Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Chapter 185 – A Masterpiece in Progress

Opera cake. That was the recipe Gilbert suggested Melina make, and it turned out that preparations were far more time-consuming than Melina had anticipated. Both beans had to be prepared in a certain way before they could be consumed or used in cooking, and this took far more time than Melina would have liked.

The Aetherbloom coffee beans needed to be cleaned. Their outer fruits had to be removed, since they were inedible, which already took them far more time than Melina would have liked, even while working together. After that, the beans had to be fermented for two days. Two whole days.

After that, they had to be dried in the sun. Thankfully, the hot summer weather was still holding up, so they didn't have to wait too long for the process to finish. But it still wasn't the end. The coffee beans still had to be hulled and roasted.

Unfortunately, things were even worse with cocoa beans. They had to ferment for nearly a week. Apparently, without proper fermentation, they wouldn't have the characteristic chocolate flavor. Then they required another week of drying, then roasting and grinding.

It was an absolute pain in the butt. Frankly, if those weren't rare Monster Realm ingredients, Melina wouldn't have even bothered. But since they were, then she did her best to endure and complete the process properly.

Of course, Melina wasn't one to sit around while waiting. During this whole preparation time, she was also slowly learning the recipe for opera cake using regular chocolate and coffee.

"Opera cakes use a different kind of sponge, called a joconde sponge. It's different in the way that it uses a lot of eggs and mostly almond flour instead of regular flour," Gilbert explained.

Melina, Roxie, and even Ygril were all listening to him without even daring to blink.

"The first step is to measure 120 grams of almond flour and the same amount of powdered sugar. Whip it with 4 whole eggs until the mixture becomes pale and thick."

Gilbert demonstrated, and the three of them followed the instructions. Soon they all had the mixture ready.

"Next, you sift 30 grams of regular flour and fold it into the mixture."

Melina and Ygril completed the task comfortably, both familiar with the process, while for Roxie, it took a bit longer. Nonetheless, they waited for her to finish moving onto the next step.

"Now we whip four egg whites with some granulated sugar until stiff peaks," Gilbert said.

Melina groaned since he had forbidden her from using magic during the process. Ygril finished first, while Melina and Roxie struggled a bit to get it done.

"The next step is very important. You fold these egg whites into the mixture. But you can't do it all at once. Do half first until it is fully incorporated, then the other half."

"This is quite finicky…" Melina mumbled, doing her best not to lose the airiness of the mixture as she folded.

"It is a high complexity dish. You're the one who wanted it," Gilbert shrugged.

"I'm quite excited to learn this human recipe. I've never made anything like it," the drow said excitedly while keeping an eye on his folding process.

"After this, add a bit of melted butter," Gilbert said. "But be careful so the butter wouldn't be too hot, otherwise it'll ruin the whole thing."

Sienna quickly melted the necessary amount for all four of them, which they proceeded to fold in.

"Please tell me I don't have to do any more folding…" Melina whined.

"No, that's it. Spread this thinly on a cooking tray lined with parchment," Gilbert said.

Melina sighed with relief, as did Roxie.

"Sienna, high heat please, approximately eight minutes," the old baker instructed.

"Won't they burn at high heat?" Melina questioned.

"That's why we're only keeping them in for 8 minutes."

After that, they had to prepare coffee syrup, but since they didn't exactly have enough space for four people at the stove, Melina was the one to prepare it for all of them.

It wasn't particularly difficult. She just had to boil some water with lots of sugar and coffee for a moment, then let it steep for 10 minutes. At the end, she had to drain the syrup off the coffee grounds, and it was ready.

Coffee buttercream was a bit more difficult. At first, they had to cook sugar and water to an exact temperature. Gilbert even pulled a special thermometer for that, although in the future, once Sienna managed to pinpoint this temperature, she would be able to do it for them.

After that, they had to pour this syrup into egg whites while simultaneously whipping them. Despite Gilbert's protest, Melina did it with magic. Hot syrup was no joke. She might be fine thanks to her connection to Sienna, but it wasn't the same for Roxie and Ygril.

Not to mention that she had continued whipping until the bowl was cool, which would be too much for her flimsy arms. Once that was done, she mixed in soft butter and at the end added two tablespoons of coffee.

The last two elements were chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze, both of which Melina was familiar with since creating chocolate eclairs.

"Okay, everyone got their elements in front of them?" Gilbert asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good, we start with a layer of joconde. Brush it generously with coffee syrup."

The joconde had completely cooled down and was cut into long rectangles. Melina brushed the coffee syrup on it, watching how it soaked into the sponge.

"Spread half of your buttercream evenly next," Gilbert said. "Be neat around the edges."

This was actually trickier than it looked, as the buttercream seemingly wanted to go everywhere where Melina didn't want it to go. Ygril dealt with the task with surprising ease, while Roxie had buttercream everywhere.

"Add the next layer of joconde and brush that with coffee syrup too."

Easy. Done.

"A thin layer of ganache comes next, after which to lay another joconde."

"Brush with coffee syrup?" Melina asked.

"Only lightly. Don't go too crazy with the syrup on the upper layers. After that, use the remaining buttercream."

Taken from NovelBin, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

They followed the instructions. Roxie's cake was a bit slanted, but all in all, she was actually doing rather well.

"Now we need to chill these for twenty minutes."

"Yip-yip!" Mango suddenly exclaimed and jumped onto the counter. Before anyone could stop her, she breathed an icy breath onto the cakes.

"Oh, no! Please don't tell me that you froze them?!" Melina exclaimed in horror, worried that all their hard work might have been undone.

[Your familiar has unlocked the skill .]

[Pastry Cooling – Allows the users to cool food items to the approximate temperature they desire.]

"A skill?" Melina blinked her eyes in surprise.

Gilbert, meanwhile, examined the cake and hummed in approval. "This is exactly what we need."

Mango yipped with delight, her tail wagging so quickly that Melina feared she might knock something over. So she gently lifted the fox off the counter.

"Good job, Mango! I didn't know you managed to learn to control your ice so well!"

"Yip-yip!" Mango cheered. Even Sienna looked a bit proud.

"This certainly will make things easier going forward. Although I do fear how quickly you'll be able to make some pastries if you can cool things instantly…"

Melina's eyes sparkled with delight. Pastry creams, puff pastries, cream puffs, and everything that needed chilling… Oh, the possibilities!

"Mango, you're going to get quite busy in the kitchen…" Roxie noted.

"We need to implement fire and ice familiars in our kitchens, too. To think that they can unlock mundane skills, too. This is revolutionary!" Ygril cheered.

"Okay, okay. Let's get back to it. We need to cover the cake with glaze. Melina, this is your magic glaze, right?" Gilbert asked.

"That's right. Anything covered with it will stay fresh for 3 days," she confirmed.

"Excellent. Go ahead and pour it on, everyone. Use a smooth motion while neither going too fast nor too slow," Gilbert said and demonstrated.

Everyone repeated the motion. Ygdril's hand was by far the steadiest one, with Melina's coming in second. Roxie went a bit too fast at the start, but slowed down too much at the end, making one end of the cake a bit bare and the other overstuffed.

"Aww… I messed up…"

"This is your first time, girl. The fact that you finished your cake at all is already an achievement," Gilbert consoled.

"Don't compare yourself to experienced cooks such as myself and Master Gilbert. We've had years of experience. And Miss Melina is just abnormal, so it's not wise to compare yourself to her either," the drow soothed the girl.

"Hey! What do you mean by abnormal?" Melina narrowed her eyes.

"He's completely right. There has not been a single normal thing about you since you've arrived here," Gilbert muttered. "Causing trouble wherever you go."

"I have to cause trouble if I want to make a change," Melina countered.

"You're not wrong there. In either case, let's return to the cake. This needs to chill for 2 hours. Mango, do you think you could do it? Make sure not to freeze it."

Mango yipped with determination. Melina lifted her and allowed her fox to breathe her icy breath onto the cakes.

[You've made . You've gained + 30 exp.]

[Your familiar has reached Level 2.]

"Look at that! Mango leveled up," Melina announced.

The fox yipped excitedly.

"That is reassuring. It would be difficult for the little Mango if she never leveled up. Leveling is crucial for a monster's growth. But to think that they could level up without even killing each other," Ygril said.

"Making cakes is much better than killing. Isn't it, Mango?" Roxie said, and Mango yipped in agreement.

"Check everyone's rank for me, Melina," Gilbert said.

Melina nodded and saw that Roxie's cake was Rank C, Ygdril's was Rank A, while Gilbert's was Rank S.

"Master, your cake is Rank S!" Melina announced in surprise.

"That's curious… I've only ever managed to achieve it a few times in my life…" Gilbert scratched his beard thoughtfully.

Sienna let out a proud chitter, and then Melina understood what happened.

"It must have been Sienna's skill . It must have improved the quality of our cakes," Melina noted.

"Monsters in the kitchen are truly a fearsome addition," Gilbert muttered, and everyone laughed heartily.

Melina presented her opera cake to the Duchess, nervously waiting for her reaction.

She regarded it curiously and took a piece of it without much hesitation. "This is truly wonderful!"

"Really?" Melina asked.

"Yes, although… Is it wrong of me to be a little disappointed? I had expected a bit of magical touch from you…"

"The Monster Realm ingredients aren't ready yet, so I made this cake with regular coffee and chocolate," Melina explained.

"Oh, makes sense. You did need practice. But won't the Monster Realm ingredients taste different? What if they ruin the flavor?" The Duchess asked.

"I'll experiment, of course. Ideally, I'll be able to replace both the coffee and chocolate elements in the cake, but if one of them doesn't work, I could only use one of them," Melina explained.

"I see. And what about the effects?"

"The coffee will improve stamina much like regular coffee, only it'll be more pronounced. The chocolate should trigger a feeling of contentment and happiness, although I'm not sure to what degree."

The effect definitely wasn't as strong as with luminfruit, which could even trigger happy memories. But it was hard to say how much of the effect would survive through the meticulous preparation process that both beans would go through.

"I see. But the point is that the effect isn't harmful?"

"No, Your Grace."

"Good. Although I do wish there was a way to make it… flashier. Clearly magical," the Duchess said.

Melina rubbed her chin in thought. "I do have skills that allow me to apply effects I wish to a certain limit. Perhaps I could try to create something with those. What do you think would look good?"

"Could you make them fly?" The Duchess asked with almost a childish glee.

"Fly?" Melina repeated in a daze.

"Yes! It would certainly suit you since you will fly to the party on the wyvern's back. If your pastries could fly or even just hover above the plate, then it would already be an impressive display of magic."

Melina thought about it. Perhaps if she imbued every element of the cake with with the intent to fly, then she could achieve the desired result. It wouldn't ruin the flavor either, although it was difficult to imagine how she would order the cakes to fly as she wanted them to fly, instead of haphazardly crashing into things.

"I'll try to, Your Grace."

"Only if you have time. Don't lose your sleep over this. These cakes are definitely suitable for the nobility. Nobody will fault you for them," the Duchess declared.

But Melina had her mind already set. She would make these cakes even more breathtaking. She had elevated chocolate cherry cake into chocolate shimmercake, which still had to be ordered a month in advance. These opera cakes would be even more amazing than that.

"Melina…" The Duchess said in a warning tone. "Please, don't make my son grow grey hair from worry. The only thing I ever hear from him is that you're working yourself into an early grave."

"It is a busy time…" Melina said sheepishly.

"Even more reason to take care of yourself. Especially with so little time left. But enough about that, today we have to work on something very important," she said, taking a sip of her tea.

"What is it, Your Grace?"

"Your speech. As the bride, you will have to tell one in a manner that is proper for a noble. My son should have no issues with his speech. He's been educated to be ready for one at a moment's notice. But you, my dear, will have to think carefully about yours. I'll help you adjust and perfect it, but the base should come from you."

"What.. What is it customary to say?" Melina asked nervously. She didn't relish the idea of giving a speech at all.

"First, you should speak about Alistair. Explain what it is that made you choose him as your partner. Say what you intend to do as his wife. But as this engagement party serves a double purpose, you must also explain your mission of bringing Monster and Human Realms together, in a way that doesn't sound fanatic," the Duchess explained.

"That doesn't sound easy…"

"No, I'm afraid it isn't. That's why I am here to help. Let's begin. I'll give you some twenty minutes to think of a rough draft. Then we'll go through it together to figure out the mistakes and correct the way of phrasing things."

Melina suppressed a groan. She hated speeches. But unfortunately for her, she would have to keep working on it until the very last day, adjusting it, fixing it, until finally the Duchess deemed it appropriate.

Only one day remained until the engagement party. Speech was ready, the dress had arrived, and Melina had created her new culinary masterpiece using opera cakes as a base. She was as ready as she would ever be.

Melina just hoped that things wouldn't go wrong.