Happy New Year, everbody. I hope it has started well for you. For those of us in Southwest Virginia, we’ve been off to a snowy start. The children were supposed to go back to school on January 4, but they haven’t been back yet. And we’re supposed to get more snow this week!

Gayle got a mention in GalleyCat! You can read the piece by clicking the link. Gayle is really thrilled about it. I, of course, am happy about the good reviews both Murder Takes the Cake and Dead Pan have been getting.

Reader Spotlight: Denise Turocy

This is a Killer Cakes first…but I hope it will be the first of many. After enjoying Murder Takes the Cake, Denise wrote Gayle and sent links to some of her own work. Gayle asked her to participate in this newsletter.

Denise’s adventures in cake decorating began in the early ’80′s when she took her first class through her local parks and recreation department in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. She went on to decorate cakes for family and friends.

Later, her interest waned and she gave up her hobby until Christmas of 2008.  She sold a few Valentine’s cakes and then worked at a famous Pittsburgh bake shop during the 2009 holiday season. In her spare time, she taught cake decorating, knitting and crocheting classes.

Denise has taken three or four Wilton cake decorating classes and attended an “Enthusiast” class at the Pittsburgh Culinary Institute in Sept. ’09  where the topic was Sheet Cake Decorating. “Says Denise, “We got to torte, fill, frost and decorate our very own sheet cake and take it home.  It was a fantastic learning opportunity and fun experience to say the least.”

E-mail Denise at adairdet@gmail.com.