Rhapsody Angel had planned it all very carefully. She had done her research, ordered the finest ingredients from London’s upmarket shops, spoken to the Chef and received permission to use a small area of the kitchen space and the necessary utensils. A conversation with Destiny Angel had arranged the rota to give her the necessary time and the other Angels had agreed to cover her shift, in return for various other favours, to be arranged later.
Nothing could go wrong.
But she had reckoned without Symphony Angel.
“Please let me help, Di,” Symphony begged. “You’ll need someone to fetch and carry and wash up; I’ll do it.”
“It’s okay, Karen; I’ve got it all arranged, and I really wanted to do it myself. For Paul.”
Rhapsody was well aware that cookery was not one of Symphony’s strong suits and she had no wish to run any unnecessary risks. She was working to a deadline after all.
Symphony sighed rather melodramatically and pulled a face.
“With Paul and Adam away in Hong Kong, I’ve got nothing to do. If I can’t help, can I at least watch? And keep you company?”
“Oh, come on then; but remember, don’t touch anything.”
Smiling broadly, Symphony agreed and followed Rhapsody down to the kitchens.
Jan Bengtsson was the principal pastry chef on the base and he welcomed the two Angels into his domain.
“I’ve put all of your ingredients into that cool cupboard, Rhapsody,” he said, “and laid out all the equipment. That oven is ready for you to use.”
“Thank you, Jan. I do appreciate this.”
“You are welcome. I am sure Captain Scarlet will appreciate the gesture too.”
“You know, I’m not so sure I shouldn’t just let you do it, but I’d like to try for myself,” Rhapsody admitted.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine. Give me a shout if you need anything.”
Symphony found herself a stool and perched next to the work surface, while Rhapsody went and fetched the first of the ingredients.
“Can I help?” Symphony asked.
“You agreed just to watch,” Rhapsody reminded her.
“Sure, but there must be something I can do. Something menial.”
“Can you grease and line the cake tin?” Rhapsody asked. “There’s some greaseproof paper over there.”
“Oh, I can do that, no problem!”
It still took some time to organise Symphony, and then, keeping one eye on her enthusiastic but inexpert assistant, Rhapsody got started on the main part of the job in hand. She found a bowl and a grater and started grating the dark chocolate into swirls.
“Finished!” Symphony trilled. “What can I do now?”
Rhapsody gave her an exasperated glance. “Karen, if I spend all my time finding things for you to do, I won’t have time to actually make the cake.”
“Then let me grate the chocolate while you do the technical things?” her friend suggested.
With a sigh, Rhapsody pushed the bowl her way and went to start the next part of the procedure.
They began to make progress and although Symphony was chattering away, she wasn’t interfering, so Rhapsody felt confident the cake would be ready in time. When the cake mixture was in the oven, Rhapsody allowed herself a sigh of relief and turned her attention to making the ganache.
“’Put 200 grams of chopped dark chocolate in a bowl. Pour 300 mil of double cream into a pan, add 2 tablespoons of golden caster sugar and heat until it is about to boil’,” she read.
She measured the cream and the sugar and set it on a low heat. “Now where’s the chocolate?”
Symphony pointed to the pile of swirls – a rather small pile of swirls – on a plate beside her.
“No, the rest of the chocolate,” Rhapsody explained. “I need 200 grams.”
“You needed the rest of the chocolate?” Symphony asked in dismay. “I thought you just needed it for decoration.”
“No, I need it to make the ganache – the frosting – to go on top and in the cake. Where is it? Back in the cool cupboard?”
“No; I ate it.”
“You did what?”
“I ate it. I didn’t know you needed it.”
“Karen! Why would I have bought all that chocolate if I didn’t need it?” Rhapsody cried. “What am I going to do now? I can’t make a chocolate cake without chocolate!”
“Sorry, Di. I wasn’t thinking. Perhaps Jan has some you could use?”
“He may do, but that was special chocolate; the very best I could get!”
“It was very nice; very rich.”
“I know it was; I can’t believe you ate it all.”
“I didn’t realise I had eaten it all, till just now,” Symphony explained. “You know how it is-”
“No, I don’t!”
“Just one square and then another little square… until there’s none left.”
“Oh Karen!”
“Look, let me speak to Jan; I’m sure he’ll be able to help.” Symphony slithered down from her stool and hurried into the main part of the kitchen, in search of Jan Bengtsson.
Rhapsody turned the heat off under the cream and threw down her oven glove in despair.
“Well, I do have cooking chocolate, of course, but it isn’t as good as this,” Jan said, looking at the wrapper Rhapsody had given him. Symphony had legged it back to the Amber Room, with an apologetic smile and the explanation that she was due to go on duty.
“It will have to do, I suppose,” she said sadly. “Oh, I could murder Symphony!”
Jan smiled. “Don’t worry, Rhapsody. It will taste just fine. Let me see what I can find.”
Rhapsody was sitting by the work surface, looking at her cake, which she had sliced into three and put to cool on a wire rack in readiness for the chocolate coating. She was so upset that she hadn’t started to make the ganache yet. Jan Bengtsson had given her the best chocolate he had, but it wasn’t up to the quality of the kind she’d bought.
“Ah, ma pauvre Rhapsody… Symphony explained to me what has happen. Elle est désemparée… distraughted.”
Destiny was standing at the end of the workbench.
“Yes, so she ought to be. Well, it will take some time for me to forgive her for this,” Rhapsody admitted. “I wanted to make this a special cake for Paul’s birthday and now it just won’t be the same.”
“The cake looks very fine,” Destiny said, walking towards her. “It will be a shame if it is not as good as it could have been.”
“Yes, it will. Oh, I’m sure Paul will say it is wonderful; and he won’t know it wasn’t meant to be like this, but I will know.”
“Per’aps, I can assist? If you do not consider that I am… pushing myself too forward?”
“That’s kind, Juliette, but I know what I have to do and it won’t take me long.”
“Non, I am not a cook; but I am a great lover of chocolat. I would like to give this for the birthday cake.”
Destiny handed over an elegant cardboard box, in the centre was a black and white diamond shaped lozenge bearing the name ‘Michel Cluziel, Rue Saint-Honoré, Paris’. Inside were 3 unopened bars of rich dark chocolate: 99% cocoa.
“Ce sont mes vices secrets,” Destiny confessed, blushing. “Ma mère sends to me un approvisionnement régulier – a supply régulier. I eat only a few squares at one time. Cette boîte est arrivée hier – came yesterday, and I have not had even one of them.”
“Oh, Juliette, that is so kind of you! But I couldn’t use your chocolate – your fantastic chocolate – to cook with!”
“For Captain Scarlet I will be ‘appy to have it so used. It is a small way to say ‘thank you’ for all he does for us.”
“Oh, Juliette: I could kiss you!”
Destiny smiled. “I think that will be better saved for the brave Capitaine,” she said.
Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue were in the Officers’ Lounge, filling in their fellow officers with the events of their latest mission.
“There wasn’t anything in it,” Scarlet said. “Well, nothing to do with the Mysterons, anyway.”
“We handed over the information we’d gathered to the World Police,” Blue added. “So I don’t think there’ll be any more trouble of that kind for a while.”
The door slid open and a small deputation entered.
Destiny and Symphony Angels were carrying a bottle of champagne and a tray of glasses, plates and forks. Behind them came Rhapsody, carrying the most magnificent chocolate cake any of the officers had ever seen.
The Angels chorused:
“Happy birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, Captain Scarlet…
Happy Birthday to you!”
“Hurray!” Captain Ochre cried, jumping to his feet and applauding enthusiastically.
“Gentlemen, you see before you a specially prepared birthday cake,” Symphony explained. “Specially prepared by Rhapsody Angel with the timely and invaluable assistance of Destiny Angel. I made the swirly bits on the top,” she added, with a quick glance at Rhapsody, in case she was going to elaborate.
But Rhapsody was all smiles.
“That’s amazing! Thank you all, so much!” Scarlet said, getting to his feet and hugging Symphony and Destiny, before taking the cake from Rhapsody.
“It can’t be all for me, surely?” he said, smiling.
“No, even you’d go off pop if you ate it all,” Rhapsody replied, grinning. “It is the most chocolatey chocolate cake in the world; I promise you.”
“It certainly looks fantastic,” Captain Blue remarked, tactfully taking the cake from Scarlet, so that he could embrace Rhapsody and give her a grateful kiss.
There was a pop! as Grey opened the champagne bottle and poured a small glass for everyone there.
Rhapsody handed Scarlet a sharp knife and passed over plates for the careful slices he cut.
There was an appreciative silence as everyone tucked in.
“Marvellous!”
“Fantastic!”
“Excellent!”
“This is the best birthday cake I’ve ever had,” Scarlet assured Rhapsody, as he finished his slice. “I’m a hundred percent certain of that!”
“Make it 99% certain and you’d be absolutely right,” she answered, smiling up at him.
He looked quizzically at her, but all she said was, “I’ll tell you all about it later… much later.”
Captain Scarlet grinned. He had no doubt that this birthday was going to rank amongst the best ever…
This was a sudden idea, courtesy of the Inspiration Fairy, whose addiction to chocolate cake is well known! My wholehearted thanks to Hazel Köhler for a speedy beta read through, and to Chris Bishop for saying she’d be prepared to post it, sight unseen!
Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons™ belongs to some lucky corporation who probably don’t appreciate the wonderful thing they have in their vaults! I have enjoyed interacting with Captain Scarlet and his friends and colleagues for over 50 years – and it don’t seem a day too long!
Therefore, I’ll take this opportunity to wish Paul Metcalfe a very Happy Birthday!
Marion Woods
16 December 2018