“Then it’s a perfectly good tactic. Just say that since they moved the competition up two weeks, you didn’t have time to practice making your wedding cake and you wanted to try out your idea with them to see what they thought of your creation.”
“That’s brilliant, Nancy!” Delores exclaimed. “That’ll put the judges in the position of helping Hannah with something other than winning the competition. And everyone wants to help with a wedding, especially since they all might be there.”
“That makes sense,” Michelle said. “It might give you an edge over the other contestants.”
“But . . .” Hannah paused and gave a little frown. “Do you think that’s fair?”
“It’s fair,” Andrea said without hesitation. “All the other contestants will be researching the judges and trying to figure out how to use that information to their advantage. You’ll be able to do that too, but you’ll also have the advantage of getting married. And no one else will have that.” She turned to Aunt Nancy. “We’re just lucky you’re here to advise us.”
“Thank you.” Aunt Nancy looked pleased as she turned back to Hannah. “So what do you think? Do you want to bake a Double Rainbow Swirl Cake for your wedding?”
Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about that yet. What is a Double Rainbow Swirl Cake?”
“It’s a recipe I used to bake for special occasions, and it includes one of Allen’s favorite ingredients.” Aunt Nancy paused to smile. The smile was impish with a touch of smug mixed in, and Hannah knew Aunt Nancy had thought of a recipe that might give her another advantage over the other contestants.
“My Double Rainbow Swirl Cake starts with white cake batter. You can use your favorite white cake recipe. You’ll only bake two layers for the judges, but the cake should be quite heavy so that the layers don’t topple when you stack them up for your actual wedding cake.”
“And I’m volunteering right now to bake the actual cake for the wedding and decorate it,” Lisa declared.
“I’ll help you bake it,” Aunt Nancy offered.
“Thank you,” Hannah said gratefully. If the competition ended the day before she was married, she really wouldn’t have time to bake her own wedding cake.
“What makes it a Double Rainbow Swirl Cake?” Michelle asked Aunt Nancy.
“It uses different flavors of Jell-O for the colors.”
“Jell-O!” Andrea exclaimed, looking intrigued. “I make a poke cake that has two colors of Jell-O in it.”
Hannah hid a smile. When she’d driven Andrea to the hospital to have Bethie, Andrea had admitted that she bought the cake, ready-made, at the Lake Eden Red Owl Grocery store and simply added the Jell-O.
“This cake uses Jell-O powder that’s added to the cake batter,” Aunt Nancy told them. “You use three colors of Jell-O in one layer and three colors of Jell-O in the other layer.”
“It sounds intriguing,” Delores said.
“It is, and it’s also very pretty. The layers are stacked on top of each other and that means you could get all six colors and flavors in every slice.”
“It sounds perfect.” Hannah smiled at Aunt Nancy. “Thanks for being here. Your help is . . . well . . . invaluable.”
“I’ll taste the test cake,” Delores offered.
“Thank you, Mother,” Hannah said, and then she turned back to Aunt Nancy. “This is sounding better and better. What do you think I should do for the ‘free-for-all’? It’s the last challenge in the competition and . . .” she referred to her notes, “it consists of any baked or cooked dessert the contestant chooses to make.”
“You’ll have to think about that one,” Delores said. “You make so many good desserts. There’s always your great-grandmother’s apple pie. Everyone’s crazy about that.”
“I know. It’s a really good pie. But everybody’s going to be going all out for that final challenge. Do you think it’s special enough?”
“Maybe,” Aunt Nancy said. “Do you use a top crust, or a French crumble?”
“Hannah makes it both ways and gives us a choice,” Andrea told her. “I like the French crumble best.”
“And I like the top crust with a slice of really sharp cheddar on the side,” Michelle said.
Delores looked slightly embarrassed. “I usually have two pieces so I can taste them both. And I like vanilla ice cream on top of both of them.”
“I like the French crumble with sweetened whipped cream,” Lisa gave her preference.
“This is beginning to sound better and better,” Hannah said. “I could do all the variations with the crusts and the toppings. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like apple pie.”