Translator: Cryus

I made my way to Mizuhara’s place early to prepare for my first attempt at making a roll cake.
I made sure Mizuhara was here before coming.

「Morning. Here’s a souvenir from Izu.」

「Oh, from training camp? You didn’t get much sunburn despite swimming all the way here. Knowing you, you would’ve hurried back home.」

「We went to the beach only for a day. I spent most of it sinking onto the seabed.」

「What species are you exactly?」

Mizuhara seems pressured from writing an essay on his computer. I head to the kitchen and close the door so as not to disturb him, and begin making the cake.

A few hours later, I look at the finished product.

「…It’s a failure…」

I mumbled in astonishment.

Mizuhara isn’t directly beside me so he shouldn’t have heard me, but he suddenly swings the door open and bursts into the room.

「I heard a spell of doom!!!」

「You heard me?!」

He forces his way in, takes a slice of roll cake on the cutting board, and puts it in his mouth.

He carefully tastes it, and takes one more slice.
He makes a funny face, then takes yet another slice. He tilts his head and takes another.

「I don’t think it’s that disappointing. But if you really think it’s a failure, I’ll eat it all up and cover up your shame.」

He said that arrogantly, and proceeds to take another piece.

「It’s not a problem with the taste, but the presentation.」

It was the decorations that were the problem.

It’s Mizuhara’s birthday tomorrow, so I tried to make a roll cake with elves.

I borrowed from a recipe for decorated maki sushi.

But maki sushi requires rice.
Roll cakes require cream.

There was a huge difference in hardness.

「Uh… What does this look like to you?」

「A roll cake.」

「That’s not what I mean… What do you see from the side?」

「Were you trying to make a shape of something?」

I’m pointing to my face as a hint.

「It’s a face? …The eyes and mouth are placed oddly, and it looks pale because of the blueberry cream. Is it a dead person? It’s pretty surreal.」

「Close. It’s an elf.」

「………Could you say that again?」

「I said it’s an elf.」

He takes another look at the side of the roll cake.

「This is definitely a failure!!! It’s the worst thing you’ve ever made!」

He’s yelling with his mouth full.

「That’s why I said it’s a failure. I’ll have to change the recipe.」

Taking the softness of the cream into consideration and changing the facial features of the elf, I’m thinking hard about how to modify the recipe for the roll cake.

Mizuhara is reading a report paper intently.

「How’s your essay?」

「I can’t write my essay after seeing what you did to that elf. I need to divert myself from that psychological damage I took just now.」

He adjusts slightly so I can look at the report paper.

「Leaving the results aside, you have some surprisingly charming ideas, trying to make an elf roll cake.」

「Oh, yeah. It’s your birthday tomorrow, so I thought it’ll make you happy.」

Mizuhara looks surprised, and takes a look at the calendar.
It seems that he lost track of the days during summer break, and forgot that it’s his own birthday tomorrow.

「Now that you mention it…」

「You said you were going to be busy tomorrow, so I thought about buying you a birthday cake for convenience.」

「Birthdays are one of the most useless days of the year. It’s not the same for everyone, and they don’t sell special sweets because it’s not a holiday. Even April Fools Day is better.」

「When you become rich and famous, you can make your birthday a Sweets Day or something.」

Mizuhara is still reading the report intently.
He twirls a pen with his fingers, then clears his technical books from his desk and begins drawing the side of the roll cake.

He’s drawing an incredibly detailed elf.

「Hold it. This is a little too difficult. I can’t make the eyelashes.」

I wish he would draw something I can practically make.

「What about crushing a strawberry and mixing it with cream? I think it would make it more stable.」

「Hmm, yeah but wouldn’t it make the elf look like a millet?」

He doesn’t respond.

「I tried to use blueberries for the eyes and drained cherries for the mouth. That’s probably why it turned out to be a failure.」

「Drained cherries should be fine, but why would you need to use cod roe for the lips?」

「Well, it did make the mouth unnecessarily big and sparkly.」

「The biggest problem is the positions.」

「Maybe I shouldn’t use fruits. Instead of lining up thin stuff, I could use bar-shaped snacks so they won’t move.」

「The eyes on the elf were way off. I couldn’t tell if it was a dead person or a dead axolotl.」

「They’re both dead.」

We’re wasting time debating on details like that.

A lot of time had passed by the time we realized it. I started cooking in a hurry.

After mixing some hardened whipped cream with chocolate, I chilled it in the fridge.
Once it’s reached its optimal thickness, I made circles and lines for the eyes and eyebrows.
I mixed some pink whipped cream with granulated sugar. I stored it in the fridge, and then shaped it into circles for the cheeks.

That’s all for the facial parts.

I made a matcha mousse the length of a sponge cake. Once it’s hardened, I shaped it like a hat.

I baked it again and let it cool on the rack.
Meanwhile, I baked some thick crepe skins, stacked about 3 of them, and spread a layer of buttercream. Now I’m done with the face.

「First up is the eyelashes. Maybe around here?」

「It’ll stick into the cake, so maybe you should spread it out a little?」

「Over here, then.」

I place the eyes and cheeks, adding a layer of crepe skin to make sure the cream doesn’t fall out.
The eyebrows make the elf look cheeky, and the pink cheeks were off balance, but made it look young and cute.

I can call it a success for arranging the face.

But now comes part two.

I have to carefully add the hat so the face doesn’t fall apart, then add lots of whipped cream so the sponge cake can stick to it.

「Mizuhara, hold this for me.」

「Like this?」

「Yeah. I’m putting the sponge cake on the bottom, so hold it from both ends.」

Roll cakes are supposed to be rolled, but I’m not skilled enough yet.
Instead, I’m pushing down the ends of the sponge cake to give it shape.

「It looks like a decent elf roll cake now!」

「It’s not rolled up though.」

The weight of the hat is causing the face to distort, but it’s still acceptable. I’m proud to present this to Mizuhara the Elf Maniac.

I cut the roll cake in half, and it doesn’t look too bad from the inside either.

I give half of it to Mizuhara.

I wanted to serve it to him as a birthday cake, but he’s so hung up on elves that we never reached an agreement, so we decided to make our own decorations.

It’s not really a competition, but I like making my own pastries, so I don’t feel like losing to Mizuhara.