Kira's Perfect Birthday Cake 🐼🎂 Sleepy Bedtime Stories For Kids | Rewind

[00:00:10] Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original bedtime stories and sleep meditations for kids designed to make bedtime a dream. It's Kira's birthday coming up and Coco wants to surprise her with something super special. So what's he done? He's gone to find Hugo the Toad, the inspired chef of the Home Sweet Home Hotel. Can you guess what he wants Hugo to create for her special day?

[00:00:38] Okay, while you think about it, stretch out in bed. Maybe shuffle around a bit to get comfy. Take some deeper breaths and make some little sighs so you can feel all relaxed and floaty as you breathe out. We can try it together. Breathe in, two, three, four and draw out. Two, three, four. In.

[00:01:10] And out. Keep going. And I'll tell you what Coco's got on his mind. It's quite a tall order but something tells me Hugo can do it. Let's find out this is Kira's Perfect Birthday Cake by Luke Prendergast.

[00:01:32] Before we begin, here's a quick ad break. Then we'll start tonight's bedtime story. If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad-free listening and unlock all our premium stories, you can join the Coco Club. To join, follow the link in the show notes.

[00:01:48] Thanks for joining us.

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[00:03:12] A splendid building that stood on the banks of the sleepy river and welcomed guests from all the world over and further beyond that, too. In the kitchen of the Home Sweet Home Hotel, Hugo the Toad was putting the finishing touches to a pie. He'd made it himself, he'd grown the carrots and the leeks, the onions and the garlic.

[00:03:36] He'd made the pastry and rolled it out into long, thin sheets, laid it over the top of his pie and he'd cooked it in the oven. Now, he'd brushed the top of the pie gently with a layer of butter before lifting it back up and sliding it back into the oven for a quick blast. When it came out, it would have a dark brown, shining glaze.

[00:04:01] Hugo slapped his webbed hands together, dusting the particles of flour off them so that it drifted to the floor like snow and gave himself a nod. Another pie complete. Another customer to the Home Sweet Home restaurant, happy. Yes, Hugo felt the familiar sense of pleasure and satisfaction he got after whipping a meal together.

[00:04:28] The proud sense of a job well done. And yet, if Hugo were being completely honest with himself, there was something missing from that feeling. It was hard to say what. Oh yes, he felt satisfied, pleased, proud. All of that was true. But he was sure he used to feel something else too.

[00:04:52] A sense of elation, of achievement, of having pulled off something nigh on impossible. The truth was, he was no longer being challenged in the kitchen. Hugo had been working at the Home Sweet Home Hotel for over a year now. Ever since his old childhood friend Pickle, the Frog, the owner and manager of the hotel, had invited him to open a restaurant there.

[00:05:19] And what a wonderful year it had been. Learning how to meet all the culinary needs, not only of the weird and wonderful variety of Sleepy Forest's inhabitants, but of all the travellers who passed through too. He had learned how to make rock cakes for Cinders the Dragon. He'd sourced rare cheeses from far-flung places for Mademoiselle Nibbles,

[00:05:44] a rather picky and pernickety little dormouse who always knew just exactly what she wanted. And he'd made every kind of fruit tart imaginable. Cherry and pineapple, guava and banana, lychee and cherimoya, even if he sometimes had never heard of that fruit before. But just lately it seemed to Hugo that he had rather got the hang of it.

[00:06:12] Now he knew what everyone liked, how they liked it and just how to make it. He'd made a dozen banoffee pies for that family of ostriches. He had made hundreds of pizzas for that big gaggle of monkeys who so adored their mozzarella. Now, Hugo reckoned he could run the home sweet home restaurant with his eyes shut. It'd all become a little too easy.

[00:06:39] He needed something to bring the magic back. These were the thoughts swirling around his head as he leaned on the counter with his chin in his hands, when there came a knock on the kitchen door. Come in, he called out, and then added with a little flicker of surprise. Oh, good afternoon, Coco. I was not expecting to see you here today.

[00:07:08] Into his kitchen had stepped a young and exceptionally fluffy koala, one of the sleepy forest's most beloved residents. Today, Coco was wearing a pair of bright blue shorts and a bright blue t-shirt, and the cap on his head was blue too, except for the yellow lightning bolts that zigzagged across it.

[00:07:33] When he came in, he stuck his nose in the air and gave a big appreciative sniff. Wow, Hugo, he said. That smells good. What's the cooking? Hugo nodded at the oven. I have a vegetable pie for Buck the beaver almost finished in there. Nice, said Coco. Vegetable pie.

[00:08:01] That's always been Buck's favorite dish. Oh, yes, said Hugo with a smile. He orders it every time. Now, what are you doing here today? There's not anything I can help you with, is there? As a matter of fact, Coco said, there is. You see, it's my little sister Kira's birthday tomorrow, and I wanted to organize something extra special.

[00:08:31] The cake of her dreams. And I thought to myself, there's no better person to ask to bake a cake than you, Hugo. So, I was wondering, if you had time, could you bake Kira a brilliant birthday cake? Hugo was already nodding. Well, of course I can, Coco. You hardly need to ask.

[00:09:01] I've cooked birthday cakes many times before, and I can certainly cook one again. Thank you, Hugo, Coco said. But just so you know, it's not any old birthday cake. It's an extraordinary birthday cake.

[00:09:25] Hugo paused and looked at Coco, raising the skin above his eye a little skeptically. If he'd had an eyebrow, he would have raised that. But toads, after all, don't have eyebrows. People were always claiming they wanted something extraordinary, when in fact what they were asking for was something Hugo had made many times before.

[00:09:50] But Coco was a very smart, very special little koala. Hugo would listen closely to what he was saying. Okay, Coco, he said. Tell me about this cake you want. Well, Coco said, taking a deep breath. Kira's favourite colour is purple, so it has to be a purple cake.

[00:10:19] And then, I want it somehow to involve all of her favourite things. Bubble tea and cheerleading. Eucalyptus and popping candy. Chocolate and blueberry muffins. And, of course, all her family and best friends. I want it to be the greatest birthday cake ever. But, he added, nodding seriously for a moment.

[00:10:48] I know that this is a lot to ask for. And Kira's birthday is tomorrow. Maybe it's not even possible. But like I said, Hugo, I thought if anyone could pull it off, you could. Hugo was gazing at Coco silently. Not a bit of his face moved.

[00:11:12] So that it might seem to someone looking at him that he hadn't heard a word that Coco had said. That he had, in fact, been frozen solid. But inside his head, his mind was working quickly. It was a lot to ask for. Frankly, it was crazy. The craziest cake he'd ever heard of. Eucalyptus and chocolate. Popping candy and cheerleading.

[00:11:42] How was he supposed to bring such different elements together into one coherent and tasty whole? It was wild. It was ludicrous. And yet, from the warm, glowy feeling that was moving through his body, Hugo could tell it was also, well, exciting.

[00:12:10] This was just what he'd been looking for. This, at last, was a challenge. You leave it to me, Coco, he said. I'll see what I can do. After Coco had given Hugo a big shining smile and shaken his hand and thanked him profusely over and over,

[00:12:38] Hugo sat in his kitchen with his chin in his hands, ruminating over Kira's birthday cake. Already, his mind was scrolling through the innumerable cake possibilities. What shape it would be? What size? What sponge and what kinds of icing? How, at last, to decorate it?

[00:13:06] So, Kira loved bubble tea. Perhaps, thought Hugo, the cake could have a bubble tea centre. You could cut into it and, surprise! But no, that wouldn't work. The whole sponge would get soaked. He would have to rethink that particular element.

[00:13:27] Like this, he rifled through all of the potential designs until, at last, the final form hovered in his mind's eye like a vision in a dream. Yes, he had it. That would be Kira's brilliant birthday cake. Difficult, demanding, but spectacular. He hoped he could pull it off.

[00:13:52] Hugo rose from his table and, lifting a big bag from the hook on the wall, headed for the door. Now he had to go on a trip around Sleepy Forest. He had some things he needed to buy. He set off through the forest. The golden light of afternoon made the leaves of the trees glow and glance off Sleepy River,

[00:14:18] as though hundreds of tiny white flames danced across its surface. He walked along the river path until he reached a small wooden jetty where a squirrel sat in a boat. Papa pralines, please. Said Hugo. And then he was in the boat, sailing up the river,

[00:14:42] until the large wooden buildings of Papa pralines chocolate factory appeared before them. Hugo disembarked, thanked the squirrel kindly, and strode up the paved pathway between the blanketed lawns of soft green grass, towards the great double doors of the factory. But before he'd even reached them,

[00:15:07] the doors swung open and a brilliant old bear stepped out, his white fur rippling in the breeze, his long gold cape swirling around him, and a warm smile on his face. If it isn't Hugo, my dear friend, Papa praline said.

[00:15:33] To what do we owe the pleasure of your company? Well, actually, Papa praline, Hugo replied, I've come to pick your brains about a certain ingredient. Hugo told Papa praline about his visit from Coco just earlier that day, and the request for a birthday cake for Kira that he'd made.

[00:16:02] He explained that it was to be an extremely elaborate cake, and he reeled off the long list of ingredients and features that was to be on it. When he finished talking, he found he was a little out of breath, and had to pause for a moment before saying, So, Papa praline, is there any of that you think you can help me with? All the while Hugo was talking, Papa Praline,

[00:16:32] who was a wise old bear, who possessed something of the quality of a wizard, had been stroking the long white hairs that grew from his chin. Now his black eyes glittered brightly, and he said, Have you ever heard the word serendipity, Hugo, my old friend? Serendipity?

[00:17:02] Hugo replied. Why, yes, of course. It means a lucky coincidence, doesn't it? A moment of good fortune. But why do you ask? Well, I only say it because I believe that your coming here today is a stroke of true serendipity,

[00:17:28] for we have just now finished perfecting a new chocolate ingredient, and I think you should come and take a look. Hugo the toad followed Papa praline through the double doors, across the foyer of the chocolate factory, and through a small door on the other end, upon which a small sign read, Dream Factory.

[00:17:58] Hugo felt a little fizz of intrigue go through him. What was he going to find in this room? A huge network of machines, tubes, conveyor belts, and strange devices, cooking up all sorts of weird and wonderful chocolate inventions. But when he stepped in, he was surprised to find a small room, empty except for a singular circular table in the middle.

[00:18:28] And on that table was a glass plate with three pieces of chocolate on it. What's this? Hugo asked. But Papa praline just pressed a white fluffy finger to his mouth and gestured to the chocolate. Hugo picked up a piece. He slipped it into his mouth. Oh, how delicious it was.

[00:18:57] Creamy and sweet and rich. And then, as the chocolate began to melt in his mouth, he began to feel it. It started as a gentle crackling, then a popping, and then his whole mouth was full of effervescent fizzing. Oh, he said.

[00:19:23] It's chocolate and popping candy. Papa praline nodded. That's right. It's our greatest recipe yet. And by the sounds of it, it'll be perfect for young Keira's cake. And so, delighted with his trip to Papa praline's chocolate factory,

[00:19:49] Hugo left with a box of the bear's latest popping candy chocolate under his arm. All the way back down Sleepy River, he could barely contain his smile, and he waved merrily at the silver fish that swam alongside the boat, hopping in and out of the water. He got off the squirrel's boat a couple of stops earlier

[00:20:13] and took a path that led him to a section of the forest where the trees grew wet and waxy, as though he'd stepped into a rainforest. This was where Boba's bubble tea cafe was, and when he stepped through the sliding leaves that led him into the cafe's flowerline chamber, Boba was there behind the counter, preparing a fresh batch of tapioca balls.

[00:20:40] Why, of course I can help you, Hugo, he said, flourishing a bright pink fan so that petals fell from its edge like snowdrops around their feet. I have, in fact, been working on a new flavour of bubble tea just for Kira. Eucalyptus and honey. I suspect it's going to be her favourite. Plus, Boba continued, I used a special lilac herb to make it purple.

[00:21:11] Oh, you have? Hugo asked. You wouldn't happen to have any more of that particular herb spare, would you? It would be a great colouring for her cake. And so, just a few minutes later, Hugo left Boba's cafe with a great flask of eucalyptus and honey bubble tea,

[00:21:36] and a generous bunch of a peculiar herb with long rushes of purple buds. As Hugo made his way back through the forest, he thought to himself that it had been a remarkably successful day. Yes, along with the supplies he already had in his kitchen, and the donations made by Papa Praline and Boba, he was pretty certain he could make the spectacular birthday cake

[00:22:06] that Coco so wanted to make for Kira. So he wasn't even looking out for anything as he passed by Betty the Badger's bakery, but his eye caught sight of something in the window that made him halt. He peered through the glass at the three figures, no bigger than his hand. A somersaulting rabbit, a parrot doing the splits,

[00:22:34] and a young tiger standing on his hands, all wearing leotards. The door tinkled when Hugo walked in. Betty, my dear, he said. Sorry to disturb you, but are those little icing figures you have in your window cheerleaders by any chance? Betty the Badger shuffled over to the window to inspect the figures.

[00:23:05] I think, theoretically, they're gymnasts, she said, but I'm sure I could find something here to fashion into pom-poms. Perhaps, oh, these candy puffs, we can turn them into cheerleaders in a moment. And so it was that Hugo arrived back at the Home Sweet Home Hotel and the warm familiarity of his kitchen,

[00:23:32] laden with all the ingredients he needed to make the world's most brilliant birthday cake. Now, he just had to get to work. He measured ingredients into bowls, sifted flour, whisked eggs, scooped big spoonfuls of sugar, poured out cups of bubble tea. He added pinches of salt, of baking powder,

[00:24:02] of extract of vanilla. He ground the purple herb up into a fine dust, then added a few drops of milk to turn it into a paste. When he poured it into the pale gold batter, it turned a vivid lilac. Finally, he dropped in handfuls of Papa Praline's popping candy chocolate, poured the batter into a series of big circular tins,

[00:24:30] and slid the tins into the oven. When he was done, his brow was sweating. It was hard work making this cake. And as he watched the batter begin to bubble through the glass door of the oven, he wasn't even sure it would work. But that, after all, was part of the joy and thrill of cooking like this. There was just as much luck and hope going into each culinary endeavour

[00:25:00] as there was skill and know-how. For now, though, Hugo would have to stop staring through the oven door. A watched cake never bakes, so they say. He needed to get on with the decoration. And if he'd thought that baking the sponge was difficult, the icing was another thing altogether. He reached down into the cupboard and took out the icing sugar,

[00:25:29] a rolling pin, and placed the three little cheerleader figurines on the counter. There was work to do yet. The next afternoon, Kira had a birthday party in the clearing outside the cosy cabin in the woods where she lived with her family. Lots of her friends from Sleepy Forest came. Not only Coco and the rest of her family, but Prickles and Camo, Buck the Beaver,

[00:25:59] and Hamper the Hare, Miss Bushytale, her favourite teacher, Bread and Butter the Duck Sisters, and Hugo himself, and Pickle the Frog, who ran the Home Sweet Home Hotel. They played birthday games and swung gently from rope swings tied to the strongest branches of the trees above them. As they'd finished their birthday meal, Coco gave Hugo a little wink.

[00:26:27] That was the sign they'd agreed on, the sign that it was time for the birthday cake. Hugo slipped into the cosy cabin and into the kitchen where the cake had been hidden. He lit the candles and carefully carried the cake outside. The guests fell silent when the cake emerged, and then they began as a sweet chorus

[00:26:55] to sing the words to Happy Birthday. At first, Hugo joined in too, but soon he stopped singing the words because the look on Keira's face got him tongue-tied. Her eyes were brimming with tears of joy, and a smile of the utmost pleasure spread across her face. When the singing stopped, she blew the candles out,

[00:27:25] then threw her arms around Hugo. Oh, Hugo, she said. You made this for me? Why, yes, Keira. It was all your big brother's idea, though. He wanted you to have the most spectacular birthday cake of all time. Now, Keira was hugging Coco.

[00:27:53] It is, she said again and again. It is. It is. I've never seen anything so wonderful. And looking at the cake, which she had painstakingly baked, Hugo thought that maybe she was right. The tall cake was covered in swirling purple icing, with icing flowers stuck to its sides,

[00:28:21] and on top, the three figurines, performing an airborne cheerleading routine. Just you wait till you taste it, Hugo said. He took a cake knife and cut slices and handed them out to all the guests, and watched as their faces moved from delight to wonder, as the popping candy chocolate hidden within the cake melted

[00:28:51] and let off miniature firework displays in their mouths. Is that... Keira said. Is that eucalyptus and honey bubble tea flavour? That's my absolute favourite. How did you know? Oh, Hugo said, giving Coco a wink. It was just a hunch. That evening, Hugo walked back

[00:29:20] to home sweet home, filled with a sense of satisfaction. No, it was more than satisfaction. More than joy and contentment too. His heart felt as full as his stomach. He felt he'd truly achieved something, that he had pulled something difficult off. He loved seeing the joy that the cake had spread,

[00:29:49] not only to Keira, but to all the people who were there for his birthday. Oh, yes, Hugo thought to himself. He truly loved cooking. The kitchen was quiet. All his assistants had gone home. Some warm leftover embers glowed in the fireplace. Hugo placed the empty cake stand

[00:30:17] on the table and brushed off his hands. Starlight coming through the window like sparkling silver motes, shimmered on the pots and pans, the cutlery, the metal door of the oven. Hugo let out a big yawn. My, my, he thought, how tiring it was to cook a cake like that.

[00:30:47] How tiring it was to face a challenge. He felt like he could sleep for days. He was too tired to go upstairs. Instead, he pulled over the soft, shaggy rug so that it lay in front of the fireplace. Bending over, he unlaced and pulled off his boots. Then, he lowered himself slowly onto the rug

[00:31:16] and let his body sink into its softness. The glow of the fire touched his skin. He would just lie here a few moments, he told himself, enjoying the warmth, conjuring energy, before he took himself off to bed to, you know, as well as I and as well as Hugo did too,

[00:31:46] that this was not true. There was no way Hugo was going to make it upstairs tonight. The fire was too warm, the kitchen too cosy, with the leftover smell of the cake in the air. In less than a minute, Hugo's eyes had closed and his chest rose and fell in heavy

[00:32:16] alternation and little satisfied snores issued from his nose. eyes. The starlight stole across the floor and sparkled softly on his shirt buttons. And with the stars watching over him through the window, Hugo fell into a deep and peaceful and very much

[00:32:46] deserved slumber. As as as as as as as