Chapter 221: A True Master

Chapter 221: A True Master

I slowly mix some eggs and sugar.

In my parents country, the women want their Spanish Bread as soft as it can possibly be to achieve that, they whisk the eggs with the sugar for a prolonged period. They first whisk the whites and slowly, really slowly add the sugar. If you taste a homemade cake in that country, chances are it will be softer than a bakery-made one. Why? Because housewives have all the time in the world when they are bored. The hasty ones make harder cakes. Obviously, theres more than one way you can control how hard your base will be, Tiberius, I look at my assistant on the right.

And, Quintus, I look to my left, its normal for something to go astray in the process. The most important thing is to know how to remedy it. No recipe is ever the same. But you have to aim for perfection, not just the reduction of mistakes made. So, you have to know which steps will control the various aspects. Can you tell me how many things we can use to control the hardness of the cake base?

I see the two slightly panic at the question.

You have to think in advance when working. If you dont, how will you be able to remain in control? Again, recipes are always different. Its like a river if you get in one time, its the same river your father bathed in 20 years ago, but its also a different river from the one your skin will touch tomorrow. Horace teaches us that.

The [Woodworker], Chef?

What? The woodwhatever. No. A [Poet], Tiberius.

I activate the magical whisks and let the whites slowly rise, watching them in silence.

This is one of the steps. How fast you add the sugar will influence how soft it will be. And since its the first step, you want to get it as soft as possible. We will work toward the desired hardness throughout the rest of the recipe.

With great patience, I start adding little amounts of sugar as if no one was watching me. What I like about baking is that its a meditative process. Its like performing a great feat of athletics. It brings you to a flow state like no other. It makes your head move.New novel chapters are published on

The people who watch TV while cooking should burn, I swear. Some light chatter is good, but you want to give your head some time to breathe. It has to stay fresh while baking, ready to react at the perfect moment.

Now, another step is whisking the yolks. This step is even more important. It is at this point when the lazy ones make a cake base as hard as a brick and dense. Christ, theres nothing more disgusting than an exceptionally dense cake base sadly, this is way more common than people realize.

I hear some scribbling on paper and parchment behind me. People are taking notes of my words. Good. Spreading good baking practices will make me sleep more soundly at night; hopefully, no nightmares of rainbow cakes will haunt me.

If you ever baked a rainbow cake, take a page from Silas from the Da Vinci Code and start flogging your back in repentance. Your sins will never be excused, but you might find the pain educational.

You have to beat the yolks to death. Anything less than fifteen minutes of screaming with arm cramps means you didnt do it correctly. So, both of you, start whisking manually.

Yes, Chef, they chorus.

Some say you must whisk until you can write on the mixture of yolks and sugar. I say thats stupid. You have to feel the overall composition with your hands. Thats why you never use magic for this step. You do it with your own hands. And you teach your assistants to do the same. Why? Because if you use automatic whiskers, you might not realize that theres an uneven distribution of density. The irregular and asymmetrical movements of your hands will help reach a more even distribution instead. And you can feel it. Never trust skills. Use your own senses. Thats the one thing we can truly trust in this world.

I watch the two men stoically endure the whisking process without flinching. They are staring at the yolks so hard that Im actually a bit sorry for those dead chicken fetuses.

It takes a while before they look certain that their composition is up to my standards. But when I delicately pour it on the whites, they both panic.

Chef! Chef! Dont you have to check?!

I trust you both. And Ill be able to feel the consistency while mixing. Pass me the wooden spoon.

An audience gathered to assist the criminal Human who suddenly returned to his bakery, who threw everything askew, and told the two most dedicated and talented [Chefs] in Amorium that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

The Mimosa is one of the hardest cakes to master. Its insanely complex to make it so that its not just another ordinary stupid cake that tastes like every other mediocre baking concoction in the world.

We had to use a few cooling runes and a couple of other tricks to speed up the process. I still have to go back to the academy before its night; that means I cannot let everything cool naturally. But its still in the realm of things that shouldnt have too big of an impact on the final product. Sure, its better to let everything rest for a while, but magic comes in handy from time to time, doesnt it?

Go ahead, I gesture to Quintus and Tiberius. They both seem to be looking at the cake in awe, scared even to touch it with a knife. Cut it and taste it.

Chef, are you sure? Quintus asks, looking at the beautiful, bright yellow cake. Its puffy thanks to its yellow petals and has a strong impact on the eyes. Its the kind of cake that you want to stand out women like lively colors. This cake is the equivalent of a diamond in the bakery world.

Sure. Go ahead. Cakes are made to be eaten, Quintus. Cut it up and tell me if the caramel spheres have melted or if they are too crunchy when its in your mouth. That should tell us if I made them thin enough.

Ideally, the caramel layer should be almost indistinguishable.

After they both fumble with the knife for a minute, I take over and slice the cake.

Camilla and the others. Do you want to taste it? You already tried theirs, right?

They all nod multiple times and take some plates from a cupboard.

I start distributing slices, careful not to break the caramel beads. Thats probably the most challenging thing so far. The cream has shifted a little, meaning I lost the exact perception of where I should have cut it. But, as with all things, its still food. A few beads break here and there, making the cream a bit darker, like little stains. But thanks to the petals, you can barely see it.

So, the cake is low on purpose. If you can, try to fit it in your mouth vertically to enjoy the full experience.

People around me start shoving huge pieces of cake in their mouths, not having understood exactly what I just said. But all is good. This is good. I am good.

I missed them.

A lot.

I missed them much more than Im even willing to admit.

Camilla goes pale when she tastes the cake and looks at me in bewilderment.

You didnt use any skills?

Nope. I dont have a [Baker] class, remember? I used some magic to help keep the caramel thin. I made a littlewhatever, its not important. No, I didnt use any skills.

They all eat in silence, exchanging glances and nodding slightly.

If I did not know the culinary world, Id be nervous. I was nervous when I was dueling people, even though I wielded great magic, unattainable for most. But magic is something I started doing here by chance. Baking, instead well, you know I graduated high school early, and I didnt attend college, right? I went abroad to study under the masters, to learn from the greatest who usually never accept an apprentice as young as me without an insane reference letter from fellow starred chefs.

And the reason I never stayed in a starred kitchen for too long is quite simple.

Theres space for only one master in a kitchen.