Handmade Cake Making
Jung A-yeong was a patissier who ran classes like Delicious Handmade Cakes and One-Day Handmade Cake Class.
And right now, she found herself in a thoroughly bewildering situation.
"So, this character is called Camilla, and she loves to dance…"
That was because today's customer was a rather unusual person.
She had put in a request a week in advance, saying she wanted to try making a handmade cake herself. Over the phone, she had asked whether she could come in on Valentine's Day and make a cake in person — and whether, since she was an internet streamer, she could broadcast the whole process live.
Up to that point, nothing had seemed particularly special. It was the age of personal branding, after all. Whether on Vtube, StarLive, or any other personal broadcast platform, plenty of people made money off their own talents. A-yeong had simply figured the woman wanted to make a cake for Valentine's Day and film it.
Just recently, a whole pack of streamers had shown up to bake cakes and broadcast the whole thing live. She had accepted that booking without issue, so there was no reason to turn this one down either.
A-yeong herself promoted her shop on StarLive, so she had agreed readily. Whatever kind of stream it was, an appearance would be free advertising.
What she had been curious about was the client's face.
It was pure human curiosity. The voice on the phone had been so beautifully clear and sweet that her interest had only grown sharper.
And the customer who walked through the door exceeded every expectation.
The first thing A-yeong thought upon seeing her was that she was truly, breathtakingly beautiful. Snow-white hair, blue eyes, skin without a single blemish — so perfect that even as another woman, A-yeong couldn't summon a shred of jealousy.
She kept it off her face, but inwardly she marveled. A beauty streamer? A female cam girl? That was the sort of broadcaster she assumed she was dealing with. Among everyone A-yeong had ever met in her life, this woman's looks stood alone at the top.
By now, though, that first impression had been somewhat diluted.
From a beauty so stunning it stole your breath, to a beauty with a four-dimensional personality, and from there to a severe narcissist — the assessment was being revised in real time.
"…Are you listening to me, teacher?"
"Ah — yes! Of course! I was listening!"
"Right, right. It might not look important, but knowing a character's personality and lore versus not knowing it makes a huge difference when you're making something. Baking is a form of art too, isn't it? Artists pour their soul into their creations—"
The woman talked more than expected. That, too, had been one of the revised evaluations.
Compared to the cold, aloof first impression, she was remarkably chatty — enough that A-yeong, who tended to be slow and deliberate in her movements, found herself getting a little dizzy just trying to keep up.
Of course, if you were going to run a live stream and talk to people in real time, you probably needed to be talkative…
Glancing at the chat while half-listening to the woman, A-yeong found the messages scrolling by so fast she could barely parse them. She had been stunned when she first heard the numbers.
Twenty thousand people. The last group of streamers who came through had only drawn about five thousand. Even five thousand had been an absurdly huge number to A-yeong — enough to leave her speechless.
Kayak? Is that what they call her?
Picking the woman's name out of the racing chat was the only useful thing she managed.
A-yeong planned to excuse herself to the restroom in a bit and secretly look her up.
"—and that's how Snow Queen Camilla was made. She's really pretty, right?"
Meanwhile, Kayak kept right on explaining without missing a beat. Her enthusiasm was so intense that A-yeong, who had drifted into her own thoughts for a moment, actually felt a little guilty.
A-yeong had heard of Abyss before. It was the game her little brother never stopped playing. She even had a vague memory of seeing the character Camilla somewhere.
What she had never heard of was a person who looked exactly like that character. That was the root of A-yeong's growing questions about Kayak.
Why did this woman look identical to a game character? And why was she making a cake with a character that looked exactly like herself drawn on it?
It was a mystery, but A-yeong decided not to dig. Sometimes it was better to leave certain things buried. It was absolutely not because she didn't want to hear any more of Kayak's TMI.
At the end of the day, she just needed to get paid. Professionally speaking, she would make whatever cake the customer wanted for the money deposited.
Whether that cake featured a character that looked exactly like the customer's own face or not didn't particularly matter.
"Snow Queen Camilla…? Is this right? It's finished."
"It's done!"
The patissier approached with a slightly uncertain look on her face. Watching her, I had tensed up for a second, wondering if something had gone wrong with the result — but that didn't seem to be the case. She had just been unsure about the name of Camilla's skin.
At her words I shot up from my seat and checked the finished product. It was even more impressive than I had imagined.
Of course, this was a real cake and not just some decoration or merch piece, so the most important thing was the taste — but I could tell it would be delicious without even taking a bite.
That was largely because I had already eaten two of the ones I'd ruined earlier. They had been too far gone to salvage, so I just ate them myself.
Whether it was the bread or the whipped cream, she was clearly using high-end ingredients. It had been genuinely delicious.
"Why would I eat this. I made it this well. Ah — people who just came in are a little confused. This isn't a mukbang right now, it's a cooking stream. Cooking stream. You can see the tags, right? But why have I been eating since the moment you came in… that's because I ruined some while making them. Yes, I only ate the ruined ones. Don't say 'gotta eat it properly.' No."
A true artisan who had spent years mastering a craft really was on another level. Comparing what I had made to this was almost impossible. Something about the finish, the sheer quality of the look, was just different.
The taste itself was probably similar to what I had made, but the important part was the appearance. I had come here specifically because I wanted something as close to Camilla as possible.
"This design of the falling snowflakes is insanely detailed, right? It's so pretty I'd almost feel bad eating it. Is that a hint not to eat it after I get it… no, that's not it. I do have to eat it. If you just leave a cake sitting around it goes bad. I'm saying it looks that good."
All that enthusiastic explaining before we started baking had clearly paid off — the result was thoroughly satisfying. Every little detail I had wanted was there, and I couldn't help the admiration that slipped out.
Yeah, I didn't see things going this way either.
"I, uh, underestimated cake-making a little. I thought I could do it alone, but I ended up needing a lot of help from the teacher."
"We'll say we made it together. I provided the ideas, and the expert teacher did the making. And that whipped cream spread on the bottom — I put that on myself."
At the very least, the basic base was something I had made. It wasn't like my hands hadn't touched it at all.
"Don't say weird things. Anyway, we're making ten cakes total, and I'll draw the winners a little later. I'll ship them out as fast as I can without them going bad, so the people who get them should eat them right away."