She was tempted to pull another one instead, but if she could pull this off while she was trying not to think about Andrew, she could work under any pressure.
She pulled an obstacle from the red bucket.
“Peas?”
Sara was taking this challenge seriously. She could easily hide peas by mixing them into the batter, but how she integrated them was as important as just getting them into the recipe. And the judges were always less than pleased when an ingredient disappeared into the recipe and they couldn’t taste them or recognize them at all.
She took a baggie and let herself into the cafe next door. Thank goodness everyone had gone home for the night. She went into the walk-in freezer and scooped a bag full of frozen peas, then went back to the bakery, feeling like a thief in the night.
She set the timer and got to work. She made the cakes and put them in the oven. That left twenty-seven minutes to get them cooled, frosted, and decorated before time was up.
She dropped the cakes in the deep freeze and got to work on the fillings.
Working as fast as she could, she made a batch of raspberry filling and another of chocolate. Then she swirled interlocking hearts on wax paper out of the white chocolate she’d colored with edible silver to use as cake toppers.
While the cake toppers hardened, Kelly took the cakes out and alternated sweet centers between the layers as she stacked them. Fondant was pretty, but in a hurry it could end up looking bad. A good thing to practice. Besides, she knew she could crumb coat and frost like a champ in a hurry with no problem.
She rolled out the fondant, then draped it over the tiered cakes. It laid smooth and perfect. She piped tiny thin vines of green ivy around the cake, then dunked the small green peas in shimmery edible silver glaze. She crossed her fingers and popped one into her mouth. “So good!”
Tickled with how they looked and tasted, she placed them around the bottom edge of each tiny cake to create an edible pearl-like ridge. Time was running out on the clock. She raced to the freezer and grabbed the cake toppers, popping them one by one on top.
The timer sounded, and she stopped and stepped back from the counter.
When all was said and done, she’d turned out four beautiful mini wedding cakes. Given a few more minutes, she’d have done a design on the plates to give it more of a finished look, but these were beautiful.
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning, right after church, Kelly went straight to the bakery and took the baking sheet with the mini wedding cakes, and a pile of leftover edible decorations, aka silver chocolate peas, out to the bakery case.
“Good morning,” Mom called out as she came through the rarely used door between the two businesses.
Kelly stopped mid-stride, feeling as caught as the day Mom had found her feeding cooked carrots to the dog under the table.
“Those are lovely,” Mom remarked. “Bridal shower?”
Oh, how she’d love to lie and say yes. But only four? That would never fly. “No, ma’am. Just some samples for a client coming in tomorrow.”
“I love the border around the bottom. So unique.” Then her face brightened. “How’d you make them so perfectly round?” She pointed a manicured nail toward the pile of large silvered dots.
“Actually, I stole those out of your freezer last night on a whim. They’re peas dipped in dairy-free dark chocolate and airbrushed with a silver glaze.”
“Peas?” Mom looked at her like she’d lost her ever-loving mind.
Kelly flushed. “Yes. The bride is a very picky eater. Vegan. You know the type.”
“Oh, heavens. I’m surprised she’s even having a cake.” Mom was teasing of course, being gluten-free and a vegan herself.
“A compromise, I’m sure.”
Mom smiled gently. “When it’s true love, compromise is easy.”
The last thing she needed right now was a lecture on love. “Want to try one of the peas?”
She waved her hand. “I think I’ll pass.”
“Oh, come on. Let me know what you think.” She lifted the tray in front of her face.
Mom picked one up like it was going to explode, hesitating before she put it in her mouth.
“Mom. Come on. Don’t be so dramatic. I’d never serve something that tasted awful. You know me better than that.”
“You’re right.” Her mom put the chocolate-covered pea in her mouth. With the pea still balanced on her tongue, she said, “You al-eady as-ed un, ight?”
Deciphering her words, she realized Mom was asking if she’d tasted one. “Of course I tasted one. You know I taste everything I bake. What are you doing?”
“Trying to forget it’s a pea,” she said in that open-mouth pea dialect.
“Stop it, Mom.”
Finally she closed her mouth and chewed.
“Oh, gosh.” Her eyebrows shot up. “This is really good. You’d never even know it was a pea. Let me have another one of those.” She plucked one from the tray. “I like these. A healthy snack. You could probably just sell little bags of these.”
“I’d say that’s a win,” Kelly said.
The front door of the bakery opened, and Andrew strode in. Before she could say a word, Mom was around the counter in front of him.
“Hi, Andrew. What are you doing here? Having a snack attack this early in the day?” Kelly asked.
“I was actually going to see if I could buy you lunch this afternoon.” He shrugged, looking hopeful.
“I can’t. I’ve got a lot to do.”
“That’s why I came early. So you could work it into your schedule. Even if you’re busy, you have to eat.”
Mom gave her a look of disapproval. What was she thinking? “Kelly, you should make him taste one of those peas.”
“Peas?” Andrews’s lips curled. “For breakfast?”
“Chocolate-dipped. I used them as decoration on a vegan
