"I'm sorry, but there's no way anyone can eat that much coconut."
"Nonsense, it's not as much as it looks!"
Halle eyes the massive bag of desiccated coconut weighing Henrik down. "That's not as much as it looks?"
"It'll shrink after we cook it, just you wait," Henrik says nonchalantly, tossing the bag onto the kitchen counter. By some sort of miracle, it doesn't burst open and spray coconut everywhere upon contact. "The coconut is the best part of drømmekage!"
The best part of what? "What even is this dr — dro — this cake?"
"It's only the best cake ever." Not even looking at them, he starts cracking eggs into a bowl, then adds sugar. "The actual cake itself is just your average vanilla cake, but the topping — " Henrik sighs dramatically — "Oh, the topping! It's this lovely thick layer of buttery, sugary coconut that's gotten all chewy and caramel-ly from being baked. My mom always makes the topping as thick as the cake itself because it's just that good." He grabs a whisk next and starts beating the eggs and sugar together. "You're gonna love it."
They glance at the recipe half-buried under the rest of the ingredients, written in Henrik's nigh-illegible scrawl. "Uh, is there anything I can do while you whisk?"
Henrik grabs the now-softened packet of butter and throws it at Halle, who barely manages to catch it. "Cut out about fifty grams and melt it, then add two tablespoons of milk."
The butter-milk mixture is soon finished, filling the kitchen with a lovely smell, but the eggs and sugar have apparently yet to reach the desired consistency. Halle waits a few moments, periodically swirling the mixture around in the saucepan, before asking, "you sure you don't need the electric beater?"
"I'm sure," Henrik says doggedly. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of elbow grease, is there?" He lifts the whisk, watching the liquid dribble from it and back into the bowl, and smiles triumphantly. "Look, they're nice and fluffy already! Now pour the milk and butter in."
Next to be added to the batter is the flour, then the baking powder. A few drops of vanilla essence completes it, and Halle rushes to coat the cake pan in butter before Henrik can pour in the contents of their mixing bowl. Into the oven it goes for twenty minutes — exactly enough time, according to Henrik, to make the coconut topping.
"First, we add the butter." Without a glance at the recipe, he unwraps the rest of the butter and drops the entire thing into the saucepan.
"Uh, shouldn't we measure it?"
"Not really, if it's too much we can just add more coconut to soak it up." Henrik switches on the heat and begins prodding the massive chunk of butter with a spoon. "There's no one way to make the topping, unlike the cake, so we can go wild with it." He stirs the butter around, nearly knocking the saucepan off the stove, and pours in what appears to be an ungodly amount of brown sugar.
Halle tears the packet of shredded coconut open and carefully measures out the correct amount, which they hand to Henrik once the butter is melted. They peer at the saucepan, currently filled with a sort of brown-and-white mush that looks anything but appetising. "No offence, but this doesn't seem very… uh…"
"Edible?" He jokes, yanking the pan off the heat. "Of course not, it's going to need to be baked for a while before the entire cake is done." The oven chimes across the kitchen. "Hey, just on time, too!"
Slipping on a pair of oven mitts, Halle goes to open the oven door and pulls out the steaming cake. It smells of vanilla. They hold it steady while Henrik approaches with the pan of coconut. Once the mixture has been spread over the surface of the cake, filling the pan to the brim, they slip it back into the oven for another ten minutes.
While the cake finishes up, Henrik glances out the kitchen and at the stairs, running one hand through his messy hair. "When do you think Stell's gonna wake up?"
They glance at their watch. "It's, like, nine a.m., so probably not for another hour. You know how he is on weekends."
"He's been working himself to death last week," Henrik says. "So hopefully the drømmekage will cheer him up!"
"I still don't know how you say that."
"It's easy! Just say it with me: drømmekage."
"Dr — dro — " They frown. "Never mind."
The rich, sweet smells of coconut and sugar start to waft around the kitchen, and only grow stronger when Henrik pulls the cake out. The coconut topping has turned the golden-brown of rich caramel, rough and chewy-looking unlike the mush it was just a while ago.
"See?" He eases the cake out of the pan, unfazed by the heat, and places it onto a cooling rack. "I told you the coconut wouldn't be too much."
When cut open, the cross-section reveals that the cake is practically squashed under the weight of the coconut. Halle resists the urge to grab a slice for themself, instead setting it onto a plate and taking it upstairs. Stellan appears to still be asleep, but their mother's muffled voice emerges from the office. A flurry of voices, half-concealed by crackles and static, rise to respond to whatever she's saying. Weird. She's never had a conference call so early before. They quietly knock on the door, set the plate of drømmekage down in front of it and walk back downstairs.
Henrik is done cutting up the rest of the cake when they get back into the kitchen. "Should we leave a slice for your dad?"
"He's not really a fan of sweet food, but let's leave one anyways." Halle takes another slice, careful not to let any crumbs fall onto the pristine countertop, and sets it on another plate. That one's covered in clingfilm and placed into the fridge.
Somebody steps quietly down the stairs. Halle opens their mouth, ready to greet their mother, before they hear that familiar wheeze and realise it's Stellan. He walks into the kitchen, blond hair still messy and sticking up in awkward places.
Eyes lighting up, Henrik drops the knife back into the cake pan and rushes to pull Stellan into a hug. "Mornin'!"
He lets Henrik hug him for a full minute before wriggling out of his embrace, tiredly signing, good morning, dear.
"How did you sleep?"
All right. Stellan yawns silently. He retrieves a mug from the kitchen sink and swings it around while he continues, but I swear I was dreaming about Milton. That man haunts my every moment now.
Henrik clings on to him even as he shuffles towards the coffee machine. "Aww, you trying to make me jealous?"
He rolls his eyes and sets the mug down. You wish.
Halle stares down at the cake pan. The serrated bread knife is starting to look very interesting.
The machine whirs to life, filling Stellan's mug with steaming, fragrant coffee. If only it tastes as good as it smells. They gingerly lift up a slice of drømmekage and set it down onto a plate, which they slide across the countertop. "Henrik and I made cake for you. Good morning, by the way. I exist."
Good morning, you little nightmare. Stellan catches the plate and goes to the cutlery drawer to get a fork. I was going to tell you that before Henrik attached himself to me.
"Who are you calling a little nightmare?"
I'm right, he signs nonchalantly. Stellan cuts out a corner of the drømmekage, tries it and his eyebrows raise. He puts the plate down, slowly chewing, and remarks, it's good.
Henrik kisses the top of his head. "Not too sweet?"
"Stell could eat a sack of sugar and think it lacks flavour, of course it's not too sweet for him." Halle helps themself to their own slice, not even bothering to get a fork. Instead, they just break off a corner, scattering crumbs as they do, and pop it into their mouth.
Henrik was right. The topping is just slightly crunchy, but as chewy as caramel that melts in their mouth swiftly; it's not the sort of thing Halle would expect on a cake at all. The coconut imparts a flavour that's rich and bittersweet at the same time, mingling perfectly with the vanilla cake. It's fragrant, light and cotton-fluffy — in other words, it's pretty dang good. They break off another chunk and eat it before looking at Henrik and giving him a thumbs-up.
"Can't believe you doubted my baking abilities," he gloats. Beside him, Stellan nibbles at another forkful and smiles.
Upstairs, the door creaks open. They hear a quiet clink, before their mother calls, "Halle?"
The siblings look at each other. Stellan tilts his head towards the stairs, yet to free himself from Henrik's arms. Halle sets down their slice of drømmekage and runs towards the office.
Their mother is holding the plate as she waits for them. "Did you make this yourself?"
"Henrik came over to make it, and I helped." They hook a thumb towards the kitchen. "He's still downstairs."
Her eyes crinkle as she smiles. "Tell him I say hello, won't you?" She shifts from one foot to another, glancing back into the office. "I've got two more meetings today and an ungodly amount of emails to deal with, neither of which I think will disappear by lunch."
Halle stares at her for a moment before they remember. The four of them were supposed to go to Wang's today, and they nearly forgot. They shrug, answering, "it's okay, I can go myself."
Their mother ruffles their hair with a tired smile. "Let's go next week, okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
Cake in tow, she disappears into the office. Halle goes back downstairs. Just a couple of hours and they'll be back to Wang's, ready to finish off that review.
