Chapter 380 Happy Birthday to You
Lin Anan poured the cream into a clean glass jar.
Aunt Luo poked her head in curiously: "Is that the end?"
"It's still a long way to go!" Lin Anan tightened the lid with a smile, "We need to shake it to shake out the water in the milk fat."
She and Aunt Luo took turns holding the glass jar and shaking it rhythmically on the small stool.
Ten minutes later, my wrist started to ache, but only fine foam appeared in the jar.
Aunt Luo laughed and said, "Remembering my past... I learned to make fermented tofu using the most ancient method, and it was even more laborious than this!"
After a while, there was a slight "click" sound in the jar, and the milk fat separated into two parts. The upper layer was fluffy light yellow cream, and the lower layer was transparent whey.
Lin Anan poured out the whey and added a pinch of sugar and a few drops of white vinegar to the cream: "This will make the cream more stable and taste sweeter."
Stir gently with a wooden spoon, the cream becomes more delicate and exudes a rich milky aroma.
Aunt Luo scooped up a little and tasted it. Her eyes lit up instantly, "It's amazing! It's even more delicious than the candy sold in the supply and marketing cooperative!"
At this time, the cake bases in the oven have also cooled down.
Lin Anan cut the cake base into two pieces, one at a time, and put them together into a square. She then trimmed the edges to make it round. She then quickly spread a layer of cream on it and sprinkled it with raisins pickled in honey, so that it had a filling.
Put another layer of cake base on it, then spread the cream all over the cake base, applying it little by little.
The winter sun slanted in through the window, casting warm shadows on the chopping board.
The cream on the wooden spatula is covered with fine lines and has a warm luster in the twilight.
Aunt Luo watched from the side without blinking, "An An, I didn't expect you to have this skill. Once this is made... I guess it can sell for a lot of money!"
"How can I do that? I'll just make some for myself to try. Auntie will bring some back later so that my family can try it too."
Lin Anan picked up the cream with a wooden spatula and pressed it lightly on the side of the cake. With her wrist turning flexibly, the cream wrapped around the cake like a melting cloud.
Use the tip of a bamboo chopstick to draw spiral patterns on the surface of the cream, and finally place dried hawthorn soaked in honey in the upper right corner as embellishment.
"alright."
Lin Anan tilted her head and looked at the results on the chopping board.
The setting sun gave the cake a layer of honey color, and the dried hawthorns dotted between the spiral patterns were bright red, making it look like a delicate pastry.
Aunt Luo came forward and clapped her hands. "I've lived for most of my life, and this is the first time I've seen someone make a cake. Such skill..."
Lin Anan gently covered the cake with a clean cage cloth and used the remaining ingredients to make a few small cream cakes, intending to let Aunt Luo take them back.
After the cake was done, Aunt Luo started helping with the cooking.
Lin Anan specially asked someone to buy an old hen today, intending to make a good meal.
Needless to say, Aunt Luo's cooking skills were excellent. By dusk, the table full of dishes was ready.
"Excuse me, Auntie. Please take this cake back."
"Okay, I won't be polite with you. I'll bring it back for Daya and the others to try."
As soon as Aunt Luo left, the gate creaked open, and Chu Minglan came in with her schoolbag on her back, her nose red from the cold: "Sister-in-law, what's that smell so good?"
"Little greedy cat, your nose is more sensitive than Dumpling's."
Lin Anan kept it a secret and didn't say directly what it was, only saying that she would bring it out during dinner.
As they were talking, Chu Mingzhou and Chu Mingyu appeared at the gate of the courtyard.
There was a thin layer of snow on Chu Mingzhou's military coat, and he was holding an oil-paper bag in his hand.
"Are you back? Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."
Chu Mingyu sniffed and ran straight to the kitchen, "Sister-in-law, what smells so good?"
The positioning is more accurate than Chu Minglan!
Lin Anan hurriedly stopped the man and turned him over, "Go wash your hands first, we'll have dinner soon."
"Okay, I'll go wash my hands then."
Chu Mingzhou glanced at Lin Anan, and instead of going to the bathroom, he went straight into the kitchen.
Lin Anan didn't want to hide it from him, so she pulled him to the chopping board. The moment the cage cloth was opened, the sweet smell of cream mixed with honey hit him in the face...
"How is it? The cream cake I made."
"That's amazing." Chu Mingzhou's fingertips gently brushed across her red wrist, and a look of heartache flashed in his eyes.
Those are the marks caused by shaking the glass jar.
He opened the oil paper bag, which contained a few cakes, "It seems that it is no longer useful."
"Why don't you use it? Save it for tomorrow. I love it."
Chu Mingyu's voice sounded outside the kitchen, urging: "Sister-in-law, I'm done washing."
Lin Anan curled her eyes and leaned close to Chu Mingzhou's ear and whispered a few words.
Chu Mingzhou was the first to carry the dishes out of the kitchen and go to the main hall to prepare them.
Five minutes later, Lin Anan came out holding a cake. All the lights in the main hall had been turned off, leaving only one candle.
"Happy birthday to you~"
Lin Anan walked into the main hall holding the cake. As the candlelight flickered, Chu Minglan and Chu Mingyu's eyes widened instantly!
The dried hawthorns on the cream cake glow attractively in the warm yellow light, and the honey-pickled raisins are wrapped in finely crushed icing sugar.
"Wow! It's a cake!" Chu Mingyu stood up immediately.
Chu Minglan was also a little bit unbelievable, and covered her mouth with her hands, "Is this for us?"
Lin Anan gently placed the cake on the table and said, "Happy birthday to Xiaolan and Xiaoyu!"
As soon as the cake is served, the rich sweet aroma of the cream becomes even more intense.
"Come and make a wish!"
Without small candles suitable for putting on the cake, we could only make do with the formality.
But the two little guys were very cooperative. They closed their eyes and clasped their hands. The flames made their rosy faces even more adorable.
Chu Minglan's eyelashes trembled slightly when she closed her eyes: "I hope...I hope that my brother, sister-in-law, and Brother Yu are all healthy and safe, and I hope that the baby in my sister-in-law's belly can be born smoothly."
Chu Mingyu's eyes rolled back and forth under his eyelids. After thinking for a while, he said in a loud voice, "I hope I can still eat cake on my birthday next year!"
Lin Anan was amused and laughed out loud.
"Okay, little birthday boys and girls, come and cut the cake."
Chu Mingzhou turned on the light and the room became bright again.
Chu Minglan gave the chance to cut the cake to Chu Mingyu. Chu Mingyu was not polite and cut the cake from the beginning to the end with one cut.
Lin Anan helped to divide the cake and gave each person a large piece.
Chu Minglan ate the cream in small bites and almost cried...
Chu Mingyu had already devoured the food, with the cream all over his face, but he still praised it incoherently: "Sister-in-law, it's so delicious!"
Chu Mingzhou silently added a bowl of chicken soup to Lin Anan, with red dates and wolfberries floating in the thick white soup.
He paused as his fingertips brushed the back of her hand, and said in a low voice that only the two of them could hear: "Does your hand still hurt?"
Lin Anan smiled and shook her head, "It doesn't hurt."
Outside the window, the northwest wind blew fine snow across the eaves, but the warmth inside the house kept the cold out.
As the candlelight flickered, the shadows of four people overlapped and swayed on the wall, like the warmest silhouette painting.
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