Bake a Cake: Areum’s Enchanted Forest 🍀
it was a particularly lovely afternoon at the malt’s house, the kind where warm sunlight poured through the windows and the kitchen seemed to be asking for something sweet to happen.
there stood mariselle and kymin, with a whole collection of ingredients scattered across the kitchen table, looking slightly worn out from their little shopping adventure but far too excited to care. between bags of matcha, little chocolate trees, edible flowers, and nice amount of fluffy cream, they were more than ready to bring their enchanted cake to life.
mariselle stood at the counter with his sleeves rolled neatly to his elbows, reading the recipe with the seriousness of a woodland wizard entrusted with an ancient spell. beside him, kymin was already wearing an apron that was slightly too big for him, the strings trailing behind like a tiny cape.
“first,” mariselle announced, “we whisk together butter, sugar, and a little sunshine.”
kymin blinked. “where do we get the sunshine?”
mariselle pointed solemnly toward the window. while kymin stared at him for a moment, completely unimpressed, “you’re impossible.”
“i’m following the instructions.”
“you just made that part up!”
“magical baking requires imagination.”
“magical baking requires actual ingredients.”
kymin shakes his head, then he scooped the butter and sugar into the bowl while mariselle stood by to supervise. an arrangement that lasted approximately four seconds before kymin handed him the whisk.
“your turn, wizard.”
mariselle took it with a little bow, sighing but not complaining any further to prevent another silly argument from happening.
the butter and sugar soon became light and fluffy, and then came the enchanted matcha. the moment it was stirred in, the batter turned the prettiest shade of meadow green.
kymin leaned over the bowl. “look. a forest.”
“a very delicious forest.” mariselle nods proudly, the color comes off as how they both imagined.
they poured the batter into the tin and sent it into the oven, waiting until the kitchen filled with the warm, sweet scent of matcha cake.
once cooled, the real gardening began.
they covered the cake with cloud cream, then dusted the top generously with matcha until soft green grass appeared. kymin carefully planted the little chocolate trees while mariselle arranged tiny edible flowers around them.
“is this one straight?” kymin asked.
“no…?” mariselle tilted his head, shaking his head as he’s looking at kymin, expecting him to grumble and fuss but instead he shrugs and nods.
“perfect.”
finally, they sprinkled a pinch of fairy dust over their little meadow. a little too much fairy dust, perhaps, judging by the glitter now covering the cake, the counter, mariselle’s apron and somehow kymin’s nose.
mariselle laughed. “you have fairy dust on your face.”
kymin wiped his cheek. “do i look magical?”
“you look like you just got smacked by a fairy.”
“close enough.”
with one last flourish, they placed little areum right in the heart of the enchanted forest, beside the pond and beneath the chocolate trees.
kymin stepped back to admire their work. mariselle smiled.
“a fairy garden fit for a good pup. do you think milo and areum would like this?”
areum, who had been watching from below the table the entire time, stared directly at the chocolate bone.
kymin followed her gaze. “i’m sure milo would melt by the sight of it. areum, however...”
mariselle nodded gravely. “we may have to protect the forest from its guardian.” ☘️♥️
