Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“Here’s my application,” Bear broke the silence to hand her the crisp sheets of paper.
Ellie glanced over the application and her eyes stuck on one word, baker. “You want to make cupcakes with me?” she asked in disbelief.
“I do. I just left the military. I began as a culinary specialist and worked my way up into catering for special events. My specialty was in pastries and desserts.”
“You’re kidding? With your experience, you could open your own shop,” Ellie pointed out, flabbergasted.
“I don’t want to hassle with all the business stuff. I just want to come in and make pretty cupcakes.”
Looking at the extremely muscular man, Ellie swallowed hard and tried to sound very in charge. “It’s my kitchen. I’m the boss. Everything goes the way I want it to go.”
“Definitely. At Little Cakes, you are the decision maker. I’ll reserve the right to make suggestions,” Bear answered without a trace of annoyance or disagreement.
“I can live with that. Pick a cupcake and tell me what improvements you’d make.” Ellie offered him the plate that now held just a few delights. To her surprise, she watched him select the plainest one—simple yellow cake with chocolate icing.
Bear stripped off the icing and took a big bite. “Mmm!” he hummed as he chewed the first bite. Swallowing, he looked over the small cake before meeting her gaze.
“This is a damn fine product. You used butter, extra eggs, and milk. People will go wild over these. There’s only one thing you might try to see if it gives it one hint of a boost. Ever added a quick brush of simple syrup to the top before frosting?”
“Just to add moisture?” she asked, leaning in.
“A bit. People like a little bling with their cupcakes. I’m pretty good with chocolate. We could make a small rectangle from chocolate and use gold leaf to add the words Little Cakes,” he suggested.
“And, stick that in the frosting at the top? We’d need really good dark chocolate,” she stressed, turning over a spare job application to make notes. “What tools do you need to work with the chocolate base?”
“You’ll have to hire me first,” he said with a big grin that transformed his face from stern and unyielding to devastatingly handsome.
“Wow! I wasn’t expecting that!” Ellie sat back against her chair in astonishment at the change in his appearance.
“What?”
“You just went from serious bouncer man to gorgeous muffin man in less than a second,” Ellie blurted.
“Muffin man… Only a Little…” Bear shook his head as he continued to smile. “So, when do I start?”
“Let’s go make a batch of cupcakes. See how we work together. We’ll try out your suggestion minus the chocolate bling.” Ellie stood and motioned for Bear to come with her. To her astonishment, the large man walked over to lock the outer door.
“Do all Daddies have a lock fetish?” she asked.
“It’s part of Daddy school. Lesson one—make sure Littles are safe,” Bear answered with a wink.
“Are you going to be a grumpy bear at Blaze still or will I see the teddy bear there now that I’ve seen the relaxed side of you?” she asked, leading the way into the back. Ellie threw him a clean apron from the stack by the racks. As he unfolded it, she zinged a hair net his way like a rubber band. To her delight, Bear snatched it out of the air like a pro baseball player.
She giggled as she gathered ingredients and showed him where she’d organized everything. Soon, Ellie watched Bear sift the dry ingredients together with an approving smile. He did know the tricks to produce a delicate, tender cupcake.
As they waited for the first batch to bake, Ellie pulled out a cooled batch of chocolate cupcakes from the walk-in. “I’ve got these. I wanted to experiment a bit with how to jazz them up. I thought maybe a mint zing like those layered chocolates?”
“A bunch of people do chocolate mint flavors. Anything with a coffee embellishment is a big hit now. What would you think about an expresso flavor?” he suggested.
“I like the idea. What do you think? Put expresso powder in the frosting?”
“That could be amazing. I’d test two versions to see what’s most popular. Filled and non-filled. I don’t know how coffee flavored your customers would like it. You could fill with the same frosting or maybe a more subtle flavor inside like a cookies and cream version? Maybe decorate with chocolate covered expresso beans.”
“Let’s try a couple of versions and see what we think? Anything coffee will pull in the teens and twenty somethings.” Ellie clapped her hands in enthusiasm.
She hadn’t had someone to bounce ideas off in the kitchen since her grandmother had passed away. Ellie wasn’t sad. She was totally jazzed. Her grandmother was watching from heaven with the biggest smile. Who knows—maybe she was the one who sent Bear?