I couldn’t be holding the cone when I poured in the boiling water. It would rip. And, worse, I’d burn myself. I needed to be able to sit the cone in something that would let the water flow through. I needed…

I was just about to look in the cabinet again when I noticed the sieve I’d used to sift the dry ingredients on the counter.

Yes!

Okay, what next? Something to catch the coffee as it dripped. I went through my equipment again. Mixing bowls. Measuring spoons. Measuring cups. A measuring cup!

I rinsed off the sieve, lined it with the paper towel cone, and spooned five tablespoons of coffee into it. I needed it strong. Then I sat the sieve on top of the measuring cup and slowly, very slowly, poured the boiling water over the coffee, stopping every few seconds to let the liquid drain into the measuring cup.

While the coffee dripped into the cup, I toasted the coconut in a pan over low heat, stirring every few seconds so it didn’t burn.

Bing!

I turned off the burner, moved the coconut to a cool spot, and opened the oven.

Out floated a warm, vanilla-y mist. Mmm.

I slid the rack out and studied the cupcakes. They looked perfect, all puffed up with just a hint of gold around the tops. A toothpick slid into the center of one came out clean. Done!

42:14…42:13…

I popped the cupcakes out and left them on a wire rack to cool while I made the cream.

At first, the chocolate drowned out the coffee flavor, so I kept adding coffee and tasting until it was the right balance. On the fifth try, I hit mocha. It was good, rich and sweet, but there was no wow. Something was missing.

“Hello?”

I blinked. Dieter was waving his hand in front of my face as I sat there with a spoon in my mouth staring into space. “Tick-tock.”

“I’m thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Chef JJ sneered.

She could say what she wanted. I was in my own world, someplace where I was supreme ruler and her words were just noise.

What was that secret ingredient that would take this mocha cream to the next level? Vanilla? Boring. Cinnamon? Maybe. Almond extract? Wrong. Nutmeg?

I ran back to the pantry and grabbed a small knob of fresh nutmeg.

Dieter whistled as I grated it. “Fancy.”

Chef JJ zapped him with one of her looks.

I knew I was on the right track just from the smell.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d need so I added it to the cream in pinches, mixing after each one and tasting.

One: no change.

Two: there but only a ghost.

Three: shazam!

The chocolate and coffee were still the strongest flavors but now there was also this peppery spark.

I’d found a plastic case marked “Cake Decorating Supplies” in my equipment drawer. Inside was a pastry bag, a plastic sleeve with a big opening on one end and a small one on the other, and a bunch of metal tips with different shaped holes. I chose a tip with a sunburst hole, screwed it into the small end of the bag, and spooned the cream into the big end. The sunburst would give me the perfect wavy ribbon of cream to wind around the top of the cupcake.