The Gâteau Affairs

Infobox Television
show_name = The Gâteau Affairs
(情迷黑森林)


caption =
genre = Modern Drama
format =
runtime = 45 minutes (approx.)
creator =
director =
producer =
writer =
starring = Joe Ma
Myolie Wu
Bobo Chan
Annie Man
opentheme = "調味人生" by
Bobo Chan
endtheme =
country = HKG
language = Cantonese
network = TVB
first_aired = June 6,2005
last_aired =
July 1,2005
num_episodes = 20
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website = http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/the_gateau_affairs

"The Gâteau Affairs" (情迷黑森林) is a 20 episode TVB series in late 2004 and early 2005. It stars Joe Ma (馬德鐘), Myolie Wu (胡杏兒), Annie Man (文頌嫻), Jack Wu (胡諾言) and Bobo Chan (陳文媛). Bobo Chan provides the voice for the theme song.

Characters

*Go Gan (Joe Ma)- Addressed as the "Cake God" for his creative cake master pieces. Loves baking cakes and has a special skill called "The Freezing Hand". This skill enables him to touch chocolate with his bare hands (which is below the temperature of a normal person)without the chocolate melting in his hands. He may look cool and cold on the outside but on the inside he is a warm hearted person. Once married to Ni and has a son, Ban. However, due to his great passion for baking cakes and participating in cake contests, he neglected his family and they eventually left him. He was once jailed for 2 years for a faking a bomb threat. After his release from prison, he was hired by Mr Sa, boss of "Gateau" cake shop to become the Chief Cake Chef. Mr Sa had promised to find his wife and son if he works for "Gateau". Life in prison had not dull his passion and skill for baking cakes though. He decides to adopt a secret identity "Cake Robin Hood" to bake cakes for the less fortunate children. He goes through difficult phases of his life to win back custody of his son and become the best cake chef in the world. He falls in love with Tong Seung but will their relationship ever work out?

*Tong Seung (Myolie Wu)- A cheerful, nerdy girl who has a passion for baking cakes but not the skills. In the beginning of the show, she sets up a cake shop to prove to her ex- boyfriend that she could bake cakes. However, she didn't even have the skill to build a proper cake and thus business was poor. The shop was eventually burned down. Tong Seung suspected it was Go Gan who had burned down her shop and thus she joined "Gateau" as a trainee cake chef for revenge. She posts a message on "Cake Robin Hood"'s website asking him for a birthday cake for her 25th birthday. She admires "Cake Robin Hood" as he sends her another cake telling her not to give up. She eventually becomes the disciple of Go Gan after finding out that he was not the one who set fire to her shop. However, a misunderstanding causes her to hate her Master so much that she challenges him to a duel where they would pit their skills against each other for the title of "Chief Cake Chef". She finds it hard to compete against Go Gan as she realises that she had fallen in love with him. Towards the end of the show, she realises that she too had a special skill in making cakes. Her skill was " Mother's Hand". A skill that enables her hands to heat up fast enough for her to pull sugar- a technique used by bakers to create objects from sugar. She contracted brain cancer after being struck by lightning,.

*Sarah (Annie Man)- Only child of Mr Sa and Young Mistress of "Gateau" cake enterprises. A strict and spoilt girl who tries her best to prove to her father that she is capable of handling the business. She doesn't know a single thing about cakes and thinks that baking cakes is just an object for earning money. However, when Go Gan arrives and becomes Chief Cake Chef, she feels that her position as a boss would be affected. She hates Go Gan and finds opportunities to fault him for anything wrong. She conspires with Tang Shuang initially to get rid of Go Gan. However, when Tong Seung backs out of their plans, she is forced to work with the previous Chief Cake Chef of "Gateau", Jean Paul. Eventually, she realises the importance of cakes to the business and becomes a trainee at "Gateau". Is always seen in the show wearing boots and mini skirts. She is less fortunate than other rich girls as she has to work for her money while the other girls just shop and shop. She does not have bodyguards until later when she employed Yu Jiao unlike the other girls.

*Sun Yu Le (Jack Wu)- A gangster who had once protected Go Gan from a stab in prison. Hence, Go Gan feels guilty towards him and treats him better than any of his staff. Has 3 criminal records. Reckless and hot headed, he once set Tong Seung's cake shop on fire. Yu Le becomes a trainee at "Gateau" but he does not have a passion for cakes not to mention the skills. However, Go Gan always chooses him to be his assistant. He falls in love with Keke but a rival in love enters their relationship and the straining relationship between Tong Seung and Go Gan affects them.

*Keke aka Coco (Bobo Chan)- Tong Seung's younger cousin. Her parents divorced and both remarried. Both parents didn't want her even though she had tried her best to fit in to 2 new families. As a result, she does not have any confidence in relationships as she fears that it would end up like her parents. Pretty and kind hearted, she has a long line of suitors but she only has eyes for Yu Le. Supervisor of "Gateau", she manages the business well and treats her colleagues very well. Her favourite childhood things are 3 treasure rice, 2 flavoured popsicles and woolen objects..

*Yu Jiao (Ai Wei)- Good friend of Yu Le and bodyguard of Sarah. He is an ex prison inmate who would do anything to protect Sarah. He was told that there was a goldmine in "Gateau" and thus he uses his relationship with Yu Le and Sarah to find the treasure. He eventually becomes a trainee at "Gateau" along with Sarah. Loyal but a bit of a showoff and money lover.

*Tong Sam (Gordan Liu)- Father of Tong Seung and owner of Sam Gei Laundry. A caring father who is bald but wears a wig. His wife left him early and thus he was responsible to raise his 2 children. He has always opposes to Tang Shuang being a cake chef and tries his best to make her quit her job to help out at the laundry shop.

*Qu Qi (Li Feng)- Mother of Tong Seung. Once the Cake Queen of France but a suicide attempt causes her to lose her memory. She is the original skill master of "Mother's Hand". An accident caused by Go Gan causes her sister to be admitted to a hospital leaving her to spend her days at Go Gan's home. She has a sleepwalking problem and while she was sleepwalking in Gao Gen's home, she baked very delicious cakes but when she woke up the next day she couldn't remember anything about baking cakes. It was until her adoptive sister told her about her real identity that she started teaching her daughter about the "Mother's Hand".

*Bo Long(Deng Yi Jun)- Trainee at "Gateau". He is a 3 doctorate holder who likes to experiment with different types of food so that he can one day write a book on food formulas. A brilliant scientist who views everything including relationships from a scientific viewpoint. He falls in love with Keke and an accident at his home almost caused Keke to be burned to death. Even though he is a scientist he is the most highly skilled trainee at "Gateau" . Nerdy but hardworking.

*Jimmy (Charles Szeto)- Brother of Tong Seung. An undergraduate who teaches yoga. Cheerful and caring.

*Mu Si (Ma Tai Lo)- Sam Gei Laundry's only employee. She has always liked Tong Sam but has never made a move even though his wife is no longer with him. Lazy and demanding, she always pushes her job to Tong Seung and Jimmy.

*Jean Paul (Gregory Charles Rivers)- "Gateau" 's ex- Chief Cake Chef. Hates Go Gan for replacing him and makes use of Sarah to get back at Go Gan and Mr Sa for firing him. Arrogant and allows his cake chefs to mess around in the kitchen.

ynopsis

tart

The show starts of with Go Gan baking a surprise cake for his son, Ban in his work kitchen. It is late in the night and Ban and his mother, Ni waits longingly for father and husband to return. However, they have been living a life of waiting and longing for many years and they are sick of it. They decide to leave for USA. Go Gan then rushes to the airport with his cake to stop them. However, on the way his car crashes into a taxi carrying an old lady. He is spotted by the traffic police who then stops him. Being in a rush, he holds out the cake box and shouts that it is a bomb. However, his plan flopped and he was charged with false threat and sentenced to 2 years in jail.

2 years later

Tong Seung sets up a cake shop to spite her ex-boyfriend who has always despised her. However, she does not know anything about baking cakes and only has the passion for it. Her brother Jimmy, cousin Keke and colleague Mu Si tries to coax her out of it but to no avail. They do not say anything about the bad taste of Tong Seung's cakes so as not to hurt her feelings.

Go Gan is released from prison after 2 years. He goes to visit the old lady who he had crashed his car into. She is living alone with her young grandson. Her grandson is unfriendly because he does not have his parents with him. Go Gan sees these and decides to bake a cake for him in the name of "Cake Robin Hood". From then on, he has been making cakes in secret for the less fortunate children using "Cake Robin Hood" as his name.

Mr Sa looks Go Gan up after his release. He invites Go Gen back to work for Gateau cake shop as a Chief Cake Chef. Go Gan agrees on condition that Mr Sa helps him find Ban and Ni. Mr Sa agrees. He brings Go Gan back to his cake shop to meet the staff and his daughter Sarah. Mr Sa fires the current Chief Cake Chef, Jean Paul and Sarah objects as she was the one who had hired Sean Paul. In order for Gao Gen to rightfully become the Chief, Sean Paul arranges for a cake competition between them.

Go Gan goes home and watches videotapes of Ban and Ni. He remembers that Ban has always wanted a cake of a pirate ship as he used to have a soft toy of a pirate ship. He tries to look for the pirate ship but can't find it. He realises that it is with the laundry. He goes to Sen Ji Laundry to retrieve it oni to find out that it has been dumped as the collection date has been expired for 2 years. Coincidentally, Tong Seung collects all these soft toys that the customers do not collect. Therefore she picked up Gao Gen's pirate ship.

As business is poor at the cake shop, Tong Seung decides to bake a cake of a pirate ship too to attract customers. However, it does not look nice or taste good at all. Go Gan walks past Tong Seung's cake shop and sees the pirate ship cake. He orders the whole cake and criticizes it badly as a pirate ship cake means a lot to him. This starts of the bad relationship between Go Gan and Tong Seung.

At the contest, Go Gan makes a pirate ship cake dedicated to his son. Since he has a special skill called "The Freezing Hand", he is able to pull chocolate without them melting in his hands. Black Forest Cake is the theme of the contest and for Jean Paul to win he sprays his hand with cold air. Halfway through the competition, Go Gan receives a call. Ni refuses to allow Ban to be reunited with Go Gan. This affects Go Gan and his hand starts becoming hot and melts the chocolate. But he picks himself up and continues baking the cake with Ban in his mind. Tong Seung sneaks in to the contest area with the help of Keke. When Go Gan has finished baking the cake and the judges taste it, they can feel the love that Go Gan has for Bin and proclaims him as the winner. Tong Seung sees the pirate ship that Go Gan has made and accuses him of copying her idea.

Tong Seung has not received a birthday cake since her 3rd birthday. She can only remember a woman with a mole giving her a birthday cake when she was 3 years old and that was it. Her father gives her red eggs for her birthday every year. She writes a message on Cake Robin Hood's website asking him for a real cake for her 25th birthday. He replies and bakes her a cake of a large egg with 24 tiny eggs in it. This makes her very happy. He gives her another cake soon after when she felt like giving up her cake shop.

Go Gen starts work at the cake shop. He is flabbergasted to see that the chefs are not serious about their work. He demands that they change and hand in a cake that has something to do with the ocean.

Sun Yu Le has just been released from prison. He sells egg cakes illegally outside Tang Shuang's shop and that has made Tang Shuang very pissed off and business is already bad enough and she thinks that Yu Le is stealing her business. Yu Le's business is poor too as his egg cakes are not nice. Gao Gen meets him and teaches Yu Le how to make nice egg cakes. Business improves but Tang Shuang calls the FEHD and they confiscate his hawker cart.

Yu Le gets angry with Tang Shuang and swears revenge. He breaks into her cake shop late at night to put some mice in the kitchen. Gao Gen finds him but is unable to stop him. A fire erupts when Yu Le puts a cheesecake into the microwave. Tang Shuang sees the both of them leaving the crime scene and swears revenge on Gao Gen. She is devastated by the loss of the cake shop.

Gateau puts up a notice to hire trainees. Yu Le, Tang Shuang and Bu Lang joins the trial and are selected. Training starts and only Bu Lang does well. Uncle Fa, Gateau's cake kitchen supervisor has a fear of ovens because of an accident a few years ago. He needs the other chefs to help him to put the cake into the oven. Gao Gen gets him to overcome his fear.

Qu Qi and her sister arrives in Hong Kong for a tour. Qu Qi has lost her memory due to a failed suicide attempt. She had gone to France for a competition 22 years ago. She had won her master and was guilty because of it. She committed suicide but was saved but she had lost her memory. Her sister was a nurse at the hospital that Qu Qi was staying at and adopted Qu Qi but does not let Qu Qi know of her past. Gao Gen accidentally knocks over a pole that had hit Qu Qi's sister. With he sister in the hospital, Qu Qi had nobody to count on. Gao Gen feels sorry for her and lets her stay at his house. She occupies the master bedroom and orders Gao Gen around. However, she sleepwalks and while she sleepwalks she makes cakes that taste heavenly. When she wakes up she does not remember a single thing. She thought that Gao Gen had baked the cakes.

Sarah does not like Gao Gen and tries to make life difficult for him. She knows that Tang Shaung too hates Gao Gen and conspires with her. They would always have their conversation in Sarah's car while she is driving. But she would drop Tang Shuang off immediately when they finished talking regardless of where they are. They decided to melt the chocolate display that he has made for a charity show. However, Tang Shuang comes to her senses and even helps Gao Gen repair the display.

Bin returns to Hong Kong with his mother and her new boyfriend, Robert. He gets lost and goes to Gateau to look for a Pirate Ship Cake. He sees it and feels that his father is in the shop. Keke does not allow him to eat the cake as it is black forest cake and has alcohol in it. He runs out of the shop but Gao Gen soon finds him and they are reunited. However, their happiness is short lived when Ni arrives with Robert to bring Bin back to the States. Bin is sad to be separated from his father but Gao Gen promises that he would celebrate Bin's birthday when he comes back.

Gao Gen is challenged by the Queen of Cheesecake of Japan. He wants to make Apple Cheesecake but does not know how to achieve the flavour that Qu Qi had made. He orders the kitchen chefs to find different types of apples. Tang Shuang puts in effort to find the apples and finally finds it.

Yu Le is punished and he is forced to work at the front of Gateau under Keke. He saves Keke from a serious admirer. However, Keke despises him. Yu Le goes to a convenience store to buy stuff and does not have any money to pay for the stuff. Keke helps him out and he falls for her. He is kicked out of his flat when he did not pay rent. He bunks in with Gao Gen and Qu Qi. At the same time, Bu Lang realises he likes Keke too and brings her to his home and explains his dream to her. However, she does not have any interest in him. One night at Gateau, Keke is the last one to leave the store. She goes into the freezer to get some stock. She drops her handphone on the kitchen table top. When she enters the freezer a box of goods accidentally drops on her knocking her out cold. She cries when she remembers the hard times she had as a child. Her parents divorced and both remarried. She had spent time with her father and his wife and her mother and her husband but both families disliked her so she moved to her uncle's place to stay. From then on, she has given up on relationships and love as she fears that it would end up like her parents' relationship. Yu Le is about to leave the kitchen when he hears Keke's handphone ringing. He rushes into the freezer to save her. He finds her and carries her to the hospital up a series of staircases. Keke is touched but she still does not have the courage and confidence to accept Yu Le's love.

Yu Le offends some gangsters and is about to be beaten up when he meets his friend, Yu Jiao on the street. Yu Jiao tells him about a goldmine being hidden in Gateau and tells Yu Le not to quit his job so that they can find the treasure. He fakes a "save the damsel in distress" show to make Sarah employ him as a bodyguard. The two of them looked everywhere for it but they could not find it.

Sarah works with Sean Paul after Tang Shuang to get rid of Gao Gen.

A trainee competition between all the Gateau branches in the world is held. Tang Shuang and Ba Lang are chosen. Gao Gen accepts Tang Shuang as his disciple as Sarah had made him promise that if Tang shuang was to lose the competition, Gao Gen would leave Gateau. Tang Shuang wins after Gao Gen supports her with true love. They start going out.

Tang Shuang and Jim meets Qu Qi but they do not recognize each other. Jim teaches Qu Qi yoga and feels strangely close to her. Tang Shuang and Qu Qi are on bad terms after a few misunderstandings. Qu Qi recalls her memory but does not remember her days in France. Her sister wakes up and tells Gao Gen the truth about Qu Qi's past. Gao Gen tells Tang Shuang about it. However, when Tang Shuang visits Qu Qi's sister, the sister lies that her mother did not commit suicide and that Gao Gen was just making it up. Actually, she had accepted Sarah's threat to report that she had created a fake passport for Qu Qi.

Tang Shuang starts suspecting that Gao Gen got close to her just because he wanted to learn her mother's special skill. They break up and Tang Shuang swears that she would one day beat Gao Gen. A contest is held between Gateau and their rival company Grand. The winner would be able to stay in Hong Kong. Mr Sa learns that Sean Paul is using his daughter for his purposes and gets a stroke. Sarah is put in charge of the company. She reemploys Sean Paul to replace Gao Gen as Gao Gen had stop baking due to a big blow from his breakup with Tang Shuang. She learns how to pull sugar much help from Qu Qi. Sean Paul helps Tang Shuang on the surface but he is actually hoping to learn "Mother's Hand". Sarah finds out that Sean Paul is actually a spy from Grand. Tang Shuang quits Gateau and joins Grand for the competition. Tang Shuang learns she has brain cancer after being hit by lightning. She learns that Gao Gen was not in the wrong also. She tries her best to encourage him to bake cakes again without telling him about her cancer. He starts baking again and represents Gateau against Tang Shuang. Sarah puts away her hate for Gao Gen and works with him. Tang Shuang faints after seeing the cake that Gao Gen has made for her. Gao Gen realises she has brain cancer and spends more time with her.

Finale

Tang Shuang and Gao Gen: Tang Shuang eventually recovers and she and Gao Gen bakes cakes under the name of Mr and Mrs Cake Robin Hood.

Yu Le and Keke: Keke is invited to Bu Lang's house. He wants to perform an experiment on her to make her love him instead of Yu Le. Bu Lang calls Yu Le and tells him to come to his house. Bu Lang leaves the house to buy batteries for his invention. Keke tries to escape. She knocks over chemicals and a fire erupts. Yu Le arrives in time to save her. Bu Lang leaves sadly. However, Keke still won't accept him. Yu Le finally touches Keke when he makes 3 treasure rice, 2 flavoured popsicles and woollen sweaters for her. He wins a ring in a lucky draw and proposes to her. He even cuts his long hair for her.

Sarah and Yu Jiao: They joined Gateau as trainees. (In another version of the story, she falls for Yu Jiao but as she has no confidence in him she does not accept him and instead wants to marry Yu Le and causes a breakup between Keke ad Yu Le)

Goldmine: It was eventually found by one of the chefs of Gateau. Yu Le and Yu Jiao stole the money from the chef. While Yu Le was on the way to the police to surrender the money, he receives the call from Bu Lang and the money is burned in the fire.

Tang Sen and Qu Qi: They reunited and Tang Sen forgives her for abandoning them 22 years ago for her contests.

Trivia

Gâteaux was misspelt as "Gâteux" for all scenes and captions within the series.