Oh hubris

So . . . I baked another cake. The same kind I baked this past weekend only--different.

And by different, I mean utterly disastrous.

I don't know how it happened. I did everything exactly the same as last time, except I did run a little short on vegetable oil so I topped off the measuring cup with a smidge of grapeseed oil. Could THAT have been the reason that the cake tops sort of caved in, and the cake bottoms stuck to the pans? That little, tiny variation?

Or was it hubris? As I was whizzing through the recipe, I remarked to Husband, "Wow, the second time you cook something, it's so much quicker and easier than the first." Hello? JINX!

So the slightly-collapsed cake layers stuck to the pans and I used a spatula to delicately peel the stuck bits out and plop them into place on the out-of-the-pan parts. And those didn't look terrible. But then--I had to flip the layers off the wire rack and onto a platter.

And that's when it got just ridiculous. I found myself grabbing big hunks of cake and poking them into holes and proposing I just give up. Except . . . I made this cake to bring to a dinner party tonight. A dinner party hosted by two people I've never met BUT with whom (is that grammar correct? Then again, does that even matter in a blog about FAILURE?) we'll be spending a week on the beach in July. So I cannot show up without the promised dessert.

With a LOT of frosting, I spackled the whole thing into a cake-like semblance. But there is no denying that one side of the cake is considerably taller than the other. And when we cut into it, it will surely collapse into pieces. But (and this I can confirm because I ate many cake crumbs during this process--the crumbs, that is, that didn't get stuck in the icing) those pieces will be very delicious.

So hopefully, my travel-mates won't judge me for the cake. It might even have good consequences. Maybe, when we're at the beach, they'll jump to intercept me any time I offer to cook for our group. "Oh, that's okay," they'll say, giving each other shifty glances and mouthing, Remember the cake? Then they'll say, "You just stay there in your beach chair, sipping that frosty drink and WE'LL take care of dinner."

Hee. We'll see. . .

Have a good weekend! (And by that, I mean, free of baking mishaps.)

xoxo

Elizabeth