leadinglady | video

[Cilan will be looking up from where he's tying on his apron that he usually wears whenever he's doing anything cooking related--it looks like he's already gotten all the ingredients and stuff we'll need laid out on our counters and table nearby, so we're covered on that.]

Ah, hello Miss Platina. Please, come right on in! [And Pansage will be running into the kitchen too where it goes and jumps up on a chair nearby to hang out and watch.] Once you've washed your hands, we can get started!

[ heading on over to do just that, while grinning a little at Pansage's antics. she'd really like to know what kind of pokemon he is, but maybe cake is more important for now. ]

Would you happen to have a spare apron for me, too?

Of course! I know we have one or two more around--ah, here you are!

[And he'll be offering one out that's been handed over to him by Pansage. This kitchen has gotten quite a bit of action lately, what with Cilan living here as well as Ingo having an interest in cooking as well, so we've had to invest in keeping a few spares handy. ^^;;] Now then, once you're ready, it's baking time~! The first step is to preheat our oven to 350...

[Do you know how to do that, Platina?]

[ tying it up with a flourish, looking pleased. this is an accomplishment!! and preheating should be simple enough... ]

I wonder if a higher temperature would be more efficient, though.

Well, the purpose of preheating is to help "set" the outside of our cake where it will rise properly, and that our mix will cook all the way through before the outside of the cake starts to burn. Setting it too high can cause cracks or even burning it and giving it a less than desirable taste.

[...Don't tell me, did you preheat your cake from earlier at a higher temperature than necessary...]

That... makes sense. I think.

[ SHUSH. she stares at the oven before setting the heat correctly with a sigh. gosh! ]

You seem to know a lot about this, Mr. Cilan.

Of course--after all, it's important to know all the tastes that come with being a chef, especially if you're someone who works at a restaurant like how I did before. [Before leaving to travel around and before coming to Luceti, he means.]

The next step involves preparing our pans that we will be adding our cake mix to once we are ready--we grease and flour these three cake pans, which will be each layer of the cake. [Which he pulls over one of their pans as a demonstration, showing just how to grease and flour it like he said.]

[ she carefully follows his lead, meticulously preparing the pans as if preparing a lab sample. THIS SHE CAN DO. ]

Right! I almost forgot that your gym was also a restaurant. It just seems so novel... but I'm thankful for your experience and help.

Of course--it's a pleasure to be of service. [Yay our pans are ready. We can just set those aside for the moment while we work on making the actual cake mix.] Next, we'll have to sift our flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. You either use a hand sifter, or if you're someone who doesn't own one, a strainer can also be used as well.

[You know, like the strainers you might use for pasta. He'll pull over one of our mixing bowls and (luckily, he does own a hand sifter because what kind of chef is he to not try to have one) demonstrates how to sift the flour into the bowl.] The purpose of doing so is to remove any lumps that might be in our flour and other ingredients, and to help give it a more fluffier taste in appearance.

[He'll sift a little more before he hands it over to Platina. Here, let's see how you do with sifting the flour yourself.]

I see! This wasn't in the instructions. Clearly, learning from an expert can even surpass learning from a book...

[ she takes the sifter, examining it carefully, before following Cilan's lead, sifting slowly at first before gaining a little more confidence. well this seems straightforward enough, can't mess up too much here! 8D/ ]

Mm, looks good! [Good job Platina!] Once the flour is finished, you can add in the baking soda to the sifter next, and then the cocoa after that. When they've been all been sifted together, we can move on to the next step!

[ following directions attentively and adding the ingredients to the bowl. SIFTING SUCCESS \o/ ]

That's one step down, then!

Yes! It's time for the next step! [Pulling over another bowl as they set aside their flour mixture, as well as the sugar and eggs.] In this bowl, we add 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar to this, as well as two eggs that you crack and open, like so...

[He takes one of the eggs and taps it against the side of the bowl until a crack forms in the egg, which is then pulled apart so that the egg yolk goes into the bowl.] You want to make sure there aren't any pieces of the shells in the yolk of our eggs, otherwise it wouldn't be in perfect taste.

[He hands over the remaining egg, as well as another, smaller bowl.] If you'd like, you can try to break it in this one first, so that you'll be able to check for any stray egg shells in it.

I've read in a book that shells can add calcium to animals' diets... but I suppose it might be awkward in a cake.

[ eyeing the egg with a critical look, then trying to tap and break it as cleanly as Cilan did... only to accidentally end up with egg goop all over her fingers. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, no shell got in!! ]

Well, that is true that they do have calcium to them, but unfortunately the human body is unable to digest them properly, so it would be a less than desirable taste to become potentially ill if ingesting too many egg shells...

[...Speaking of less than desired tastes, he'll go ahead and pass over a towel for her to wipe her hands off with.]

And the texture would change. But a crunchy cake would be new, wouldn't it?

[ ach, egg! she wipes it off, then accidentally gets some more on her hands when trying to trash the shells. gosh, cooking is messy! ]

I suppose it would be, but I'm sure there are better substitutes to get tastes like that than using egg shells...

[Like...nuts or something maybe, but who would actually eat a crunchy cake like that...]

[ I WOULD, PICK MEEE o/ ]

True enough. I'll trust your judgement. What's next, Mr. Cilan?

Once we've added our eggs into our bowl of sugar, the next step is to beat them together. Usually this is done with a whisk, like so--[Here's our whisk and, after putting their egg yolks in with the sugar, he shows how to beat them--it's a lot like rapid stirring, getting the yolks to break apart and mix with the sugar. After a minute he'll then hand it off to Platina to let her try.]

Our goal is to beat and mix them together until they reach a "saboyan", or ribbon-like taste as some call it, which is when it appears to have been mixed together perfectly.

Ribbon-like, is it?

[ examining the process veeery carefully. nnot seeing the ribbony part of the egg-beating, though, but a little too proud to admit it. she takes the whisk and bowl with a determined look. ]

I'll give it a try.

[That's because we want you to have some experience trying to do so yourself--if it already looked ribbon-like, then we'd already be done with this step.]

Great! Let's see what you can do! [GO GO PLATINA, YOU CAN DO IT]

[ aaand MIXING WITH ALL HER STRENGTH. on the bright side, the strands of egg flying everywhere sure look ribbon-like! on the not-so-bright side, oh gosh egg is messy why is it so messy. ]

[it sure does seem ribbon-like flying everywhere, but it's supposed to be staying in the bowl...]

Y--you don't need that vigorous of a taste in strength to beat them, Miss Platina...

I'm being thorough. This egg is surprisingly flimsy!

[ but okay maybe pausing for now because if she continues at this speed the bowl will be empty 8| ]

[Well, at least your tenacity is something to be admired...]

Perhaps, but it wouldn't do well for our eggs to end up outside of our mixing bowl, right?

[He looks down inside the bowl, checking to see how far along they've come with Platina's beating of ~~what's left of~~ them, gesturing to where the whisk is in the bowl.] The ribbon stage is reached when you can see a visible trail left behind when you move your whisk through the mixture, see?

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