it's okay we're a little early.”

“Sure. Come in.”

My mom comes out of the kitchen and greets the moms and asks them if they'd like some tea. They do, so they follow her back to the kitchen.

“Did you like the book
Ella Enchanted
?” Isabel asks us.

Sophie nods while I say, “I loved it. My mom did too.”

“So what kinds of snacks are we having?”

I'm about to tell them about the easy things I made when the doorbell rings again. The other girls, Katie and Dharsanaa, have arrived with their moms.

“Everyone's early,” Katie says. “I guess we're excited about this book!”

I lead the girls into our family room, where we'll have our discussion, while the moms visit in the kitchen.

“So, did you bake a beautiful six-layer cake, like Ella had on her fifth birthday?” Dharsanaa asks me. I can tell she's teasing me. They know that I'm not a baker, and I'm no longer afraid to admit it.

I laugh. “Um, no, there will be no homemade six-layer cake today. But I did make a cream trifle, which was mentioned in the book. We bought a pound cake, some jam and berries, and whipped cream. It was super easy to make and it looks so pretty. Wait until you see it. We layered pieces of cake, the berries, and the cream in a pretty glass bowl.”

“Yum,” Katie says. “That sounds good.”

“And because Sophie loves chocolate,” I say, “I made really easy chocolate no-bake cookies too.”

“Yay!” Sophie says.

Chef Smiley was right. “Whatever works” is the best saying ever. I still have great homemade snacks and I didn't have to bake a thing.

“Are you okay with our name staying the Baking Bookworms, Lily?” Isabel asks me. “Or do you want to change it? We don't want you to feel left out.”

“No, it's fine. We're all used to the name by now. You guys can do the baking. And I'll do the eating.”

Everyone laughs.

Sweet Uncle Pete, I like my friends!

1
³
/
₄
cups sugar

4 tablespoons baking cocoa

¹
/
₂
cup milk

¹
/
₂
cup (1 stick) butter

a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups quick 1-minute oats

Carefully measure out the sugar and baking cocoa into a saucepan and mix well. Slowly stir in the milk and blend well with the sugar mixture. Next, add the butter by cutting it with a knife into tablespoon-sized pats. Add a pinch of salt. Turn the burner on medium heat and stir frequently until mixture boils. Let mixture boil for two full minutes while stirring and then remove from heat. Add the vanilla and stir. Finally, add the peanut butter and oats and mix until well blended. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a sheet of wax paper and cool. Makes about two dozen.

Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1
¹
/
₂
cups white sugar

1 (3 oz.) package strawberry-flavored gelatin

4 eggs, room temperature

2
¹
/
₂
cups sifted all-purpose flour

2
¹
/
₂
teaspoons baking powder

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

¹
/
₂
cup strawberry puree made from frozen unsweetened strawberries

1 tablespoon vanilla

Take eggs, milk, and butter out of the refrigerator a few hours before making the batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 9 x 13 pan.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and strawberry gelatin. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy. Separate the eggs; add the yolks to the batter and mix well. Whip the egg whites vigorously until soft peaks form before mixing them into the batter.

Sift flour, then measure and put into a separate bowl. Combine the baking powder with the sifted flour. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the batter, mixing with each addition.

Use the blender to make a strawberry puree from a bag of frozen unsweetened strawberries. Add a little bit of water and blend until smooth. Add
¹
/
₂
cup puree to the batter along with the vanilla and mix well. Pour batter into prepared pans. For round pans, bake 25 to 30 minutes, for a 9 x 13, bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. If you're making a layered cake, allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans to cool completely.

Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Mix butter on low until fluffy. Add cream cheese and vanilla and mix for one minute. Add powdered
sugar one cup at a time, mixing thoroughly. When all powdered sugar has been added, whip the frosting on high for 30 seconds to make it nice and smooth. Spread onto cooled cake. Top with sliced strawberries, if desired.

A
huge thank-you to Nathalie Dion for creating such fantastic art for this book as well as for
It's Raining Cupcakes
and
Sprinkles and Secrets
. You've done an amazing job, and every time I look at the covers, I feel like I've won the cover lottery.

Thanks to Mary Hays, a fan of the first two books, who wrote to me and helped me come up with the title of this book. It's perfect!

Thanks to the amazing team at Aladdin for all your hard work and support: Bethany Buck,
Mara Anastas, Fiona Simpson, Lydia Finn, Karin Paprocki, Karina Granda, Julie Doebler, Katherine Devendorf, Andrea Kempfer, and Alyson Heller. Cupcakes for all!

A special shout-out to Jen and Katie Manullang for your support from the very beginning of this cupcake-filled journey.

Thank you to Sara Gundell for so many things, but especially for featuring my books on your blog and working your magic to get me on TV.

To the librarians and booksellers, thanks for all you do to get books into the hands of readers.

Finally, thank you to
all
you young readers who have enjoyed my books and told your friends about them. Your enthusiasm makes me over-the-moon happy, and I want you to know I appreciate you more than words can say. Keep reading!

ALSO BY LISA SCHROEDER

It's Raining Cupcakes

Sprinkles and Secrets

I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Far from You

Chasing Brooklyn

The Day Before

Falling for You

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2013

Text copyright © 2013 by Lisa Schroeder

Jacket illustrations and interior spot illustrations copyright © 2013 by Nathalie Dion

Jacket design by Karina Granda