The Great Greenfield Bake-Off Read online

  “Well—” Benny began, but stopped when the judging began.

  All three judges took big bites of Team Four’s peanut butter pudding at the same time. Then they all three spit out the dessert onto the table. Daniel Prince was coughing. Merry Holiday was gagging. Mrs. Catalan asked for water.

  Leslie rushed to the closest sink and filled three glasses.

  “Looks like another dessert was ruined,” Jessie told Benny.

  “This is bad,” Benny said, watching as the judges went on to spit out a caramel shortbread pie. “Very, very bad.”

  The judges didn’t give up. Their bites got a lot smaller, but still, they tasted all the desserts, spitting and gagging and drinking big glasses of water as they went.

  It came time for Benny and Jessie’s chocolate lasagna.

  Even though Benny had tasted their dessert, he hoped that somehow the slices the judges were sampling would be different. But when each of them took a bite, they each had the same reaction. They immediately spit it all back out, then they guzzled water.

  The only dessert that the judges ate happily was Connor and Emma’s no-bake pumpkin cheesecake.

  Finally, Leslie declared that it was time to announce the winner of the first round. First she explained for the audience and TV cameras, “There was a problem with some ingredients for most of our teams,” she said. “Somehow salt and sugar were switched in every dessert except one.”

  There was a gasp from the viewing stands and cries of “Oh no!”

  Jessie noticed Mrs. Catalan didn’t look excited anymore—she looked upset. She worked so hard on the competition and having a big mix-up in round one wasn’t good.

  Leslie went on, tapping her pencil on the clipboard. “The judges have decided that the one team that didn’t have an ingredient mix-up gets first place.” She didn’t even say the team name before Connor began to cheer.

  The audience applauded. Emma gave half a smile. And one person in the audience clapped and hooted, “Congratulations! Way to go! Yay!”

  Jessie looked to see who was cheering so eagerly.

  “It’s Mr. Lin!” Benny announced. He’d looked toward the loud voice too. “I wonder what he’s doing here?”

  “Supporting Connor and Emma, I suppose,” Jessie said. “Maybe he knows them?”

  Mr. Lin gave one more holler then slipped out of the audience stands and walked away.

  The TV crew gathered around Connor and Emma at their workstation. Connor straightened his chef’s hat. Emma was pushed aside by Connor as the reporter began to ask him questions about the pumpkin cheesecake recipe.

  Leslie hurried over to Benny and Jessie. She said softly, “Your dessert was in first place for presentation and creativity. Too bad about the salt. Better luck in round two.” She hurried off before Jessie or Benny could ask any questions.

  Leslie was at the judging table. She had a microphone. “Round two begins in five minutes! Bakers, get ready for your surprise recipe!”

  Round Two

  “When I tell you to start, all bakers can look into the boxes on your stations,” Leslie informed the contestants. “We’ve provided a recipe and all the ingredients you need for this round.”

  Benny leaned in toward Jessie. “I think I see a clue to the ingredient-switching mystery.” He pointed to Leslie. “There’s something white all over her shirt,” Benny noted. “It’s also all over the back of the clipboard.”

  Jessie squinted. “Good eyes.”

  “Good at tasting. Good at smelling. Good at seeing,” Benny said. “Me and Watch have a lot in common.”

  Jessie wished they could get closer. “It could be salt.”

  “Might be. Or sugar,” Benny said. “Or flour.”

  Jessie said, “She’s in charge of the ingredients, so maybe she set down her clipboard in something, and when she picked it up again, she got it on her shirt. It probably happened when she put everything on our workstations. Maybe it’s not a clue to our mystery at all.”

  “But how did she know it was salt that had been switched in the desserts?” Benny asked.

  “What do you mean?” Jessie said.

  “Leslie told everyone salt had been switched for sugar when she said who won the first round,” Benny said. “How did she know that?”

  “I bet the judges tasted the salt in the desserts like we did in ours,” Jessie told him. “Since salt and sugar look similar, it makes sense that that’s where the mix-up happened.”

  “Hmm,” said Benny. “I think we should tell Henry and Violet after the next round.” When Jessie agreed, he added, “Now, please explain to me again, Jessie, why are we all making the exact same thing this contest round?”

  “To show how well we can follow directions,” Jessie replied.

  Benny nodded. “I’m a great rule follower. This time, we’ll win for sure.”

  “I hope so,” Jessie said, crossing her fingers. They had to make up for a disastrous first round.

  “Bakers, ready?” Leslie asked.

  “You know it!” Connor shouted. His loud voice filled the room. “After I win this round, my masterpiece will be on the menu!” He straightened his tall hat. “Forever.”

  Emma caught Benny’s eye. She blushed and shrugged, with an expression like, “He’s my brother. What can I do?”

  Benny gave her a small smile and focused on their box.

  “Bakers, bake!” Leslie rang a bell and the second round of competition began. “You have one hour.”

  “Graham crackers, butter, sugar.” Benny was announcing each item as he pulled it from the box. “Salt.” He set that one to the side. “We’ll just use a wee bit this time.”

  “Here’s the recipe,” Jessie said, taking the note card that was taped to the outside of the box. “S’mores cupcakes.”

  “Oh, so yummy!” Benny exclaimed. “I hope we win, and Mrs. Catalan will put them on the bakery menu!”

  “Let’s do our best,” Jessie told him as she turned on the oven. “We need to get these in the oven as quickly as possible so they have time to cool before the judging.”

  Benny hurried to get the other ingredients on the counter. He was moving and talking fast. “Chocolate chips, heavy cream,” he noted, “which isn’t named correctly. It’s actually very light to carry.”

  Jessie laughed as she poured the graham crackers into a mixing bowl and got started.

  “We used marshmallows in the lasagna too,” Benny said, as he set a bag next to the cream. “Good thing I love them!”

  The cake called for flour, baking soda, baking powder, a pinch of salt, some of the sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla, and milk. Benny set those ingredients together and then set the big box on the floor. He looked at all the things they needed, spread across their work space. “It’s easier to buy cupcakes than to make them,” Benny said.

  “I like baking,” Jessie said while she poured melted butter, some sugar, and a touch of salt into the bowl with the graham crackers.

  “I prefer eating,” Benny said. “But if baking leads to eating, then it’s all right by me!”

  Jessie pushed the mixing bowl toward Benny. “First, tasting. Will you make sure the crust is sweet and not too salty?”

  Benny took a quick pinch. “Just right,” he said after testing it.

  “Great.” Jessie felt confident. She gave him some paper cupcake liners and a cupcake pan with twelve round spaces. “Please put the liners in the pan, then press some crust into each cupcake liner.”

  “Forty-five minutes remaining,” Leslie warned. She was wandering around the room, checking on the teams and making notes on her clipboard.

  Jessie scanned the recipe. Baking was going to take about sixteen minutes. Then they had to load the top with the chocolate and marshmallow mix and put the cupcakes back in the oven for about five more minutes. “We’re on schedule,” she told Benny. “But there’s no room for any mistakes.”

  “Crusts are done,” Benny reported. “What’s next?”

  Jessie checke
d the oven temperature. The contestants weren’t allowed to put their cupcakes in or take them out themselves. It was Leslie’s job so no one got burned by accident.

  “Leslie!” Connor shouted her name. “Open the oven.”

  “How can they be cooking already?” Jessie asked Benny. “We still haven’t mixed the batter.” She checked around the room. It looked like everyone else was working on the batter. “I don’t understand!”

  “Maybe Emma is a superfast mixer,” Benny suggested.

  “I guess…” Jessie said, but in her heart she knew something was strange about how quickly Connor and Emma were getting through the recipe. She mixed up the cake batter as fast as she could, while being very careful to measure the ingredients correctly. When that was done, she told Benny, “Spoon the batter on top of the crust.” Then she added, “Please.”

  “Taste it too?” Benny asked.

  “You really shouldn’t taste anything with raw egg in it,” Jessie told him. “We’ll have to trust it’s okay.”

  “I’ll use my other super senses,” Benny told her. He tipped his ear to the bowl. “Sounds delicious.” He sniffed the batter. “Smells perfect.” He touched a bit of batter from the side of the bowl. “Texture is smooth as silk.” Benny declared, “This cupcake batter is the best cupcake batter in Greenfield.”

  “All that without using your mouth?” Jessie asked. “Are you sure? We can’t be too careful.”

  Benny gave a thumbs-up. “These cupcakes will be 1,000 percent yummy.” He spooned scoops of batter on top of the graham cracker crusts.

  “Leslie!” Jessie called. She glanced at the clock. They couldn’t waste any time. “Open the oven, please.”

  Leslie hurried over. The oven was set to 350 degrees. As Leslie slipped the cupcake pan into the oven, Jessie put sixteen minutes on a timer.

  “Can I go to the bathroom?” Emma called over to Leslie just as Leslie closed Jessie’s oven. The rules said the bakers had to ask.

  Leslie gave Emma permission, saying, “Come right back.”

  Jessie made the mistake of looking toward Connor while his sister walked away. Connor stuck out his tongue at Jessie.

  “He’s a strange guy,” Jessie said under her breath.

  The cupcakes were baking. It was time to mix the chocolate with the cream. “We’re making a ganache,” Jessie told Benny. “It’s made out of two liquids that don’t normally mix well. Oil and water usually stay apart, but we’re going to use heat to force them to blend together.”

  “I never knew that baking was so much science.” Benny sat down on the floor to watch the cupcakes bake. He stared at them through the small oven window. They needed to be soft on top, not totally cooked. The ganache would go on top, and then the cupcakes had to bake a little more.

  “Good thing I love science,” Jessie said.

  Benny decided that since the cupcakes were guaranteed to taste great, presentation was the next most important thing. “Bake, bake, bake little pretties,” he said. “You are the most adorable cupcakes in the whole tent. No one is as adorable as you.”

  Jessie put a saucepan on a burner. The cool chocolate chips needed to melt and blend when the hot cream was poured on them. She was being careful, watching the time and making sure the cream didn’t burn, when suddenly—the lights went out! The sunlight streaming into the tent was enough that they could all still see.

  The boys at the station next to Jessie and Benny shouted, “The oven’s off!”

  A girl at the back yelled, “The stove went off too. My ganache is ruined!”

  Another boy cried, “What will happen to the cupcakes?”

  “What is going on, Jessie?” Benny looked up at his sister. He was still sitting on the floor. He said, “Salt instead of sugar this morning. Now the power goes out? The cupcakes aren’t done yet. This is not good.”

  Jessie sighed. There was only one clear answer. “Someone is trying to ruin the bake-off.”

  Trouble in the Tent

  “How can we help?” Henry asked Leslie. He and Violet had come down from the audience as quickly as they could after the power went out.

  “I…” She looked around the kitchen area frantically. Some of the teams’ cupcakes never went into the oven. Others, like Connor and Emma’s, were on the last few minutes of their first bake. “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted to him.

  “I’ll take a look at the breakers,” Henry said. Those were the main electrical switches. They would usually be in a box, together, somewhere nearby.

  “I’ll help Henry,” Violet said. She asked Leslie, “Any chance you know where those are?”

  Leslie shook her head, as if trying to clear her thoughts. “Maybe over there?” She pointed around the side of the kitchen area.

  “What should we do?” Benny asked Jessie as Leslie dashed away in the opposite direction from Henry and Violet.

  “I think we need to stay here.” Jessie pointed at their oven. “The heat will keep baking the cupcakes as long as we keep the door closed. Maybe Henry will get the power back on quick enough that the temperature won’t drop too much.”

  “I’ll watch the cupcakes,” Benny promised. “My adorable, little friends,” he whispered through the oven door, “keep on baking and be extra beautiful, okay?”

  Jessie tossed out the ruined warm cream. She’d need to start again once the power came back on.

  As she put the cream in the garbage, she noticed Emma running back into the tent.

  All around them, the teams were trying to decide what to do. No one wanted to toss out the cupcakes. There wasn’t time to start again. Of course, no one knew how this was going to affect the contest round overall. Maybe the judges would give them a few extra minutes at the end? Maybe this round would be canceled? The teams were confused. Everything was chaos.

  Leslie announced that the competition was on hold. “All bakers must stay by their kitchens.” She then dashed out of the tent.

  Henry and Violet found the breaker box. But they weren’t the first ones there.

  “What’s Mr. Lin doing?” Violet asked Henry. The rival bakery owner was closing the box. He stepped back away when, from the other side of the kitchen, Leslie came running up.

  Violet and Henry didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but Leslie was talking very loudly.

  “Is this what you wanted?” Leslie asked Mr. Lin.

  “What do you mean?” he asked her. The way he spoke made it sound as if they knew each other well.

  “Bad press. So many issues.” She rattled off a list of the things that were happening. “Ingredients being switched. Electricity going off. What’s going to happen in round three?” she asked.

  Mr. Lin shook his head hard. “We need to stop this once and for all.”

  The two of them hurried away together.

  Violet and Henry stepped out of the shadows.

  “What was that all about?” Henry asked his sister.

  “Sounds like Mr. Lin is involved in the contest problems.” She added, “Leslie too.”

  “I don’t want to blame them if it’s not their fault,” Henry said. “Let’s think about all this carefully.” He led her over to the breaker box. Henry knew a lot about electronics. He studied the switches and then said, “There’s nothing unusual here.”

  “Power’s still out,” Violet reported. “I wonder what’s causing it?”

  They found Mrs. Catalan walking around the kitchen platform. She was muttering, “The worst day ever…a disaster…how did this happen?”

  “Mrs. Catalan?” Henry said. She looked at him with a frazzled expression. “Can we help?”

  “Henry. Violet,” she said, sadly. “If the power doesn’t come back soon, everyone’s desserts will be no good. The day will be ruined.” Mrs. Catalan let out a long, ragged breath. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve invested so much money into this event. I thought it was a great idea and would bring new customers to the bakery.” She glanced over Henry’s shoulder. “Did you see that people are leaving?
”

  Violet said, “It’s just that so many things are going wrong. Some people probably think the contest will be canceled.”

  “Should I cancel it?” Mrs. Catalan wondered. She wasn’t really asking them, just thinking aloud. Then, she shook her head. “Oh, how the bakery would suffer. I might have to close altogether!” She let out a heavy sigh. “This contest was a terrible ide—”

  “Wait!” said Henry. He was looking down at the ground. “No need to cancel.” Partially buried in the dirt was the end of an extension cord. “Somehow the power to the kitchen got unplugged!”

  “Do you think it was on purpose?” Violet asked Mrs. Catalan.

  Mrs. Catalan was shocked at what Henry had discovered. “I just don’t know what to think anymore.” Mrs. Catalan inserted the end of the extension cord into the nearest outlet. The entire contest kitchen whirred as appliances, stove tops, and the ovens came back to life.

  Two girls in the back started screaming. Their electric mixer had turned on, and batter was flying everywhere.

  “A delicious mess,” said Benny. He offered to help.

  “The competition is officially back on,” Leslie announced. She told the girls that the rules said they had to clean their own messes even if it took extra time and wasn’t really their fault.

  “That’s a bummer rule,” Benny said with a sigh. He told Jessie, “Just make a two-people-baking mess, okay? We can’t get any helpers.”

  Jessie agreed that she’d do her best, but just like the electricity going out, there wasn’t a lot she could do if things went mysteriously wrong. They didn’t have time to talk to Henry and Violet and find out the details. They couldn’t leave the baking area. And now they had to get busy baking again.

  “I hope nothing else bad happens,” Benny said. He peered into the oven. “They still look good! Maybe not quite as extra beautiful. But good!”

  “Whew!” Jessie decided to let them bake another minute before calling Leslie over to remove the tin from the oven. “Can you tell us what happened?” Jessie asked while Leslie removed their cupcakes from the oven. No one had explained. Once the power went back on, the competition was the bakers’ main focus.