Managed to update in ten days after the previous chapter! That's a record for me!
StRAngE ToASt, DaX0315, and QUEENSPELLER67: a slice of Crème de Lune Opéra is ready! Please enjoy it! Of course, coffee is served. QUEENSPELLER67, do you really need sugar? The cake is sweet enough!
So yes, about my thoughts of continuing "Culinary Rivals" through a sequel... Let's just say I'm kind of going through the motions. Not that I want to discontinue, but it's just that I'm worried the story is getting too long length-wise. That's the problem! I can keep writing, but the length can intimidate new viewers... IRL problems I can manage for now, but that won't solve the problem!
Oh, and please welcome the guest of this chapter: Fantina!
Chapter forty-three: Battle of the Breads
Near the Stone Bakery at the square plaza, once more, people were gathered around to witness another competition between two chefs once more. Viola had remembered to take lots of pictures this time.
However, it would not be without getting the attention of Wallace and Lisia too. Watching the two rivals fight off like this was probably too good for them, because it was like Steven and Cynthia were meant to be. Winona still disagreed.
"Your fangirl is still there, you know?" Wallace remarked.
"For the umpteenth time, Wallace…!" Winona said annoyingly. "Korrina is a Gym Leader like me! Nothing more! Enough with all the helmet and ponytail! That's just a coincidence!"
Wallace grinned idiotically, which was putting Winona on her nerves.
"Alright, then explain why she's been punching people in the face lately," he said. "You may be a bad influence, Winona, but at least your punches are more graceful."
Winona had no idea if she should take that as a compliment. Plus, she seriously doubted that Korrina had the nerve to punch people. Unfortunately, she was contradicted by the fact that Korrina was a fighting-type specialist, albeit rumour was that Korrina's kicks were a lot deadlier, which might be proving Wallace's point. Korrina was modelling Winona! No! That was impossible.
"Stop with your fantasies!" she cried. "If you don't, I will bite you! No, I will punch you!"
"Your punches are gratefully accepted, my dear," he replied. Such a response did flatter Winona.
At the plaza itself, Diantha and Korrina were seated at a table facing Steven and Cynthia. It seemed like Steven and Cynthia were having another showdown and needed it to be public. It helped that Diantha, being the superstar she was, was attracting all the regional attention. Viola was the judge before, but this time didn't want to miss this opportunity for pictures.
Oddly, there was an extra seat beside Diantha that looked like it was reserved for someone but who? However, the answer came seconds later.
"Hi everyone, bonjour tout le monde, my name is Grant," Grant said loudly for everyone to hear. "What you're seeing here is another public challenge between chefs Cynthia and Steven. However, we do require another judge, as Viola has already done that the other day."
He looked at the crowd. "Anyone? Come now, it's not that bad. You'll get to try yummy food!"
Even though that caught the interests of others and some were very eager to jump at the opportunity, one woman in particular was already a step ahead of everyone else.
"J'aimerais aider! Pourquoi pas?" she said lightly as she stepped up to volunteer.
Indistinct murmuring filled the plaza as this woman, dressed in an extravagant sparkling violet dress, went to the table. Her hair and high heels were as violet as her dress, and her hairstyle was… different. It looked like she was a celebrity and nothing more.
In a way, she was, because Cynthia recognised her immediately. She was a Gym Leader from Sinnoh after all.
"Fantina?!" she shouted, after gasping. She was well surprised. "Que fais-tu ici?!"
"Je suis en vacances, mon amie," Fantina said. "Et tu?
"Je suis très occupé," Cynthia said.
"Avec ton homme?" Fantina added playfully.
Such a question forced Cynthia's cheeks to go red. While the indistinct chatter of the crowd turned into light chuckles and laughs, Fantina stepped forward to take a seat beside Diantha. While Diantha and Korrina were confused, Fantina greeted them in kind.
"Bonjour, Mademoiselle Diantha," Fantina greeted. "My name is Fantina. La champion de Hearthome City. I'm sure you know where Hearthome City is."
"Oh? Où êtes-vous?" Diantha asked. "You sound more local than anything!"
"Non, although I do sound very convincing, don't I?" Fantina replied. "Anyway, what has my friend Cynthia been up to? Is that the man she is…? Ah, he seems awfully familiar."
"Will you cut that out?! Come on, Fantina! It's nothing like that!" Cynthia protested loudly. "Anyway! Just focus! I need you to decide who has the better food!"
She was already applying blending the eggs and butter while Steven was preparing the batter for his Slateport cake in the same way. In light the competition, he had to ensure a change in his cake was evident. It had to pair with Cynthia's coffee too – Wait, why was he helping Cynthia, in a way?
From Cynthia's perspective, she had to keep a firm grip on the timing of the blend. It's for that reason she was blending with a timer and working on her ganache at the same time. If all went well, by the time she finished with the ganache she would be able to keep working on perfecting the batter. She added hazelnuts into the blend to form the foundation of her cake.
The aroma of ganache made Steven's mouth water and he got to work quickly. Cynthia was preparing her cake the way she normally prepared it, but it was a sight worth watching. Steven's Slateport cake was much simpler and less extravagant than what Cynthia was making.
He hated making desserts, but this was the only way to save his bakery!
He delicately created the concoction needed to bake a Slateport cake. But in place of the honey he would normally use to sweeten the cake, Steven opted to sprinkle brown sugar and caramel syrup instead. The measurements had to be just right, because while the sugar was only there to sweeten the cake, the caramel served another purpose. Overdoing the caramel would be a problem. Lastly, he added a generous amount of Pomeg berry extract for a little spicy bite balanced by an equal sweetness to it.
So as long as Steven kept the amount of caramel syrup right, things would go well.
He snuck a glance at Cynthia. In his opinion, he was outclassed. She was already bent on repeating her five-layer masterpiece and no doubt it would take tons of effort. However, Cynthia seemed remarkably calm too. What mattered for Steven was whether his humble Slateport cake could really compete against that scale. He doubted it, but it was all dependent on the caramel.
"The Striaton Gym Leader Cilan once said," Diantha said to Korrina and Fantina, "that if you really want to get a good layer of cake, the eggs and butter have to be creamed properly. Otherwise, making a layered cake would be impossible because the cake would just collapse."
Cynthia had finished blending her hazelnut batter and started pouring it into her baking pan. Once it was in the oven, she continued perfecting her chocolate ganache but also started on her coffee buttercream. Near the end, she would allow her hazelnut cake to cool, then cut it into five layers, fill it up with ganache and buttercream, and top it all off with chopped almonds and molten white chocolate.
Meanwhile, Steven still carried the huge burden of knowing he was outclassed. While he waited for his Slateport cake to bake, he also prepared a portion of honey once the cake was finished. The idea was that after baking, he would slice the Slateport cake in half to fill it up with honey. It didn't seem that appealing, but Steven figured it just might work with the coffee.
As it happened, Cilan and his brothers were standing in the crowd to see what the occasion was. They had seen the issue with the fondues in the newspaper, and now it seemed the challenge had gone elsewhere.
"You can tell that they're going for cakes," Chili remarked. "Who do you suppose has the edge?"
"My money is on Cynthia," Cilan replied. "Look at the layers she's cutting into! Five layers."
"I agree," Cress added. "Well, we all know Cynthia. She's the dessert girl."
"But just look at it! She's cutting that cake perfectly," Cilan said.
What Cilan said was no understatement. Cynthia's cake was a fluffy hazelnut brown and she was taking care to cut the cake into five even layers. For each cake layer, she was covering it heartily with ganache and layering another cake on top of it and covering that layer with ganache. They watched as Cynthia's worker, Henri, brew fresh coffee for the judges.
The brothers were hard-pressed into wondering what the final outcome would be. Already, the cakes were looking delicious, but Cynthia's had the greater appeal. Whatever Steven was cooking up, it better make up for it.
Not far from them, Wallace heard his stomach grumble as the aroma of hazelnut, chocolate, and honey filled the atmosphere around him. No wonder the audience grew to about three times its size in the past half hour! Lisia giggled.
"Got an appetite already, uncle?" she said smartly.
Wallace didn't say anything while he eyed the cakes hungrily. Meanwhile, Winona smiled and pushed Wallace playfully. "You know, I bet we'll get a taste when this is all over," she said. "If you want, we can always go for ice cream."
But Wallace shook his head. "My dear, there is nothing in this world that looks like that cake. It's like I've seen the love of my life in that cake! It's like Korrina, you know? She's trying to be like Winona, and so is that cake! Why, if I had a cake like that, I could simply melt–"
SMACK.
Suddenly Wallace was punched in the face by Winona.
"If you talk about that cake ONE MORE time, or if you mention HER one more time, you WILL be melting. I promise you that!" Winona bellowed. It was like steam was blowing out of her ears, never mind her head and helmet. Her face was red, but out of embarrassment alone, not anger.
Despite the violence catching the attention of others, it caused them to giggle. What they perceived was a hopeless couple that seemed to be holding a relationship together that should have broken at least an hour ago.
Nearby, Chili nudged his brothers. "Ha! That guy is hopeless! Have you seen some girl punch her boyfriend in the face? Now that's a first!"
Cress rolled his eyes. "No idea, since none of us ever bothered with relationships so far."
Cilan facepalmed. "Just… watch the show," he said resignedly.
The cakes were done, eventually, and Cynthia was already cutting three slices of hers to be served. Oddly, Steven had asked Henri for another three cups of coffee as he would need them.
Even Cynthia was curious as to what Steven was doing. From what she saw, her rival was measuring the diameter of the cup and then cutting his Slateport cake to match. As Cynthia prepared her third slice, Steven was placing his cake on top of the coffee cup. Just what was he up to?
Still, she brought her cakes nonetheless to be served with the cups of freshly brewed coffee already at the table. "Bon appétit," she said. "Voici la Crème de Lune Opéra."
The appearance of the cake was more than appealing with the rigid layers holding it together, along with the chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream that made up for a delicious blend with hazelnut. Fantina, Korrina, and Diantha stared at their servings with high expectations.
"Here goes," Diantha said, as she cut a large piece of the cake, three layers of it, and put it in her mouth. She followed this immediately with a sip of coffee. Korrina and Fantina did the same.
Their reactions showed amazement, as if the combination was as good as the rumours had promised.
"Wow… Cynthia, how did you manage to do this?" Korrina remarked. "My mouth is still watering even though I've already eaten it!"
"You've got the hazelnut, you've got the buttercream, and the white chocolate to glaze it on top. That crunch you get from the almonds tops it all," Diantha said. She was all smiles. "Combining it with the coffee is a masterpiece, since it brings out the flavour from the hazelnut and the ganache already. This is best in class, Cynthia!"
Cynthia giggled and bowed her head. "Merci, Korrina. Merci, Diantha."
Fantina was still staring off into space as she kept at the cake.
It was a dim morning, where the skies were on the verge of losing their darkness and the day was transitioning to brightness. Fantina was really, really, tired, but nothing could prepare her for what happened in the next minute.
Even this early, the streets were starting to crowd with people on their way to work; whether they were on their way to the Contest Hall, Amity Square, or the Gym. Actually, Fantina was heading for the latter. Even so, another day of work was exhausting for her.
But watching the dawn was refreshing somehow. The sun slowly broke over the horizon and its rays were shining down on the city. Fantina wished she could watch it forever, but she had work to do. Nevertheless, the sight woke her up from her tiredness.
"This is super refreshing," Fantina said. "You know, this is the sort of food that is perfect to start off your day! Even though the coffee heightens the cake's flavour, the flavour in return heightens the coffee, and it really is the stuff that wakes you up!"
Cynthia looked at Steven with a smirk. Steven though wasn't intimidated as he gestured the three judges to the Slateport cakes in front of them. After the opera cakes were finished with not a single crumb left over, it was Steven's turn to fight back.
"You will notice that the cakes are on top of the coffee," he explained. "This is deliberate, and as you taste it, you will see why."
Korrina was first to remove the oval-like cake off the top of her coffee mug to rest it on her plate. The coffee was still steaming hot, and it actually warmed up the cake with it. Diantha and Fantina simply did the same and starting biting into their cakes.
The flavour burst like a bomb. The expressions on their faces showed it.
"It should have been sticky… but the honey just flows through your mouth like water…" Fantina commented. "It's so liquid-y and runny, you wouldn't have thought this was honey! It matches the coffee perfectly, because you don't need sugar in your coffee anymore! All you need is honey!"
"But honey is very viscous," Korrina said. "How did Steven do it? The taste is so refined and clear! You can't imagine how the honey separated from the Slateport cake!"
Diantha mulled over her plate briefly.
"It's… It's the coffee. That's the secret, isn't it, Steven?" she said to the Stone Bistro chef.
Steven nodded, and that brought Cynthia's attention to another level.
"What do you mean, Diantha?" Cynthia demanded.
"This is fresh coffee, oui?" Diantha gestured to her cup. "Steven used the heat to his advantage to partially keep his honey-infused cake warm, and nice and runny. If you took the heat away, the honey would stay sticky, but because of this heat, the honey simply tastes delicious, and it is excellent with coffee. The coffee doesn't need sugar either, since the cake does the job."
Cynthia stared.
"Um… If you don't mind, I'd like to have a try myself…" she muttered.
Within a second, Korrina pushed her plate to Cynthia.
"I want to cut down on the sugar, so you should try the rest of mine!" she said. "It might blow your mind, so I advise taking coffee with it."
Still staring, Cynthia gave the cake a large bite and sipped her coffee alongside it. Just what kind of flavour was this?!
Overwhelming, but was it really? It was surprisingly relieving, though.
Cynthia was walking alone on a desert road. It was hot, sandy, and chaotic. A sandstorm was blasting her and her throat was dry. She was covered in dirt and sand, no less. Her hair was all greasy and she yearned for rest.
She was about to collapse.
But up ahead, she met a hiker on the way dressed in an orange collar shirt and combat pants. His steel-blue hair was too familiar to her. Steven.
"This might help you," he said, as he offered one of his rocks to her. "You alright? I know it hasn't rained for a while."
Cynthia shook her head. She yearned for something or someone to help her, but took the rock nonetheless. She glanced at its blue edges and wondered what use it would be to her. She gave it a shake and hoped for something.
The rock burst in her hand, and in a second, clouds filled the sky and rain started to drizzle onto the desert. It was a wonder, like a miracle, and Cynthia made the most of it by first washing her face. Whatever rock Steven had given her, it was pleasant as it washed away her worries.
Next chapter: the decision! Review, and a cup of coffee will be served to you in preparation for Steven's cake!