Friday, January 13, 2012

Let them eat cake! (updated)


Unfortunately, this won't be a post about how I made this magnificent cake pictured above. My experience baking yesterday should serve as a useful example of what you should *not* do on your quest to treat yourself and those nearest and dearest to you.

For every success in the kitchen, I probably have 3-5 near disasters.  My problem is usually 3 fold: [read on]


1. Not reading between the lines of a recipe. For example, I imagined that I would need about 15 minutes to make the caramel syrup. Maybe I should know that it takes more like an hour to caramelize sugar and water, but I'm not a mind reader, Martha! Come on!

2. Not ensuring I have ample time to complete the project. Doing a test run of a new recipe is fine as long as there is enough wiggle room. I realized midway that I didn't have enough time (after staring and swearing at bubbling sugar for 45 minutes) and I ended up rushing and making somewhat tragic mistakes. Yes, I could have avoided pressing "clear off" instead of "timer off" on my oven, an embarrassing mistake which resulted in baking the batter at a rapidly decreasing oven temperature. I don't think the elaborate recipe was supposed to turn out like two pancakes.

3. Not being cognizant of my audience, in this case, who I am baking for. I needed to have the cake ready for my fiance's birthday, but I also had planned to serve the cake to his invited guests. If it had just been the two of us, it would've been fine if the cake was a little wonky. For the party, I could have just made my old standby, a crowd-pleasing cake that I know I can make under time constraints. But no, I had to try Martha...

For now I will just have to put up with the dilapidated, broke-ass cake and watch the strained smiles as our guests attempt to eat it. This cake has no redeeming qualities: it did not rise, the caramel syrup was too watery (and then I turned it into solid resin) and I was so tired I iced it as if I was a 5 year old finger painting.

Moral of the story here is to know when to spend the time to really try something amazing and when to say, screw it, let them eat [Duncan Hines] cake.

Photo and recipe credit here

**UPDATE**

Here are a few photos of the infamous cake.



6 comments:

  1. You may have an alternative career as a comic writer if the grad thing doesn't work out. I really laughed out loud. Only could have been enhanced by a picture of the disaster cake.

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    1. Challenge accepted! I will take a picture of it tonight and post it here for your viewing pleasure!

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  2. Oh Meg,

    I would have definitely enjoyed the cake, and only slightly strained to announce, "this is the best cake ever...i love Duncan Hines". :)

    xo
    D

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  3. Oh no!!! Meg - I am sure the cake will still be tasty and your guests will enjoy it. Martha makes it look too easy sometimes....its not you...its her false advertising. :)

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  4. Dont worry Meg ! We have all had that happen to us ! The secret is that you always have to have a plan B when expecting guests ! lol xx

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  5. Great post Meg! I love that you share your mishaps as well as your successes with us... it makes you easy to relate to.

    If it's any conciliation, I have also had my fair share of trouble with Martha. I think maybe she isn't cognizant of her audience. We aren't all Marth-wonderwoman-Stewarts!

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