Page 80 of The Alpha and the Baker
Round Four:
Savory. Must be enough for all judges to sample.
Round Five:
Confection. Must have four, identical in shape and size.
Round Six:
Custard. Can be miniature versions or a batch, but all pieces must be identical in shape and size.
Round Seven:
Cake. Minimum six inches and fully iced.
Round Eight:
Showstopper. Anything goes. This is your chance to wow the judges and make something truly incredible.
Phew,eight rounds were nothing to sneeze at. And the quantities they were asking! It wasn’t impossible, but I wasn’t exceptional at some of the categories. I had my specialties, of course, but confections definitely weren’t among them.
There was also the matter of timing. I could make all of these in two weeks, sure, but there was no way that they would be fresh and tasty for the day of the competition, even if I tried to plan them in order of what could keep the longest.
“You mentioned something about teams?” I murmured as I flipped back to the beginning.
“Yeah, we can have up to ten in our team,” Cas said, still looking a bit chagrined. His slight embarrassment was what made me suspicious that there was something he was leaving out, but I figured one conversation with Polly, Penny, and Gammy McCallister would get the rest of the details out of him.
I knew it had to do with a rival pack, though, and that was enough.
I blew out a breath. “Okay, so here’s the thing. Most of this stuff needs to be baked fresh. I can do a whole lot of prep and start the showstopper the day before, but I won’t be able to do everything.” I tapped my chin. “I can do the cookies, cobbler, and the showstopper, as well as help anyone else decide what recipe they wanna use, but that’s probably it without any of our stuff getting stale.”
“I think they mentioned there would be ovens there,” Saoirse said.
“That’s good to know.” I headed over to my shelf where I kept all my recipe books and binders from school. Grabbing a notebook, I sat down to see if I could come up with the bare bones of a plan. I didn’t expect to make a ton of progress since it was during working hours, but my mind was starting to whirl in a pleasant way. It helped a lot to know that I was going to have three people’s help for my Sunday prep. Even if they weren’t professional bakers, they were ahugehelp.
Time slipped by pleasantly despite the lack of customers coming in. It embarrassed me that Cas, Chris, and Saoirse were seeing just how few people frequented my store on a Saturday, but if they thought anything about it, they didn’t say so.
“Hey, I had a thought,” Cas said, stopping by where I was sitting when I stole another ten minutes to write out ideas. “My mother makesamazingbeef wellington on very special occasions. Think that could be our savory dish?”
“Beef wellington?” I repeated. “As in, Gordon Ramsay’s signature dish?”
“Uh… yes?”
Right. Cas had mentioned he didn’t watch much television and also hated reality TV with a passion. He likely didn’t know the blond, foul-mouthed chef.
Huh, so Mr. Ramsey had an untapped market in the shifter community. I doubted that would come in handy, but it felt good to know.
“That would be perfect, Cas. Does anyone else in your family have any claims to fame?”
“Well, Auntie Letitia could do her rhubarb and sweet cream cake that you filled in for after my daughter massacred the baking kitchen,” Chris offered.
Of course,it was Arietty who had been the one who burned the cake. I’d forgotten if I knew that already, but it made a lot of sense.
“That works for me.”
Bit by bit, we went through it, putting together who we could ask to do what. It was far more fun than it had any right to be, and for a while it felt like I actually owned a massive, successful bakery, and we were planning an elaborate menu for our next week.
Maybe someday,I mused to myself as I paused our planning to take my afternoon loaves out of the oven.
