Meet Taliha, a renowned introverted bookworm with a haunting past and a secret alter ego as an up-and-coming Islamic writer. Her peculiar and unconventional reactions to life's twists and turns have left her questioning her very existence, as the wo...
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful, the sixteenth chapter of the story begins, please do enjoy it. Good luck!
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Taliha's POV: Back to the dinner we are making, it's time for the next meal. Can you guess?....
"Are you cooking the Turkish dish now?"
Mrs Lilian faced me, waiting for a response. Then I looked at her with a firm reply.
"No, the cake..."
"Cake?" She uttered with a raised eyebrow, "what cake?"
"The jubilee cake...."
"But it's a cake done in two days, do you have the frost rose petals ready?"
"Yes, of course...."
She becomes mute. I am not surprised that she was stunned by my reply, I mean how did I prepare the petals beforehand?
I went to my room to get the petals and opened the door before entering, the parchment was on a stool near the bookshelf. I touched a petal slightly to feel its texture, it's dry.
With a smile, I left the room along with the parchment. Mrs Lilian was surprised after seeing the petals, she thought I was joking. "See?" I said stretching out the parchment to her, she gazed at the petals and smiled slightly.
Good job!...me
I placed the parchment on the counter with a sigh, "Let's get started."
I removed the nylon gloves I was wearing and wore a new one, then I preheated the oven to 180°c gas/160°c fan. I buttered two 20cm/8inches round sandwich tins and line their bases with baking parchment. I tipped sugar into a mixing bowl and add the softened butter of the tins. After beating it for a while till it's pale and fluffy, I beat egg yolks inside the bowl.
Mrs Lilian sifts baking powder and flour over the cake mixture while I folded the powder into the mixture lightly using a large metal spoon.
"Please, be careful dear...."
She whispered as I folded it. She added almonds and extract into it after a while, then I stopped folding the mixture when the flour traces had gone. Mrs Lilian whisks the egg whites until they held their shape. Then I folded a third of the egg whites gently into the cake mixture, I repeated this third twice.
"Please don't over-mix the mixture, Taliha." Mrs Lilian warned, I nodded in reply. We didn't want to lose the lightness of the egg whites due to thorough mixing. The raspberries are folded inside, then i divided between the prepared tins and leveled the mixture with a round bladed knife. After baking it for 30 mins, it was cooled in the tin for 5 minutes before turned out. I peeled off the lining paper and left it to cool completely.
With that, we were making progress and I couldn't hold the happy feeling inside of me, my lips twitched into a smile and i found Mrs Lilian looking at me with a beam too.
