Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 657 - 656: Closed-Door Cultivation of Making Cakes

"Pastries are different from cakes; pastries generally should be eaten with tea. Drinking tea alone can taste bitter, but the sweetness of the pastry perfectly counters the flavor of the tea, while the tea in turn cuts through the richness of the pastry. In fact, pastries and cakes are not things that should be lumped together."

Chen Nuo first explained Sha Wujing’s earlier remarks, then continued, "I don’t yet know if you have a talent for desserts. In a couple of days, I’ll teach you all to bake cakes. Those who do well can then follow me to learn how to make desserts."

Sun Wukong was stunned, "Master, what about me?"

"You’ve already learned cooking, where will you find the time to learn desserts?" Chen Nuo had no intention of teaching Sun Wukong how to make desserts because his temperament was simply not suited to it.

Everyone cooks based on their own feelings, which is why different people make dishes that taste different.

Sun Wukong hadn’t considered Chen Nuo’s reasoning and simply thought that Chen Nuo didn’t want to teach him desserts. He felt incredibly wronged, "Why, Master? I want to learn it too, I’m still your disciple."

"It’s not that I don’t want to teach you, it’s just that you’ve already learned how to cook, and desserts like these would conflict with your cooking," Chen Nuo said. "Moreover, your cooking skills haven’t yet been refined. If you start learning desserts as well, it’s very likely that you won’t excel in either, which is really unnecessary."

Chen Nuo had a point, and Sun Wukong understood the priorities. Pursuing this matter would only risk neglecting what he had already learned, which was indeed unnecessary.

But whether or not he learned was one thing; even if there was to be learning, it should not be Sha Wujing doing the learning.

He had only been at Chaos Residence for a short time. If there truly should be learning, it should be Tian Peng. Tian Peng was, after all, Chen Nuo’s second disciple. Why should Sha Wujing be the one to learn desserts when the time came?

"Master, since you say so, I won’t learn it. But Tian Peng has been gone for so long. Why not wait until Tian Peng comes back, and when it’s time to learn desserts, have us both learn and see who has a talent for desserts?" Sun Wukong thought it unfair for Sha Wujing to have all the advantages, Tian Peng should also get his chance.

Chen Nuo had indeed considered Tian Peng’s feelings, and he was waiting for Tian Peng to come so both could learn together.

After all, making desserts just requires preparing all the measurements in advance, without worrying about controlling the heat.

"Hmm, I’ve remembered all that you’ve said. When Tian Peng comes back, I’ll teach him as well."

Chen Nuo certainly hadn’t forgotten about Tian Peng. He wouldn’t favor one more than the other. Since he had already promised to take Tian Peng as his disciple, he regarded him as one in his heart.

"For now, you guys handle the orders, and I will research desserts for a while. Once I have made a few popular ones, we’ll list them on the delivery app. As for learning desserts, let’s wait for Tian Peng to return. When we have time, I will teach you both."

Watching a disciple and a prospective disciple finish the cake, Chen Nuo stood up. His mind was filled with different dessert recipes he wanted to try. He decided to indulge in making desserts for the day, putting off teaching his disciples until later.

Sun Wukong was relieved to hear that Chen Nuo hadn’t given up on Tian Peng. It was good that proximity to authority had not assured automatic benefits.

After all, from his perspective, Tian Peng was still his good brother. In any situation, he would prioritize his good brother, who had forged a bond with him; Tian Peng would definitely come first in his heart.

Chen Nuo paid no attention to Sun Wukong’s thoughts. He was fully focused on desserts. However, he kept feeling like he was forgetting something; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember what. Shaking his head, Chen Nuo figured it was probably because he had too many things on his mind.

As soon as he stepped into the dessert house, everything else faded from Chen Nuo’s mind. Making Chiffon Cake was just a way to practice, and once he achieved a sense of accomplishment, it was not easily diminished. Chen Nuo planned to make every dessert in his mind before even thinking about listing them.

As soon as the idea struck him, after finishing the Chiffon Cake, Chen Nuo went on to bake a sponge cake, which, compared to the Chiffon Cake, is more suitable as a base for cream cakes.

The Chiffon Cake still had a bit of a dense texture, but the sponge cake was indeed very soft. A particularly well-made sponge cake is almost indistinguishable from the cream in terms of taste when you first try it.

Especially those butter-based stiff cream cakes, where even the cream part can be slightly harder than the cake body.

Once the sponge cake was ready, Chen Nuo used molds to make several cake bodies, and then piped the whipped cream on top for decoration.

But these cakes were only different in shape; they would taste the same. Merely doing this wasn’t enough to satisfy Chen Nuo, so he started preparing to make a Napoleon.

The biscuit layer in the middle of the Napoleon is made of crisp pastry, the perfect crispness of which, combined with the cream, truly tests the skills of a pastry chef.

Chen Nuo made the crisp pastry with butter, and then baked it in the oven. Fortunately, the methods of making desserts were as familiar to him as controlling his own limbs.

It only took him one try to bake the crust for the Napoleon to perfection. Of course, if this were left to Tian Peng or Sha Wujing, they would surely fail several times before they could learn from their experiences.

He spent two days straight in the dessert house, using the dessert-making methods etched into his mind, until he drained the spiritual power of the dessert house, and only then did Chen Nuo step out of it.

Sun Wukong was cooking while keeping an eye on the dessert house.

His master’s approach to closed-door pastry making was very similar to the cultivators’ approach to closed-door cultivation, with an incredibly strong sense of immersion.

Sun Wukong was always worried that Chen Nuo might become obsessed with making desserts to the point of lunacy, which was so distracting that he couldn’t concentrate on cooking; he just waited for Chen Nuo to emerge from the dessert house.

Fortunately, Chen Nuo came out after just two days, and Sun Wukong finally felt relieved. If he had to wait any longer, he probably would have ended up camping by the door, waiting for Chen Nuo to come out.

"Master, have you finished your closed-door, no, I mean, have you finished making desserts?"

As soon as Chen Nuo opened the door, Sun Wukong immediately stepped forward and asked.

Sha Wujing followed behind, "Shopkeeper Chen, you haven’t been outside for the past two days, do you want to rest for a bit first?"

Right after he finished speaking, Sun Wukong shot him a glare. It seemed that it was always their job to look out for Chen Nuo, and here he was, hogging all the nice things to say. It made it seem like they didn’t know how to speak nicely.

"Master is grown up, does he need one of us to tell him when to rest? Acting like you’re the only one who knows how to say nice things."

"No, I was just... I’m just concerned about Shopkeeper Chen’s wellbeing. Shopkeeper Chen has been tirelessly working in the dessert house for two days, perhaps he should rest a bit first before doing anything else," Sha Wujing was genuinely concerned and meant no harm; he was simply worried for Chen Nuo.

But Chen Nuo didn’t amass all that spiritual power for nothing; a mere two days was nothing to him, he wouldn’t have had any issue even if it were two years without rest. Of course, concern from his prospective disciple was still appreciated.