THE CAKE CONTEST
"Oh, _do_ go in for it!" Edith Holmes was saying, as she and Maisie
Norris sat on the edge of the Rose's shack and tried to persuade Dotty
and Dolly to agree to their plan.
"But I never made a cake in my life," Dolly objected.
"Nor I, either," said Dotty; "I don't see how we can, Edith. You're a
regular born cook, and that's different."
"But maybe you're a regular born cook, too," argued Edith; "you can't
tell if you never have tried."
"Anyway, enter the contest just for fun," urged Maisie. "Everybody will
help with the bazaar, and of course you want to be in it; and I want you
to be in this contest, because all us girls are."
"I'd just as lieve," said Dolly, "only there's no chance of our winning
the prize."
"Well, never mind if you don't. You'll have a lot of fun, and besides
it will teach you to make cake, and that's a good thing to know. That
funny old Maria of yours will help you."
"But would it be fair to have her help us?"
"Oh, of course not _make_ the cake; you must do that yourselves. But she
can tell you how, or show you how, and you can practise all you like
beforehand, of course. And you might win the prize, after all."
"What is the prize?"
"A twenty dollar gold piece!"
"What a grand prize! I didn't know it was such a big one."
"Well, you see, old Mrs. Van Zandt gives it. She's a crank on Domestic
Science and girls knowing how to cook and all that. And besides there'll
be lots of entries. All the girls all round the lake will send cakes."
"Can anybody send?"
"Any girl under sixteen. They call it the Sweet Sixteen Cake Prize."
"All right, let's do it," said Dotty, and Dolly said, "I'm willing, but
it seems nonsensical when we don't know a thing about making cake, and
less than a week to learn in. But we can have a try at it, anyway, and
we'll be in the fun. Hey, Dotsy?"
"All right, then," said Maisie, delightedly; "I'll tell Miss Travers
that you two girls will join the contest. She'll be delighted. She's at
the head of that committee."
Later the two D's conferred with Mrs. Rose about the matter.
"I'll be glad to have you do it," that lady said. "I always like to have
you learn anything domestic. Of course you can learn to make cake in a
week, if you have any knack at all. Go down to the kitchen now, and
Maria will give you your first lessons. Ask her to show you how to make
plain cup-cake first, and if you make a little more elaborate kind every
day, by the end of the week you ought to be able to concoct almost
anything. I don't want to be discouraging, but I can hardly think you'll
take the prize, for I remember last year the cakes were really most
astonishing affairs."
"No, we won't catch any prize," Dotty agreed; "but we want to be in the
bazaar, and the cake department is about as much fun as any. You see,
even if we don't take the prize, we sell our cakes for the biggest price
possible and that helps the bazaar along."
"Is it for charity?" asked Dolly.
"Yes; they hold it every year in the hotel, and all the camp people
take part. Oh, it's lots of fun; I'm so glad it's going to be while
you're here."
The two girls ran down to the kitchen, and informed Maria of their
immediate desire to learn to make cake.
"Bress gracious, chillun," said the surprised old coloured woman, "I'll
make all de cakes you all can eat. Don't you bodder 'bout makin' cakes
yo'self. Jes' leab dat to ole Maria."
"But you don't understand, Cookie," said Dotty. "We want to learn,
because we're going to make a cake to send to the fair, for the prize
contest."
"Prize contes'! What's dat?"
"Why, they give a prize for the best cake sent in."
"All right, den. Leab it all to me. I'll sho'ly make a cake what'll
catch dat prize. You all shoo out ob here now."
"No, no, Maria, you don't understand," and Dolly began to explain. "We
must make the cakes ourselves. You can't do it, because you're not under
sixteen--are you?" And the laughing blue eyes looked quizzically at the
old darky.
"Sixteen! Laws, chile, I's a mudder in Israel. I got chilluns and
grandchilluns. I ain't been sixteen since I can 'member. But, lawsy,--a
young un of sixteen can't make no cake worth eatin'!"
"But we can, if _you_ teach us, Maria," said Dotty, with tactful
flattery.
"Well, mebbe dat's so, if I do the most of it, and you jes' bring me the
things."
"No, that won't do; we must do it ourselves, but you must show us how."
At last they convinced Maria of her part in the undertaking, and with
more or less good-natured grumbling, she proceeded to enlighten the
girls in the mysteries of cake making.
The old cook was not trammelled by definite recipes and her rules seemed
to be "a little of dis," and "a right smart lot of dat."
But, even so, she was a good teacher, and at the end of the first
lesson, the girls had each a round cake, plain, but light and wholesome,
well-baked and delicately browned.
These were proudly exhibited at the family luncheon, and were at once
appropriated by Bob and Bert, who immediately constituted themselves a
Court of Final Judgment, and declared their intention of eating all the
preliminary cakes that would be made during the week's lessons.
So interested did the girls become, that every morning they spent in the
kitchen.
Mr. Rose expressed a mock terror lest his bills for butter and eggs
should land him in the poor-house, but the cake-making went on, and more
and more elaborate confections were turned out by the rapidly
progressing cooks.
Mrs. Rose declared that it was her opinion that doctors' bills were
imminent, if indeed the whole family would not soon be in the hospital;
but though the boys and Genie ate a fair portion of the cakes, much more
was consumed by the neighbouring young people, who formed a habit of
drifting in to Crosstrees camp afternoons to sample the morning's work.
The days brought plum cakes and marble cakes; chocolate, cocoanut,
custard and jelly cakes.
Once having achieved the knack of making the cake itself, the fillings
or elaborations were not difficult.
The girls took the matter rather seriously, but as the great day drew
nearer, they began to have a glimmering hope that they might achieve the
prize after all.
"But, oh, Dollyrinda," exclaimed Dotty, impulsively, "if my cake should
take the prize ahead of yours, I'd cry my eyes out, and if your cake
took the prize ahead of mine, I'd never speak to you again!"
Dolly laughed. "I've been thinking about that, too, Dot, and do you
know, I think it would be nicest for us to make only one cake, and make
it together, and enter it under both our names, and then if it takes the
prize we can divide the twenty dollars."
Dotty drew a long sigh of relief. "That is the best way, Doll; I never
thought of that. To be sure we run a double chance with two cakes, but
it would be horrid for one of them to take the prize. So let's devote
all our energies to one beautiful, splendiferous cake that will be so
perfect nobody else will have any chance at all."
"Yes, that's what I think. Now, what kind shall it be?"
This was the great question. The girls had proved apt pupils, for they
had a housewifely knack, and Maria was really a superior teacher. They
had learned the art of pound cake, the trick of sponge cake and had even
penetrated the mysteries of fruit cake. They had learned to make raisin
cake without having all the raisins sink to a thick mat at the bottom;
they had learned ginger-bread in all its forms, from the puffy golden
sort to the most dark spicy variety. Angel food and sunshine cake
presented no difficulties to them and layer cakes were their happy
hunting ground.
Also they were Past Grand Masters in the matter of icing. They could
boil sugar through its seven stages of spun thread, and they even
experimented with a few confectioners' implements in the matter of fancy
decoration and borders.
"It seems to me," said Dotty, as they held solemn conclave over the
great question, "that our trick is to invent an absolutely new
combination of flavours or ingredients. Say, cocoanut stirred into
chocolate icing, or something that's different from the regulation
'White mountain cake' or 'Variety cake.' I'm sure we can think of some
new idea that will be perfectly stunning."
"I don't agree with you, Dot," and Dolly looked solemnly thoughtful, as
her blue eyes stared into Dotty's black ones. "Now, I think this way. A
more simple cake, but of perfect quality and with a plain but beautiful
icing, that will charm by its very simplicity."
"That's a fine line of talk, Doll, and sounds well," put in Bert, who
was present with Bob as Advisory Board; "but I doubt if 'twill go down
with the Powers that Be. You see, after all, they're on the lookout for
novelty and elaborate messes."
"I'm not so sure of that," and Bob shook his head. "Perhaps Dolliwop's
idea isn't so worse! It's like a beautiful big white monument being more
impressive than a lot of ginger-bread architecture."
"Oh, we wouldn't make ginger-bread!" cried Dotty, laughing; "but I can't
see a plain cake taking a prize. I tell you, it's got to have an unusual
combination of materials. I can't get away from the idea that a novel
mixture of just the right kind of flavouring would turn the trick."
"And I'm positive that simplicity is the note to strike for." Dolly said
this with a faraway look in her eyes, as if she saw the vision of the
beautiful cake she was planning.
"Stick to it, Doll," cried Bob. "You've got the right idea or I'm a
loser!"
"You boys go away, now," and Dolly's brows wrinkled in serious thought.
"This is no time for fooling and Dot and I have to decide this thing
to-day."
Realising the gravity of the occasion, the boys went off, and the two
girls settled down to a desperate confab. Neither of them was insistent
merely because she wanted her own way, but each was eager for success,
and quite ready to settle their controversy by careful weighing of each
other's arguments.
At last, after a long discussion, they reached their conclusions and
went down to the kitchen to construct what they had finally decided
would be the best plan for their masterpiece.
Very carefully they worked, Dolly, slow, sure and very particular as to
measurements and combinations; Dotty, quick, beating the batter like
mad, whisking eggs and sifting sugar in a whirl of excitement.
And when the great work was accomplished, and the marvellous result set
on the dining-room table for exhibition, the family came in to gaze in
an awed silence on the beautiful cake.
No one was allowed to see it but the household, for of course it was
kept secret from the other contestants.
The cake was a marvel of beauty, and it combined the best ideas of the
plans of the two girls.
It was square in shape, instead of round, as that gave a touch of
novelty. It was only two layers, but the layers were of the most
exquisitely textured angel food, which had, after three attempts,
graciously consented to turn out "just right."
Between the layers was a filling, which followed in a measure Dotty's
idea of novelty. It was a combination of confectioners' icing, whipped
cream, pineapple juice and a few delicate feathery flakes of freshly
grated cocoanut. This delectable mixture was novel and of charming
delicacy.
But the icing was Dolly's triumph. The square cake, large and high, was
covered so smoothly with white icing that not a lump or a crack marred
the perfect surface of its top and sides. There were no decorations save
three lines of icing that delicately outlined the square top. The
trueness of these lines was a wonder, and only Dolly's steady hand as
she traced them with a paper cornucopia of icing could have resulted in
such an effective scheme.
"It is perfectly wonderful!" said Mr. Rose, looking at it as an artist.
"It's like the Taj Mahal or some such World Wonder."
"It's perfectly exquisite!" said Mrs. Rose, as she bent over to examine
it and then walked away to view it from a distance. "I never saw such
icing! How did you do it, girlies?"
"Dolly did that," said Dotty.
"Only because you were so excited your hand wiggled," said Dolly, who
was always placid, whatever happened. "But the filling is Dot's
invention, and it's just fine. We put some of it on another cake and I
want you all to taste it."
So they all sampled the other cake, and tested the flavour like
connoisseurs.
"Ripping!" exclaimed Bob.
"Out of sight!" remarked Bert, suiting the action to the word.
The boys were vociferous, the older people were enthusiastic; but one
and all agreed that there had never been such a cake built before and
that it would surely win the prize.
"Are you going to send it over now?" asked Mr. Rose.
"No," said Dotty; "we're going to take it with us when we go ourselves.
I wouldn't trust it to anybody, for it might get joggled and crack the
icing. Put it in the pantry, Dolly; I daren't touch it myself." Dotty
was quivering with excitement, but Dolly's steady hand carefully lifted
the precious cake and carried it safely to the pantry.
Later in the afternoon, the girls made ready to go to the bazaar. They
were to serve as assistants in the cake department, for the majority of
the cakes were to be sold. The prize cake, and those having honourable
mention would be exhibited, and later sold at auction, but much cake
would be disposed of at the regular sale.
They wore white dresses, with pale green ribbons, which was the costume
of all connected with that department of the bazaar.
Very pretty they looked, as they came dancing downstairs for Mrs. Rose's
inspection.
"You'll do, girlies," she commented; "your frocks are all right. We'll
be over later. I hate to have you carry that big cake, Dolly."
"Oh, I must, Mrs. Rose; I wouldn't trust it to any one else. Bert
offered to take it, and Bob did, too. But if they should drop it or
anything, I'd never get over the disappointment. We worked so hard on
it, and it is _so_ lovely, and if we can just get it there safely, I'm
sure it will get honourable mention at least."
"It ought to take the prize," said Mrs. Rose, enthusiastically; "but
don't get your hopes up too high, for there's nothing surer than
disappointment. Be very careful as you get in the boat, Dolly."
"Indeed, yes, but Long Sam is such a kind old thing, I know he'll do all
he can not to joggle, but to run very steadily all the way."
The bazaar was held in a hotel which was some distance down the lake.
But Dolly did not fear any accident while on the motor boat; she was
only apprehensive lest some one push against her as she made her way
into the building or into the cake booth. For one little crumb of broken
icing or one dent on its perfect surface would spoil, to Dolly's anxious
eye, the perfection of their cake.