Cake Catastrophe
Well, Friday went exactly as planned. I actually ended up with about four and a half hours of writing time (interspersed with blog/internet/email breaks), so I was really pleased. Then on Saturday I had a couple of hours more, so I didn’t feel so bad when I didn’t write at all on Sunday. Instead I finished Diana P’s book SSG–loved it! and started on the book about the history of fingerprints.
Today I’m taking the boys up to visit my mom for one last summer visit. Her 60th birthday was on Friday, so I decided to bake her a cake. German Chocolate Cake is one of her favorites, so I figured it was a good choice. It’s turned into a little bit of disaster. First, I decided to use a cake mix since I think they always turn out better than homemade cakes (at least the homemade cakes I make). So I dump in the mix, add the eggs, water, and oil and then realize I added twice as much oil as the mix calls for. Luckily I didn’t add more than that! I thought the box said 1 1/2 c. oil (which had my eyes bugging out), but I added the first cup and checked again–just to be sure. I had been supposed to add 1/2 a cup. So I spent the next five minutes trying to siphon the extra oil off the top of the pre-mixed batter. I used a measuring cup to monitor my progress, but who knows if it worked…
Then I set about making the homemade frosting…with the sugar, butter, coconut, pecans, and evaporated milk. The recipe called for 1 c. of evaporated milk, but those little cans only have 5 oz. or something so I had to pull another one out of the pantry. It was a little thicker, but into the measuring cup it went. Cooked it all up and set it aside to cool while I was cleaning up. Picked up the ev. milk cans to clean them out for recycling and saw that the inside of the second can looked a little different, smelled a tad different too. Flipped the can over and, sure enough, the expiration date (who knew?) was Oct. 2004 (!!)
So now I have this questionable cake and even more questionable frosting. I’m just going to take the whole mess (cake separate from frosting) up to my mom’s and see what she thinks we should do with it. Happy Birthday, right? Good grief.
08/07/2006 at 10:26 pm
Bless your heart.
My oldest sister took a cake decorating class many years ago and she taught me how to make and decorate cakes. She was a lot more into than I was (although it was my only source of income for a while…thankfully my (ex) husband was paying the bills though :o) )so she was the one who made the birthday cakes for everyone in our family…except for hers. I made that one.
One year I made a Fred Flintstone cake. Well, I had made enough cakes that I didn’t think I needed the recipe at that point so I did it from memory. Put the oven on too high and cooked it for too long and well, let’s just say you could’ve leveled a building with Fred’s feet they were so hard. (His head wasn’t so bad though…not sure how that worked out?)
But it’s the thought that counts, right? :o)
08/08/2006 at 1:15 am
Oops! Hopefully it will taste just fine. After all, any cake is better than no cake.
08/08/2006 at 4:49 am
I’m impressed you’re even thinking about baking!! My culinery skills are legendary. I burn everything. I tend to put things on to cook and then forget about them until the burning smell is all over the house.
I have been known to put something on then go out!!!