Chapter 247 Honey Crispy Chicken Cake
All expenses of the branch hospital are allocated by the main hospital; in short, the branch hospital is completely dependent on the main hospital for support.
Here, accommodation and three meals a day are provided free of charge, but students need to clean up after themselves and take turns helping out in the kitchen.
Nevertheless, most of the women felt that this place was a hundred times better than their own homes.
Some of them would occasionally help out at the main hospital as part of their work-study program, and they would receive extra subsidies.
For students in the branch campuses, everything in the main campus seems out of reach.
After completing their studies, their best career path would be to provide craft services to the students of the main campus.
If you can be noticed by students from the main campus, a little money is enough to feed a student's family for a year.
Some of these students were specifically trained to become maids in wealthy households.
The branch school has established a special course for this purpose, which was originally designed by Hongqu by drawing on the modern home economics management major.
Although these students face greater risks, their gains are far better than those of ordinary women who earn a living through their skills. Furthermore, their frequent visits to wealthy and influential households broaden their horizons, which also benefits their future marriage prospects.
After all, there's a saying: "I'd rather marry a servant from a wealthy family than a girl from a poor one."
Becoming a maid in a wealthy household might allow her to climb the social ladder and marry a minor official.
However, only a minority of students actually hold this view.
Most students still hope to find a good job through their own efforts so that they can help support their families.
This group of students has the most courses in the department. They need to be literate, able to do accounting, and skilled in needlework. They also need to recognize jewelry, silks, and satins, understand basic pharmacology and nursing, and be able to care for young children and the elderly...
Originally, Hongqu was training them in the same way she was training head maids; as for how much they could understand and how much they could actually do, that was up to them.
After these students complete their studies, the academy will help them find suitable families.
They sign employment contracts with their employers and receive monthly wages.
Although they were referred to as "slave girls," they were not actually slaves.
Moreover, if they suffer injustice or are unjustly punished by their master's family, the academy can stand up for them.
A maid with such confidence and self-assurance would probably not be accepted by a wealthy family.
On the contrary, the maids from the branch academy are incredibly useful!
First of all, there's no need to spend years painstakingly training them. They become very efficient after just a few days of familiarization, even better than the servants in their own homes.
Secondly, there's no need to worry about privacy leaks. They sign a confidentiality agreement upon entering the household, and if it's verified that the master's private affairs were leaked by a maid from the branch courtyard, they will be removed from the branch courtyard and left to the master's disposal.
Furthermore, they are genuinely here to get things done; there wouldn't be so much gossip and backstabbing involved.
This major is not only very demanding, but also very demanding.
Although there are quite a few women in the branch academy who have this kind of idea, not many can actually withstand the intensity of the courses and persevere to the end.
Only a dozen or so such talents were trained in total, and before they had even completed their training, wealthy families were already making reservations for them.
Yuan Hongqu wondered if she should extend the duration of this professional course so that other girls who wanted to learn could also keep up.
"Mr. Yuan is here!" As soon as Yuan Hongqu entered the branch, people saw her and the news spread from one class to another.
Although Yuan Hongqu casually told Lan Su that she would come to the branch to teach students how to make cakes, after arriving at the branch, she actually had the idea of teaching the pastry making class how to make cakes.
Today she taught the simplest honey crispy chicken cake. This was the first time she had taught students how to make soft pastries at the branch school. In the past, she had mostly taught various puff pastries and other pastries.
As a popular modern sponge cake suitable for all ages, the market is huge. She had long planned to teach the recipe to her students, and the tools and molds were already prepared.
Yuan Hongqu stood in the pastry class classroom, holding a bamboo whisk in her hand, her gaze sweeping over a group of expectant girls in front of her.
They didn't have neat school uniforms; the only similarities were their gray-black aprons and rolled-up sleeves.
Yuan Hongqu, wearing the same apron, first picked up a small jar.
Slowly pour the honey into the egg mixture.
The aroma of honey instantly filled the air, sweet and warm.
"The amount of honey should be moderate; too much will be cloying, and too little will not be fragrant enough."
Next, sugar was added to the egg mixture, and then the bamboo whisk was used to stir the egg mixture.
At first, her movements were gentle, like petting a kitten, but then she gradually increased the speed, the egg mixture spinning rapidly under her hands, forming a small vortex. "The key to beating eggs is the force and speed," she explained as she stirred, "to allow enough air to enter the egg mixture, so that the sponge cake will be fluffy."
Yuan Hongqu paused for a moment before speaking again.
"This is the most time-consuming and laborious step, but the key to whether the sponge cake tastes good or not lies in this step. You should all try to start beating the eggs. If you don't have an egg beater, you can use a few chopsticks to beat the eggs."
The girls nodded in agreement and began to imitate Yuan Hongqu in preparing the egg mixture in front of them.
Manually whipping egg mixture is not an easy task, but fortunately, it was whipped up in the end.
Before adding the flour, some oil was added to the beaten egg mixture.
"Sir, these are all good ingredients: eggs, honey, sugar, oil, and flour. Isn't the cost a bit high?" a thin girl said. She was planning to make pastries to sell, but weren't the ingredients a bit too expensive?
"We'll decide how much to sell it for after you've tasted it." Yuan Hongqu didn't answer her question; she'd wait until the finished product was ready before deciding.
The girl nodded.
"The flour needs to be sifted so it won't clump together," Yuan Hongqu said, using a sieve to evenly sift the flour into the bowl.
Next, she picked up a specially made bamboo spatula and began to gently stir the batter.
"You need to stir it horizontally, diagonally, and then horizontally in that order. You can't just stir it directly."
As Yuan Hongqu stirred the batter, she invited her students over to watch her technique.
After mixing well, she poured it into the mold, gently tapped it a few times to remove excess air bubbles, and then sprinkled sesame seeds on top for garnish.
The students followed her step by step.
After everything was done, they were all put into the large oven in the branch campus.
About fifteen minutes later, the sweet aroma of the cake filled the air, and the students waiting in front of the oven stared eagerly at the oven door, hoping it would open soon.
Fifteen minutes later, the cake was ready.
Yuan Hongqu put on thick gloves and carefully took out the mold.
The outer crust of this little cake is golden and crispy, exuding the sweet aroma of honey, while the inside is fluffy and soft, like a newly blooming flower.
"Come and see which plate is yours. I know you all marked yours when you sprinkled the sesame seeds," Yuan Hongqu said with a smile.
The students gathered around, found the cakes they had made, and surprisingly, none of them were a failure; it seemed the recipe was really simple.
"Try them all," Yuan Hongqu said with a smile.
The crispy outer layer and the soft interior intertwine in your mouth, while the sweet aroma of honey spreads across your tongue, as if awakening your entire taste buds.
One person couldn't help but exclaim, "Mr. Yuan, this is the best pastry I've ever eaten in my life!"
Yuan Hongqu smiled, a sly glint in her eyes: "Of course, this is my secret recipe."
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