"You're awake" She glanced at Eliot who is holding a cookie and milk. He placed it in the side table.
"Thanks" Miharu said and drink the milk as she eat the cookies.
"Can you help me?" Miharu asked.
"Help you what?" Eliot asked.
"To be strong. And to be able to bake japanese sweets. By the way i'm Miharu Lemaire" Miharu asked.
"Japanese sweets?" Eliot asked.
"Yeah. I have only 19 days to finish the task" Miharu said.
"19?" Eliot said.
"I am only here for a mission. Father wanted me to beat Miya" Miharu said.
"I can make japanese sweets. Fine I will help you. In just one condition" Eliot said.
"What is it?" Miharu asked.
"I'll only teach you once for every recipes. It means you cannot fail. I will just dictate what you will do. I won't be making you" Eliot said. Miharu nodded.
"What are your goals?" Eliot asked.
"Goals?" Miharu asked.
"In helping you to be strong" Eliot answered.
"I want to beat them. I don't want them to treat me like a real killer. And I don't want to get pitied and get scared at me" Miharu said.
"Well then. What do you wanna do now?" Eliot asked.
"Lets start for baking" Miharu said.
"Once its over I will apologize to Andou and the others" Miharu said.
"Then for today you'll make Strawberry Shortcake" Eliot said.
"Ichigo?" Miharu asked as the name Ichigo comes right into her mind.
"I don't mean Amano Ichigo" Eliot said as he sighed. I laughed a little.
"Sorry" Miharu said.
"You finally smiled" Eliot said. Miharu gave him a question mark look.
"You should remember to have good feelings in baking. I'll be only teaching you once every recipe. So carefully do what you can" Eliot said.
"Hai, Sensei" Miharu teased.
"Tsk. I'm not a teacher. I won't be teaching you if you are calling me that" Eliot said pissed off.
"Meanie" Miharu said and she go to the Kitchen. Eliot followed.
"So what ingredients do I need?" Miharu asked.
"Lets start with the Sponge cake. You'll need 4 egg yolks, 20 grams of sugar, 40ml of Milk, 40gram of oil, half teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon of strawberry syrup, 30 grams of all purpose flour, 30 grams of corn starch, 4 egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar, 60 grams of caster sugar that is sifted, and a Pinch of salt" He said and Miharu readied all the ingredients and put it in the counter.
"Use a rectangle pan" He said and Miharu get the pan and place it in the oven.
"Lets start" Eliot said and Miharu nodded.
"Get the egg yolks and add egg yolks and 20 gram sugar into the bowl, then whisk them briefly until the sugar dissolves. And then add the strawberry syrup and mix them well" Eliot instructed and she did what he told her.
"That's right" Eliot said.
"After mixing them well, Add milk, oil and vanilla extract, mix well to combine again" Eliot said. Miharu added some milk.
"Its too much. Don't add too much milk" Eliot scolded.
"Sorry" Miharu said as she lessen the milk and put the oil and the vanilla extract.
"Sift flour and corn starch into the bowl, whisk until everything is incorporated and smooth, with no visible limps" Eliot said. And she sift the flour and corn starch into the bowl and whisk it until smooth.
"The color isn't strong enough, add more of the strawberry syrup. But make sure it isn't very very sweet and too much. The egg yolk mixture should have a dark pink tone, which will become a nice light pink shade when we add in the egg whites" Eliot said and she put a little.
"That's better" Eliot said.
"Next step, Whip egg whites with salt, cream of tartar and the rest of the sugar until stiff peak: the egg white should be firm and glossy. When you lift the beaters, the peak should hold without drooping into a hook" Eliot said. She nodded and do it carefully.
"Egg whites, mixing bowl and beaters must be completely free from any egg yolks, oil, butter, grease, or fat of any kind. Even a tiny drop of fat mixed in with the egg whites will make them unable to whip" Eliot said and Miharu got nervous.
"Don't worry you can do it. Try just thinking what your goal are" Elioy said.
"I'm trying my best" Miharu said as she wiped her sweat.
"Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. The final batter should be very smooth, foamy and free of large air bubbles. It shouldn't be runny either"
"Egg whites are usually mixed into the batter using a spatula. After the mixing step, if the batter is too runny with a lot of large air bubbles, then you have either under beaten your egg whites, or your folding technique isn't on point, causing the air bubbles in the whites to be deflated. If you bake this batter, your cake won't rise well, with a dense and chewy texture. Don't worry you just have to be careful. Don't rush things. Take your time" Eliot said and Miharu nodded as she is doing what she is told to do.
"Bake the cake in the middle of the oven at 165 - 170°C in 25 - 30 minutes until the top is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed. You first line the cake pan with parchment paper" Eliot said and she get the cake pan and line it with parchment paper and put the mixed ingredients in the cake pan after she turned on the oven and set it in 25-30 minutes.
"Note that The baking temperature varies depending on each oven. If your oven is small, or has unstable temperature, you might have to move your pan to a lower rack and bake at lower temperature (150 - 160°C) but what you did is correct" Eliot said.
"Unmold the cake from pan, remove parchment paper. And let cool completely. It's better to place the cake on a clean cloth and let both sit on the cooling rack. The cloth prevents the cake from sticking to the rack, and helps the steam escape fast" Eliot instructed and she followed it.
"While waiting it to cool you need 200 ml of whipping cream that is chilled, 23 grams of sugar, 150 grams of sliced fresh strawberries. You can use different colors of the strawberry for design if you want and 100 grams of berries to garnish" Eliot said and she go to the refrigerator and get the ingredients that he instructed and put it in the counter.
"Whip cream with sugar until stiff peak. When the cream has become billowy, whip at lowest speed to avoid overbeating" Eliot said and she beat it carefully.
"Then slice strawberries. And chill strawberries and whipped cream in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, the cream will be thicker and easier to frost. Once the cake has completely cooled, trim the edges and cut the cake in half. We get two equal rectangle pieces" Eliot said and she did.
"Place first piece of cake on your cake stand, tuck overlapping pieces of parchment paper under the edge of the cake to keep your cake stand clear of any cream. Then frost the top of the cake with about 1/4 of the whipped cream. Lay strawberry slices on top of the cream. Spread some more cream on top. Place the second cake piece on top. Frost the entire cake with just enough cream to cover. Then refrigerate the cake for about 30 minutes for the cream to set. This crumb-coating step will prevent cake crumbs from getting into the cake frosting, which will give you a nice, perfectly frosted cake" Eliot said and she carefully followed what Eliot said.
"Like this?" Miharu asked.
"No, You have to make it more thin in slicing the overlap pieces" Eliot said and Miharu nodded and followed.
"Lastly frost the cake with the rest of the cream. Garnish the cake with berries, which gives you a whole cake" Eliot said and she carefully frost the cake with the cream and garnished it with berries.
"Put it in the refrigerator; Keep the cake refrigerated for about 2 days. It tastes a lot better after being chilled" Eliot said and she did what he told her.
"Why 2 days? I want to taste it if its good" Miharu said.
"You can come back after 2 days" Eliot said.
"Are you tired already?"
"That's my line. Lets eat lunch first. Sit wherever you like. I'll cook. Its already late right now. You need a rest. After that we'll resume in baking" Eliot said.
"Got it" Miharu said and she sat on the Table.
"Who said you can sit on the table" Eliot said as his eyes closed in a second while he was chopping the onion.
"Why? You said I could sit wherever I like" Miharu said.
"She's a bad girl than I thought, Subaru" A male sweet spirit said.
"That's quite rude you know" Miharu said as she swing her legs.
"You can see him?" Eliot asked startled.
"Yeah. I didn't know you have a sweet spirit too. My sweet spirit is Alice. Anyway what's up with Subaru?" Miharu asked.
"Yo, My name is Midori. His second name is Subaru. But he doesn't use it. Since he hate that name" A sweet spirit said.
"Just like you Miharu Eclair Lemaire" Eliot said.
"How did you know my second name? And how did you know Amano Ichigo?"
"Henri told me your second name. And Henri also mentioned to me that he invited Ichigo Amano here" Eliot said and he placed the fried rice in the table and I followed and we both eat.
"How did you know him?" Miharu asked.
"He's my best friend" Eliot said.
"That makes sense" Miharu said and they both finished eating.
"Anyway the food is good. You're a great cooker" Miharu said.
"Our next sweets is Red bean cake" Eliot said and Miharu nodded.
"I'll do my best" Miharu said and she stood up.
"I'll look forward to it Eclair!" Midori said.
"Don't call me Eclair" Miharu said.
"Let's start" Eliot said.
~~~~~~~~
"Darn it! Why am I being like this!" Makoto shouted with angriness.
"Don't tell me you're falling for her?" Chocolat asked.
"I won't fall in any likes of her! I like Eclair-chan. My childhood friend" Makoto said.
"Damn it I won't lose to that first prince guy" Makoto said pissed off as he is sitting on the chair as he lean his arm in the desk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"4 princes?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah, Basically we are called 4 princes because of our rank in males in overall Academy branches. Akatsuki Eliot is rank first. The second is Kashino Makoto. And the third is me and the forth one is Satsuki" Andou explained.
"Then in females? Do we have too?" Ichigo asked.
"There are. The 4 princesses. The first one is Mari Tennouji and the second one Koshiro Miya, The third one is Miharu Lemaire, and the other one wasn't found yet" Satsuki said.
"It's too bad I don't have any partners" Satsuki whined as he pick the rose in the garden.
"Partner?" Ichigo asked.
"We're being paired. That is. Eliot and Mari, Miya and Makoto, Me and Miharu, And Satsuki doesn't have yet" Andou explained.
"So what will we need to do to become a princess?" Ichigo asked.
"If you want to become the fourth you need to have an a+ highest rank in a year. It means there are no fail in a year. If you have one fail in a year then you won't get in the top princesses. And you also need to serve 900 people what sweets and designs and tastes that they like that would be approved by the 900 people" Andou explained.
"In short it wouldn't be easy" Satsuki said.
"Then Miharu sure is incredible. How much did Miharu earned? I---" Satsuki cut Ichigo off.
"Wait a minute. Thats it for today. We need to learn the truth. What's up with Makoto and Miharu?" Satsuki said.
"I can't find Miharu anywhere. I tried talking to Makoto but he won't talk" Andou said.
"Let's look for answers. Lets ask some people. We have to do something about it" Satsuki said. Andou and Ichigo nodded and they get going.