Scale Cake

Overview

The Scale Cake is a cake baked to semi-formal occasions or to special days. This includes holidays, festivities, personal days (graduation or so) or just feel-good-days when the sky is blue but feels gray. A bit like the Berridge of Vraitha, but not as common.

Origin & History

Scale Cake originates from the old - some might say, golden - days of the Dragon Sun Empire, where the old rulers and citizens worshipped the Dragons. It was created by a famous cook and was found during the re-migration in one of the older bakeries.

Hórdra sighed and put the rest of the door away. The old wood had crumbled under the blunt force he had administered, so it was the doors right to crumble. Dust and splinters floated through the stale air and he coughed as the dust reached his nostrils.
He looked around in the bakery. The ingredients behind the counter were dry and had crumbled to dust long ago, even the mold was old and dry, but the entire bakery was tidy, like the baker had cleaned the bakery, got up and left never to return.
The counter was tidy, scrubbed clean, except for a wooden ledger, the cover cracked because of dry air and age. Hórdra inspected the rest of the bakery, but except for a tad bigger oven the bakery was the same as the other ones he had inspected.
Hórdra turned the ledger around, small clouds of dust emerged from the countertop. With the creak of dry leather he opened the large book and was surprised that the scripture was neat and very good to read. Not what he had expected from a baker who worked the entire day with his or her hands.
There was no name, but that shouldn't be a problem if the old archives had documents about the inhabitants of the buildings in the area. But the table of content was more than enlightening and in the dim light he could read through the recipes. It made him hungry.

Cultural Importance

According to history books and notes in tales, books and re-tellings of festivities and feasts the Scale Cake was always present, especially when the Dragons made their appearance. At some occasions - mostly during holy days - a few bakeries also had some kind of competition. The Dragons were the judges who made the best Scale Cake and got a nice amulet and a few Aureli as price.
During the first days of the Scale Cake it was only allowed at the more important occasions, but as the recipe got more famous, everyone was allowed to bake their own Scale Cake. The ingredients were not rare, but rather expensive, so most people only made it to their own special occasions.
During the first decades it was mandatory to say a small prayer to the Dragons in general and, if one would like, to the type of Dragon they worshipped the most or were their favourite. And then you are allowed to serve and eat it.

Yummy Tales

"Exactly what I just need..." silent sobbing

— Woman after her breakup with her partner

During the first days of Winter and Spring the festivities took place. They were a week-long spectacle where the Dragons would made their appearance and their judgement. The bakeries ran hot during this time, one could hear the yelling, screaming, laughing and swearing from all corners of the nation. The highlight? Of course the Scale Cake Competition where bakers from all over the Empire presented their Scale Cakes to the Dragons in all sizes and variants. Cakes and Dragons that is. After a day of testing, pondering, praising, the Dragons made their choice and it was a glory for all baker, winner or not.

Recipe & Appearence

Ingredients (for one cake)

• 1kg chocolate sponge cake
• roughly 1kg premade orange cream dough (p. 117)
• 3-6 oranges (depending on size)
• 350ml orange juice from said oranges
• a few spoons of orange peel
• Gold leafs
• optional orange liqueur

Instructions

Bake the sponge cake, let it cool off and then part it into two or three slices with the bottom slice being the thickest so it can hold the rest of the cake.
Mix the cream dough with the orange juice and the optional liqueur. Wait until the sponge has cooled off.
Once the sponge is ready, pour the cream onto the bottom slice, make it even, put the next slice on the cream, repeat until you are out of slices and cream.
Place the gold leafs on top of the last layer of cream in the form of dragon scales, let it rest for about three hours in a cool space far away from the sun or other heat sources.
Serve with the orange peel decorated around the piece of cake.

Appearence

If you have done it the right way, the Scale Cake should look like a juicy orange cake with golden dragon scales on top. In terms of consistency it shouldn't flow away, should have a fluffly texture with the cream and a crumbly, savoury chocolate-like bottom and the intermediate layers.

A slice of Scale Cake by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Item type

Consumable, Food / Drink