Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 347: Fresh and Vivid Lotus Cake

After all the dough was made, Shen Yu went to the knife rack and picked up a thin and slender knife.

He picked up a dough in his left hand and held it in his hand, while his right hand deftly made three cross cuts on the dough. Each cut cut through the crust and he could feel the depth of the cut into the filling.

After cutting the patterned cuts, the cake looks like a small white orange with six petals.

Wen Yuan and the others stood by and watched, not knowing what Shen Yu meant by doing this.

After Shen Yu cut four doughs, he put the knife on the table and said to Wen Yuan, "Master Wen Yuan, you guys should try it too."

"Just follow the pattern I cut, and cut through the crust until you get to the filling.

Wen Yuan had been watching Shen Yu's skillful production. Seeing the dough obediently grow longer and curled up, it seemed to be easy to operate. He had long wanted to try it.

After hearing what Shen Yu said, he immediately stepped forward and started cutting the dough in the same way Shen Yu had done before, holding the dough in one hand and using his other hand to cut it.

Wen Yuan probably underestimated the softness of the dough and thought it would be like the thick cakes he had made before.

The first time he cut, he used too much force and almost cut the dough in half.

Shen Yu was watching from the side and almost cried out in shock, worried that he would cut his hand.

Wen Yuan was a little embarrassed for a moment, but he quickly calmed himself down and cut with less force the second time. By the third time, he had almost mastered the right amount of force.

After Wen Yuan finished cutting, he held it in his hands and examined it, muttering to himself, "This isn't that good looking. Compared to the cakes I made before, it's just softer, has a sweeter filling, and it's cut a few times."

"Could this be what Miss Shen called a flower-shaped pastry? It doesn't look like the flower shape we promised it would. At most, it looks like a six-petal orange."

He thought about it and couldn't help asking, "Miss Shen, it's done like this. It doesn't look like a flower. Master said to make it into a flower-shaped cake. Is it okay like this?"

Shen Yu did not explain directly this time, but smiled and said: "Master Wen Yuan, don't worry, cut the dough first."

“You’ll know when we fry it in oil.”

Wen Yuan had no choice but to patiently cut two more doughs, then handed the knife to Yan Xin, Chef Xu and the others, who took turns cutting the remaining thirteen.

Some of them cut very evenly and with moderate force right from the start and succeeded in one go.

Some people hold the soft dough and dare not cut it hard, and they just drag their feet, which results in the dough being cut crookedly and in a mess.

Shen Yu just watched from the side and encouraged them to act boldly.

After the dough of the flower cake was ready, Shen Yu asked, "Do you have a deep flat-bottomed soup pot?"

Yan Xin hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, yes, the master just bought one last month, and planned to use it to make rice porridge in winter. I'll go to the warehouse to get it now."

Having said that, he ran out.

A moment later he returned with a huge frying pan.

Shen Yu felt that the dining hall of Guang'an Temple must often have to prepare meals for many people at once.

Pick up any pot, they are all big, and the mouth of the pot is almost the same size as a large basin for washing vegetables.

But this pot is too big. She should have emphasized that she needed a small soup pot.

Before she could say anything, Wen Yuan said angrily, "Yan Xin, can you be more careful? Didn't you see how many pancakes Miss Shen made? How big is each pancake? Do you need to use such a big pan to fry them?"

Yan Xin glanced at the small and exquisite dough on the table, chuckled to herself, and without saying a word, she swiftly took the big soup pot and ran out again.

When he came back, he brought back a smaller soup pot.

Light the stove used to cook porridge, put the soup pot on it, pour half of the oil into it, and start heating it over low heat.

After waiting for a while, Shen Yu grabbed a small piece of dough and put it in. The dough sank to the bottom of the pot. When he saw bubbles starting to form around the dough, he could start frying it.

Shen Yu placed all the prepared dough pieces on a large flat plate, held it above the oil pan with his hands, picked it up with bamboo chopsticks and gently placed it into the pan, with the cut edge of the dough pieces facing upwards and a certain distance between them.

Because the soup pot I used this time was not big, I could fry ten pancakes in one pot.

After everything was put in, Shen Yu used bamboo chopsticks to gently stir the dough that had sunk to the bottom of the pan. Wen Yuan and the others all gathered around the wok and watched.

As the oil temperature slowly increased, the dough at the bottom of the pan began to change.

It expanded slowly at first, and then the cutting edge at the top slowly opened up, like a flower slowly blooming, and six petals began to appear and curl outward.

As Wen Yuan and the others exclaimed, the flower grew bigger and bigger. The originally small round ball had more than doubled in size, with layers of jade-white lotus petals and black and red bean paste filling in the middle.

Shen Yu was waiting by the side with a colander. When he saw that the frying was almost done, he scooped up the fried lotus cakes with bamboo chopsticks in one hand and the colander in the other, and placed them on the colander next to him to drain the oil.

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Because it is a trial, it is not dyed. If it is dyed, it can be made into a pink lotus. The filling in the middle can be replaced with a light-colored fruit filling, such as chestnut filling, hawthorn filling, etc., which will look more like a lotus."

After frying these ten, Shen Yu put the remaining ten into the oil pan and fried them.

Wen Yuan and the others came to their senses and started discussing: "How did they do that? How did they make it bloom just by frying it in oil?"

"Yes, yes, Master, look, the petals have several layers, and they are as transparent as jade."

"Can this be eaten? This lotus is so beautiful, how can I bear to eat it?"

Amid the discussions among several people, the second pot of lotus cakes was fried.

Because everyone has different techniques for cutting the flower petals, the fried lotus cakes all have six petals but in different shapes, which makes them look vivid and lively.

Shen Yu took the tray and put the lotus cakes that had cooled down in front of him into it one by one.

She smiled and said, "These are ready to eat. Do you want Master Ci'en to take a look and taste them?"

Wen Yuan said hurriedly: "Of course, the pastry chef will definitely be satisfied this time. I will send it over and ask him to try it."

Having said that, he took the tray, turned around and walked out.

Yan Xin looked at Wen Yuan's back as he walked away and whispered, "Master took ten at once. Doesn't he dislike sweets?"

Shen Yu smiled and said, "There are still ten here. You guys can try some. We will have to make some more later."

After hearing this, Yan Xin and the others hurriedly took another tray and put the remaining lotus cakes on it.

Shen Yu originally had no intention of eating, he just watched with a smile on his face.

Yan Xin and the other four people plus Xu Chu can each get two.