Chapter 163: Chapter 163: The Careful Little Taotie Chapter 163: Chapter 163: The Careful Little Taotie Tao Shen separated the egg whites and yolks of three eggs, beat the egg whites until they were foamy, added granulated sugar, and beat them until they were frothy and smooth.
He added butter to the egg yolks, mixed them well, and sifted in the flour.
After mixing both thoroughly, he added vibrant strawberry sauce, a hint of vanilla, and continued stirring.
When Little Taotie came downstairs, the cake batter was already prepared.
Tao Shen brought out many beautiful paper cups and let Little Taotie pick her favorites.
Little Taotie looked at each one carefully and chose ten favorites, with patterns like giant pandas, little kitties, and small hearts…
Tao Shen poured the cake batter into a measuring cup and handed it to Little Taotie.
“Pour the batter into your favorite paper cups, filling them only three-quarters full, as they will expand,” he instructed.
Tao Shen demonstrated using another measuring cup filled with cake batter.
Little Taotie carefully eyed the amount of cake batter in the paper cups, made sure she remembered up to which point to pour, and then began to fill her own cups.
Her eyes sparkled with focus as she held the measuring cup with one hand and supported the bottom with the other, even softening her breathing as she carefully poured, afraid of overfilling.
After filling one paper cup, she put down the measuring cup, her eyes shining with anticipation as she looked at Tao Shen.
Tao Shen chuckled softly, gave her a thumbs up, and praised her, “Well done!”
Pleased by the compliment, Little Taotie’s smile grew, her dimples deepened, and she eagerly started on the second cup.
No messy spills occurred as one might imagine; Little Taotie was a cautious little girl. Not only were the quantities in the ten paper cups about the same, all meticulously no more than three-quarters full, but not a single drop was spilled, and the table remained perfectly clean.
Tao Shen stood by with a small towel, waiting to wipe her hands after she enthusiastically finished pouring, only to find her hands were still clean, leading him to praise her repeatedly, making her little face blush and her eyes glow even brighter.
Liu Mingzhu quietly sat watching the interaction between her son and daughter.
She could barely remember what the interactions between her eldest son and Tao Yinyin were like, it seemed… her eldest son was always impatient with Tao Yinyin.
She had never seen her eldest son look at Little Taotie in the same way, eyes full of love, smiling broadly, his lips constantly curved upwards.
Liu Mingzhu took out her phone, recorded a video of her eldest son wiping Little Taotie’s hands, and sent it to her husband who was abroad.
Once Tao Tiancheng learned that Little Taotie had come to their house, he immediately dropped everything and caught a plane to return home, but his travel was delayed due to bad weather.
Upon receiving the message from his wife, Tao Tiancheng eagerly opened it to see the sunny kitchen scene of the big boy tenderly wiping the little girl’s hands.
The boy’s eyes and mouth relaxed, his lips constantly upturned, the girl’s dimples deepened, her eyes sparkling, and her little face blushing.
Tao Tiancheng didn’t know how many times he replayed the video, his desire to return home growing even more urgent.
The oven, 150 degrees, 20 minutes.
Little Taotie stared at the cupcakes through the glass, wanting to see their transformation.
Tao Shen took her hand and led her away.
“It’s not good for your eyes to stare. They will rise in twenty minutes; let’s prepare other ingredients in the meantime.”
Tao Shen took out a large box of vibrant, fresh strawberries, and upon opening the box, the fragrance of strawberries wafted out.
Little Taotie unconsciously twitched her little nose, and suddenly a fluffy little thing nudged against her feet.
Looking down, Little Taotie saw her new pet, Little Lion!
Little Kitty, in the midst of sleep, had wriggled out of its lion costume, now just a soft little one.
Little Kitty lifted its head, its large round eyes staring at Little Taotie, its pink nose twitching, clearly also attracted by the scent of the strawberries.