Lu Xinyi was in her own world again as she baked her devil’s food cake. Her friends would see her building layers of flavors and the world of delicacies as she prepared and measured her ingredients. It was as if her movements were choreographed and practiced for weeks. Once in a while, her lips curled into a smile and nodding to herself like baking the cake was all she could think of.
The tickling sound of the timer made her aware of the task she needed to finish on time. She stopped adding butter on her stand mixer and lifted her gaze at the timer. She also pondered why the lighting got suddenly so bright. Was it because the last round made everyone eager to see who would prevail this year?
Devil’s food cake. How very fitting for the last dish they had to present? This cake would either make them pass and officially enter Silver Leaf or lose their chance for this year. As the name suggested, this devilish cake was as black as sin—sinfully chocolatey. It was richer, darker, and fluffier than any regular chocolate cake could ever be—it was also called the chocolate version of an angel food cake.
With her cake flour replaced with all-purpose flour, Lu Xinyi thought that it might be a good thing at all. Using all-purpose flour on her devil’s cake would make it more stable than using the usual cake flour. As for the buttermilk… she pressed her lips together in a slight grimace.
She was torn whether to use one of the extra ingredients she brought with her or just use the milk as it is. Using the full cream milk would affect the taste of her cake. For the devil’s cake recipe, it required one to use buttermilk, but there were instances that the baker could use milk with some revision on the ingredients. Adding coffee and buttermilk though was the key for enhancing and giving the devil’s cake the best flavor it could attain.
Rubbing the middle of her forehead, Lu Xinyi closed her eyes. ‘This is a tough decision to make,’ she thought. She needed to sit down and make a decision. If the switching her ingredients was part of the exam, she would have to stay calm and think the logical way to solve it, but what if it wasn’t a test at all? What if someone was trying to kick the Shen family out of the competition? After all, not only money was on the line. The reputation of the families was also in question.
Turning her attention to the other examinees, she found Surya Rathore and Ye Xieren struggling with their cakes. Ye Xieren slammed his fist on his messy counter before mumbling curses to himself. Meanwhile, sweat ran down from Surya Rathore’s brows; and he blew out a series of short breaths anxiously as he placed the round pans of his cake cook in the oven.
Lu Xinyi’s eyes then sought her husband’s in the audience area. Their eyes met as if they were having an unspoken conversation. Her breath was caught on her throat. Shen Yi’s eyes were ablaze. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or was reassuring her that whatever happens, he would still support her.
Shen Yi gave her a curt nod, and Lu Xinyi made up her mind and continued whisking her batter. There was no time to lose. She would worry about the consequences of her actions later, but now… she would have to make a delicious devil’s cake that would tempt the judges to surrender to her will and give her a passing score. Forget the name, Lu Xinyi wanted to make a heavenly food cake this round. The crumb should be tender, and the filling and frosting luscious.
She picked up her list again and thought that Silver Leaf had added some varieties on the items they provided. It was a shame though that none of it could be used to turn her milk into buttermilk. Making one’s own buttermilk was easy as combining two ingredients then letting nature take its course. The longer one left it out, the thicker and tangier the buttermilk would be. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
For her extra ingredients, Lu Xinyi chose to bring a fresh lemon, a cup of cornstarch, and some star anise. The star anise and the cornstarch were used on her noodle dish, but the lemon wasn’t used until now. With shaking hands, Lu Xinyi measured a cup of milk before eyeing the lemon in front of her.
After several seconds, she pushed the right sleeve of her uniform and sliced the lemon. Gasps and murmurs echoed within the stadium. Her actions weren’t missed by the judges, their eyes narrowing at Lu Xinyi’s blatant disregard of the rules of the examination.
‘Sis! What the hell are you doing?!’ Shen Xue panicked, but only the slight twitch of his left eye was seen by the public.
“She’s breaking the rules!”
“Why’s she’s using lemon on her devil’s food cake?!”
“The Shen family’s representative got some balls to challenge Silver Leaf’s authority!”
A man in his mid-forties shook his head. “I thought she’s good. She can even compete with Ye Xieren, but using a forbidden ingredient on this round is cheating!”
“Maybe she’s not confident to pass this round.”
“But still breaking the rules? What was she thinking? Did she think just because she has the Shen family, she could do anything she wants?”
“Preposterous! Who does she think she is?!”
The complaints and aggressive response from the crowd sounded like music to Tong Yan’s ears. Lu Xinyi had chosen to break the rules and make the devil’s cake on her preference. How foolish! She just publicly humiliated not only herself but also the whole Shen family by going against Silver Leaf.
‘Yes, yes. Who does she think she is?’ Lu Xinyi was nothing if the Shen family abandoned her. Tong Yan couldn’t wait to see what would happen to Lu Xinyi.
