Luxury Cafe Owner - Chapter 33 Make Your Cake And Eat It Too

The day passed uneventfully. Alan did note he had a few return customers which he felt grateful for. He was afraid that, despite the incredible success of the cafe last month, the gains would be entirely temporary. However, it seemed he underestimated the number of people out there with the money to afford to regularly come to the cafe.

He was still a long way off from the 100 regular customers required by the system to obtain his next reward, but he had enough now that he didn’t feel worried about the business going under so long as he was frugal.

Towards the end of the day the groceries he’d ordered were delivered. The speed of the delivery services these days astounded him. When he thought about it though, it probably helped that this time he was ordering all local products. If he’d ordered sugar from Colombia he’d have to wait a much longer time.

As he closed the cafe he decided to take the chance to try to prepare the coffee cake. He had never made cake before, though he’d seen it made on cooking shows. Still, with the system’s process being ingrained in him he wasn’t worried about skills.

Stepping into the kitchen he first went to the oven and began preheating it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.

Then he began to gather the ingredients he would need. He grabbed flour and baking powder and set them aside. Then he found butter, milk, vanilla extract, shortening and sugar and set them in another pile.

He began by mixing about three cups of flour and a teaspoon of baking powder together. After thoroughly mixing it in a bowl he set it aside and turned to the other pile.

He took the milk and poured about a cups worth into a measuring cup. Then he grabbed the butter and mixed in about a teaspoon of it and another teaspoon of vanilla extract. Setting the measuring cup aside. He grabbed a large mixing bowl and creamed nearly a cup of butter, half a cup of shortening, and 3 cups of sugar together. Once the mixture became nice and fluffy he grabbed 5 eggs, and cracked them over the mixture. Then he further mixed it until the eggs had completely folded into the mixture.

Taking the flour mixture and the milk mixture Alan followed the knowledge from the system as he began to alternately mix them into the shortening. He finished adding the last bit of the flour mixture and looked at the glistening cake batter in front of him. He could have used store bought cake mix, but at that point he would be losing the freshness he wanted.

He set the cake batter aside. Then he began making the cinnamon topping that would go over the cake. Compared to the cake batter, the cinnamon topping was much simpler. He took the brown sugar and poured out a cup of it, packing it in to make sure it was a full cup. He poured it into a small mixing bowl. Then he added a tablespoon of ground cinnamon.

Finally, to give it the nice crunch that all coffee cakes had, Alan chopped walnuts and added a cup’s worth to the mix. He chose walnuts based on the knowledge from the system. Walnuts themselves were fairly bland. The only real flavor to them was slight bitterness. That bitterness would be perfectly countered by the large amount of brown sugar. As a result, the walnuts wouldn’t interfere with the flavor, and would only add a nice texture.

After adding all three of the ingredients to the small bowl he mixed them thoroughly so he was left with a seamless cinnamon sugar mix in front of him.

He took the batter and poured half of it onto a cake pan. Unlike other pans the cake pan was deep so that it could hold the cake mix. He poured half into the pan, spreading it evenly so that it was level. Then he sprinkled half of the cinnamon sugar mixture over it. Once he was satisfied it was thoroughly coated he poured the remaining batter over the top and finished off by coating that with the cinnamon sugar mixture. By doing it that way he would have two layers of cinnamon sugar flavor.

That was key when dealing with cake as cake is very thick, and without the cinnamon sugar mix in the middle it would have a strong initial taste that quickly faded to a bland cake taste.

Taking the pan Alan put it in the oven that he had preheated. After he did that he went back to his ingredients and made sure to put the ones that would spoil away, like the milk.

He let it bake for 20 minutes before turning the temperature down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then he let it bake for another 40 minutes. He pulled it out of the oven at this point and took a thin wooden skewer and inserted it into the cake. When he pulled it out he saw there was still some batter on the skewer, meaning the cake wasn’t done yet.

The system gave Alan an ideal recipe, but unfortunately each oven was different. Though his oven was top of the line, it didn’t mean it would bake the cake perfectly. He set it back inside for another 15 minutes. When he checked it again it had finished perfectly. He made a mental note to bake the cake for an hour and 15 minutes going forward.

He set the cake out to cool on a wire rack. The advantage of a wire rack was that it allowed cool air to circulate freely, preventing condensation from forming and making the cake soggy.

After it had cooled for 10 minutes, Alan grabbed the cake and set it onto a cutting board. He took a knife and carefully sliced the cake, getting an even slice. The cake held together well, though the slightly crunchy cinnamon mixture crumbled slightly causing bits of it to stay with a few cake crumbs on the cutting board.

He took a deep breath, luxuriating in the smell, and took a bite. The crunchy sweetness of the cinnamon crumble on top paired well with the muted sweetness of the cake itself. He made himself a cup of cappuccino and walked into the cafe, eating his coffee cake and sipping his cappuccino for a good twenty minutes.

After Alan finished, he sat satisfied for a moment. Then he went to the kitchen. He took the cake and wrapped it in plastic wrap before storing it in the refrigerator.

“I’ll take it to my parents tomorrow,” Alan thought to himself, satisfied.

He walked back into the cafe and cleaned up the plate and cup. Then he washed the mixing bowls, measuring cups, pan, and cutting board in the kitchen and put the remaining ingredients away.

Finished and satisfied, he turned off the lights in the kitchen and cafe, made sure the door was locked, and went upstairs to get ready for sleep.