Jennifer Lyon THE PROPOSITION Blog Tour and Giveaway

Lemon Cupcake Seduction with Jennifer Lyon

The heroines of my books get to have my dream careers. Baking is my hobby when I have the time (and can afford the calories!)I’m never going to own my own bakery, but I get to live the life of a baker though Kat Thayne, the heroine in THE PROPOSITION, Book One of The Plus One Chronicles. In the book, Kat walks away from her job as a chemist in her family’s pharmaceutical company to follow her dream of owning her own bakery.

Kat has no interest in romance. But when the sizzling hot Sloane Michaels, an ex-Ultimate Fighter and a self-made billionaire makes her a proposition, she can’t refuse.

Now maybe you’re wondering what could possibly attract Sloane to Kat?

Lemon cupcakes!

Okay it’s a lot more than lemon cupcakes, but the cupcakes do play a part as you can see from this scene clip where Kat brings Sloane some cupcakes as a gift:

Kat lost her breath at his demand. Felt her body soften and a languid need spread. His confidence, his words…it was so sexy. The way he savored the cupcake hit her lust center too. He licked the fork, long leisurely swipes of his tongue as he relished every crumb… She had to drop her gaze. Tried to focus on eating a bite of her cupcake.

“Damn, woman, that is good. There’s a pop of creamy lemon.”

Warmth flooded her, and she looked up. “It’s lemon curd. Mine has a fudge filling.”

He reached his fork across the table and sank it into her chocolate dessert. Slowly put it in his mouth, closed his eyes in evident delight. “Nice.” He dipped his fork back into his. “But I like lemon better.”

See? Sloane takes his cupcakes very seriously!

Making Kat a baker gave me an excuse to bake. I took a week off from writing right before Christmas and went on a baking marathon. I tested a couple lemon cupcake recipes, because I wanted only the best for Sloane. The one I liked best is this one, although it is fairly complicated: (source for cupcake recipe here http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/08/30/lemon-limoncello-cupcakes/)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons lemoncello liqueur
½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup lemon juice
Zest of one lemon

For the lemon curd:

Zest of 2 lemons
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup granulated sugar, or more if lemons are very tart
1 egg + 1 egg yolk

For the cream cheese lemoncello frosting:

2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon lemoncello
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.
For the cupcakes:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy—about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemoncello and beat another minute. On low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Finish by adding the lemon juice and zest on low speed until just incorporated. Divide evenly between 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Note that the cupcakes will have a flat top done (at least mine did).

The lemon curd:

In a heavy medium sauce pan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk. Slowly whisk the lemon mixture into them to temper the eggs. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking until it thickens, about five minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Prepare the frosting:

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lemoncello and beat for an additional minute. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Assemble the cupcakes:

Remove cupcakes from pan, and place a flat surface. I used a melon baller to scoop out a hole in the top-center of each cupcake. Fill the cavity with lemon curd. Then fit a pastry bag with a star tip, fill it with the frosting and pipe it onto each cupcake.

Or you could go to a bakery and buy cupcakes, or even better, get the book THE PROPOSITION and live the life of a baker seduced by a sexy-hot billionaire through Kat!

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Jennifer Lyon is an award-winning author and an unrepentant coffee-and-book addict. She’s written mysteries, romances, paranormals and grocery lists under the names of Jennifer Lyon and Jennifer Apodaca. She loves creating powerfully sexy alpha heroes and the heroines who tame them.

Jennifer Lyon grew up under the shadow of the Matterhorn at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. She attended Walt Disney elementary school and her very first playmate was her beloved dog, Duke, who was cast in the role of hero in all their adventures.

Clearly Jen was born to daydream. But it took her years to figure out how to turn her imagination into a career as an author. After marrying and becoming a full time mom to three sons, Jen launched her career with the award winning Samantha Shaw Mystery Series and other romantic mysteries under the name Jennifer Apodaca. Later, she took the name Jennifer Lyon, combined her love of witches, alpha males and sizzling romance into another award winning series, the Wing Slayer Hunters.

Jennifer has several new releases coming out this year.  THE PROPOSITION, the first book in her new Plus One Chronicles was just released on February 24 and following later in the year will be Book Two: POSSESSION – Coming 5/28/13 and Book Three: OBSESSION – Coming 9/24/13.

Writing under Jennifer Apodaca she will be releasing the first book in her Once A Marine series, titled THE BABY BARGAIN which will be out in March 2013 from Entangled Publishing in their Indulgence line.

For more information on Jen or her books, please visit her website www.jenniferlyonbooks.com
http://jenniferlyonbooks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferlyonbooks
https://twitter.com/Jenniferlyon

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Jennifer Lyon’s
THE PROPOSITION
Blog Tour

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Kobo / Smashwords / iTunes

A wicked proposition…
A sensual possession…
A dark obsession…

The Plus One Chronicles: Searing passion and fiery vengeance collide in three explosive books.

THE PROPOSITION
The Plus One Chronicles, Book 1
Available now
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Kobo / Smashwords / iTunes

Rich, sexy and volatile, Sloane Michaels has a dark agenda that keeps his heart on ice. His extreme wealth gives him the control he craves and his skills as an ex UFC fighter the tools he’ll need to extract his ultimate revenge. But when the woman he never believed he’d see again crosses his path, Sloane is caught between the vengeance he needs and a sexual conquest he craves.

Kat Thayne has been in survival mode for six years, hiding behind the sweet creations for her bakery. But when a random carjacking brings her face-to-face with her darkest fears and hottest fantasy, Kat is forced out of hiding and offered a dangerously passionate proposition. One she knows she isn’t strong enough to refuse.

Book Two: POSSESSION – Coming 5/28/13
Book Three: OBSESSION – Coming 9/24/13

02/26 – Book Monster Reviews / Literal Addiction
02/27 – Ramblings From This Chick
02/28 – Pimpin’ Reads
03/01 – Book Lovin’ Mamas
03/02 – Books-n-Kisses
03/03 – Night Owl Reviews
03/03 – My Secret Romance
03/04 – United by Books
03/05 – Cocktails and Books
03/06 – The Reading Café
03/07 – Under the Covers
03/08 – Romance Junkies
03/09 – Vampires, Werewolves & Fairies Oh My!
03/10 – Over the Edge
03/11 – Paranormal Haven

Jennifer is giving away an ebook copy of THE PROPOSITION to one winner at every tour book stop including The Reading Cafe.

1. Please register using the log-in at the top of the page or by using one of the social log-ins.

2. If you are using a social log-in, please post your email address with your comment as twitter etc does not account for email contact.

3. Contest is open Internationally

4. Contest runs from March 6-12, 2013

GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jennifer is also giving away a $50.00 Gift Card to Amazon and an eBook of THE PROPOSITION to ONE lucky winner who follows the tour. THREE runners-up will receive an eBook of THE PROPOSITION. TO ENTER: Fill out the Rafflecopter form, complete the tasks and mark as “Done”. The more tasks you complete, the more points you get, and the better your chance of winning! Good Luck!