Baozi Xishi's Struggle

A few busy days passed in a blink of an eye. Early in the morning on the fourth day of June, Manager Fan came to the kitchen and asked Shen Yu if he could make flower cakes for offering to Buddha.

At first Shen Yu looked confused, and it was only after Chef Lu explained it to him that Shen Yu finally understood what was going on.

It turns out that the day after tomorrow, June 6th, is the annual Tianfu Festival.

From the first to the seventh day of June every year, the Buddhist scriptures in Guangning Temple, located on the west mountain outside Anping County, are moved out to dry.

On the sixth day, a grand sutra-drying ceremony will be held, during which senior monks in the temple will worship Buddha, recite sutras and pray for the people.

People from dozens of miles around would rush to Guangning Temple on this day to watch the scriptures being dried, visit the temple fair in front of the temple, and eat the temple's flower cakes and vegetarian fruits. It was as lively as New Year's Day.

The current emperor believes in Buddhism and has preached it a lot. Buddhism is prevalent and has many believers among the people. Buddhist temples are bustling with incense. On every festival, devout men and women sincerely pray for blessings, donate incense money, offer flower cakes, and pray for peace and health for their family.

Flower cakes are available to everyone, but the best ones are those that are delicious and sweet.

It takes a lot of ingredients to make a big plate of flower cake, and the cost can cover an ordinary family's rice expenses for half a month, so the flower cake in front of the Buddha can mostly be afforded by wealthy families.

Offering flower cakes is a good deed and will help the wealthy gain the protection of the Buddha, who will bless their whole family with peace and prosperity. The wealthy are happy to offer flower cakes and donate incense money in hopes of receiving blessings.

Various types of flower cakes for offering to Buddha are sent to the temple and placed before the Buddha. After the monks’ prayers, they will be distributed to the people who come to watch the drying of scriptures at the end of the ceremony. It is said that eating them can ensure a clear and peaceful summer and keep away the summer heat.

The owner of the restaurant would naturally not lag behind in doing such good deeds and accumulating virtue, and would make a large plate of flower cakes every year and send it to Guangning Temple early in the morning on the sixth day of the first lunar month to pray for blessings.

A plate of flower cake is quite large and takes a lot of time and effort. It takes most of the day to make a plate, and most of them are made by skilled cooks at home.

The pastry shops in the county town can also provide customized products, but they run out of novelty after making them year after year, and the styles are all similar, so they can never compete for the top spot.

The wives of wealthy families would make some candied dates and lotus seeds, and peel some walnut kernels by themselves. When the cooks at home made flower cakes, they would add these candied dates and kernels made by the host family, which made it seem like the cakes were made by the host family themselves and showed their sincerity.

The cook at the Dong family's home in the county town is not good at making pasta and cannot make good-looking flower cakes. Every year, the Dong family's wife sends someone with a horse-drawn carriage to deliver candied dates and lotus seeds in advance, waiting for Chef Yang to make the flower cakes in the restaurant's kitchen. The cakes are then delivered to Guangning Temple overnight and placed in front of the Buddha as soon as the temple gate opens in the morning.

Chef Yang is not here this year, so I wonder if Shen Yu can make it. Flower cakes need to taste good, have a nice shape, and last for a day without collapsing. Not everyone can make them well. If Shen Yu can't make it, he has to go to the shop and order it.

After listening to Chef Lu's description, Shen Yu had a general understanding of what the flower cake looked like. Isn't this the jujube flower honey cake that every family must make during the New Year in later generations, which symbolizes prosperity?

It is stacked layer by layer, with fillings and various nuts in between. It has a beautiful shape and color, and tastes sweet and soft. It should be the Buddha flower cake here.

Shen Yu had an idea of ​​what a flower cake should look like, so he said to Shopkeeper Fan: "I have never made one before, so how about I try making a small one first and let you see if it works? If not, go to the shop and order it. Today is only the fourth day of the New Year, I will prepare the flour and flower cakes for today and start making them. They are small enough to be ready by noon. When they are done, I will let you come and see them."

Shopkeeper Fan thought for a moment and said to Chef Lu, "Help Miss Shen make the flower cakes today. Let her free up her hands to make a flower cake first. If it doesn't work, you can order it earlier. You will have more time and the shop can make it more attentively."

Chef Lu agreed, described the appearance and taste of the flower cake to Shen Yu, and then helped to make the Five Blessings Flower Cake.

There is no shortage of candied nuts in the kitchen, and vegetable oil, flour, and snowflake sugar powder are all ready.

Shen Yu took the dry old dough starter stored aside, broke a piece into pieces, soaked it in warm water, poured in flour and an appropriate amount of snowflake sugar powder, kneaded it into a soft dough, covered it with a cloth and placed it in a warm place by the stove. Then he went to make the silver thread noodles needed for the day.

After making the silver thread noodles, start preparing to make the flower cake.

I got some old spinach leaves and small beetroots from Mrs. Liu, the kitchen helper.

Blanch the spinach in water, mash it in a mortar and squeeze out the dark green spinach juice.

Chop the beetroot and use a mortar and mortar with a small amount of water to pound out the dark red juice.

After preparing all these, the dough is almost done.

The flower cake described by Chef Lu is a round cake with lace, which is made layer by layer. In the middle of each layer, there are candied dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, pine nuts and other nuts. Stacking five or six layers will make a very decent and beautiful flower cake. After the shape is completed, put it in the steamer and steam it. The steamed flower cake is sweet and soft, and the sweet aroma can be smelled from a distance.

Shen Yu asked Chef Lu if it was possible to make it in other shapes and if it was possible to make it in color.

Chef Lu touched his round chin and encouraged Shen Yu, "There is no rule on how flower cakes should be made, but most flower cakes are shaped like this. It would be even better if you could make something more unique and beautiful."

"The flower cakes will be placed together before offering to the Buddha, and everyone will choose the most outstanding one and place it on the offering table in front of the Buddha seat. The rest can only be placed on the side offering tables in order. If the cake can be placed in the middle, the owner of the gift will feel particularly proud and blessed. The cake that can be placed in the middle of the Buddha seat will carry more blessings, and it is the one that everyone is vying for."

Shen Yu understood, agreed with a smile, and did it.

After a busy period, the flower cake was put into the steamer.

Before it comes out of the pot, a sweet smell wafts out.

The waiters who came to serve the dishes kept looking around while doing their work. Some of them couldn't help but ran to the stove to see what was being steamed. However, they were chased out by Chef Lu with a scolding and laughter.

Because it is a trial, the flower cake is not big, it is a mini version, but it is also the size of an eight-inch soup plate.

After the fire is high and the food has been steaming for one incense stick, it can be taken out of the pot.

After turning off the fire and letting the steamer simmer for a while, he opened the steamer and used a cloth to hold the thin bamboo steaming sieve together with the flower cake out.

As it was past noon, the guests had all left the banquet and there was nothing to do outside. When the heat died down, everyone gathered around. Liu Wu also hurriedly invited Shopkeeper Fan to come over.

On the thin bamboo steaming grate is a plate of flower cake with a unique shape and exuding bursts of sweet fragrance.

There are three layers of flower cake, each layer is different.

The first layer is shaped like a white lotus platform with a circle of lotus petals, all decorated with white lotus seeds and red candied dates. The most wonderful thing is that the tips of the petals are faintly pink, just like the pink lotus flowers in full bloom in the yard.

The second layer is in the shape of fruits, including pink peaches, large red pomegranates with cracked openings revealing pomegranate seeds, and bunches of bright green grapes. They are placed in a circle at intervals and are so soft that juice would ooze out if touched.

The most eye-catching is the third floor, where walnut kernels are used as Taihu stones to form a lotus pond, with a few small fish and two cranes in the middle. There are green lotus leaves, pink lotus flowers, and a few red fish playing among the flowers. In the middle stand two cranes with red tops and white feathers, one combing its feathers, and the other looking up to the sky, as if about to spread its wings and fly away. A closer look reveals that they are all made of dough, lifelike.