Birthday Games

54. Once Upon a Helping Hand

Author's note: I was again surprised to see only one vote for the next chapter. In case anyone missed the previous reminders, I feel I should point out that comments asking for the next chapter should be placed on the first chapter, the one with "Vote here" in its title.

"I want to help with the party too," Karin said, though she was talking to herself as much as to Birthday now. "I want to make cakes for everybody." She had a look around at all the trees of the wild forest, that could be so much fun to climb, and at all the wildflowers that she could have braided into hair ornaments to make her beautiful party dress any prettier. The woods had so many possibilities, but she'd decided what she was going to do now. She set off striding back towards the castle, knowing that Daddy would be proud of her when he saw how good she was at making cakes, and that was all that really mattered.

"Won't the king have already got the royal baker to make a magic cake?" Birthday asked, ducking and weaving in the air as she followed Karin home, "You don't want to be going in the kitchen when they're super busy getting everything ready."

"No, it's okay. Daddy's been busy in the kitchens for days now, I bet he was making things as a surprise for me. So he must have finished by now. I can make an extra cake while he's putting the decorations up, an extra present from me!" She seemed so confident that the little fairy didn't want to disappoint her.

When they got back to the castle, Karin decided to go in through the back door. She didn't want a fanfare to welcome her home, not when she was trying to make something to surprise Daddy. So as soon as she'd taken her coat off and her bag on the table in the hallway, she hid herself away in the kitchen. She could hear Daddy moving somewhere else in the house, preparing whatever he had planned for the rest of the day. She wasn't going to disturb him, she was already looking forward to seeing what would happen. She just hoped it would keep him busy enough that he wouldn't walk in while she was cooking.

"Right," she grinned and rubbed her hands together. She knew that a cake needed flour, and milk. She found both in the cupboards and put them on the kitchen table. Then she got a big jar of crystalised fruit, and some sugar flowers. Jam was obviously necessary, and a big tin of squirty cream for decorating.

"I think that's everything," she grinned, "So how do you make a cake?"

Birthday didn't know. And even after she'd thought about it a couple of times, neither did Karin. She got one of the big cook books down from the shelf and flipped through, and found an awful lot of things she might like to eat. But none of them was a birthday cake. Birthday flew up to the glowing timer on the oven, to check if it had a 'cake' button. But as soon as she touched it the blue numbers flickered angrily, and she came right back to tell Karin the bad news.

"I think there's already something in the oven," she said, "There's a timer set. Maybe it's tonight's dinner, or the other cake."

"We'll have to do a cake that doesn't use the cooker then," Karin wasn't put off at all, "I don't know lots about cooking, but why do you always got to use the cooker?"

"I think if you put all the ingredients in a bowl it just makes dough," Birthday answered, but hesitating. She wasn't very clear on the matter either, it seemed. "You've got to put it in the oven to make it go hard, so it's a cake."

"Ice cream goes hard if you put it in the freezer," Karin pronounced, and then smiled again. "We can just do a... a... a frozen cake! And if it doesn't stay hard then I can just wish it to turn into a cake."

"I don't think it normally works like that," Birthday pointed out, but she didn't want to argue too much. Karin was already starting to pour her selection of ingredients into a mixing bowl, and whipping a wooden spoon back and forth to mix everything together. She was making a bit of a mess, and getting almost as much cake mix in her hair as she was in the bowl, but the Princess was clearly having fun. That was the important thing, and a fairy's main duty was to make sure that the Princess enjoyed herself; so whether this cake worked or not would be a secondary concern.

But while Karin carried on with her mixing, Birthday did have one new idea. She wasn't very good at food spells herself, but she could use the power of her wand to contact other fairies, and if anyone knew how to make a cake stick together without using the cooker, it would be the imperial fairy master of culinary knowledge, Google. While Karin guessed at what she could put together to make everything work, Birthday was receiving a whole course of magical knowledge, and the next time Karin stopped to ask her opinion, she thought she knew what to say.

"Do I need to put lots of flour in?" the question was an easy one, "I don't know what flour tastes like, but Daddy always uses lots of it for cakes and pies."

"I don't think you need it," Birthday answered, "I asked the cooking fairy, Google, who knows everything. And she said flour goes brown in the oven and makes a cake cake-coloured. But you don't need any for a fridge cake."

"Oh, cool," Karin giggled, "We can make a cake with less stuff, too, Daddy will be really happy!"

"I'm sure he'll be so proud of you," Birthday fluttered up to a nearby cupboard, "But I found a few different recipes for fridge cakes. Before we go any further, I think you've got something important to decide." When she came down, she was holding a dozen little bottles, each the size of a thimble. Every one of them was a different colour, bright shades like some kind of witch's potion.

"Ohh," Karin's eyes went wide, "What colour should it be? I don't know, there's loads to choose from. It could be orange like oranges, or super-cute pink, or red like strawberry and cherry, or... there's so many to choose from!"

"I know," Birthday grinned, and danced around on the tabletop. She picked up one bottle at a time, like a partner she was dancing with, and then left it behind while she whirled another across the table. "All these different colours. And every colour tastes like different fruits, so different colour cakes taste different as well. What kind do you want to make?"

Karin looked at them for a few long moments. She knew it was a big decision, but if she was going to be a big girl then she had to be used to making big decisions. She had to be able to choose the right thing, even in a rush. And just casting her eyes along the row of little coloured bottles, she knew there was only one choice that would be right for today's party.

For a pink cake, turn to chapter 58

For a blue cake, turn to chapter 60

For a yellow cake, chapter 55

For a rainbow cake, turn to chapter 65

And if I haven't posted the chapter you want to read yet, leave a comment on the first chapter (the one with "Vote here" in the title) to let me know which one you want