Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Dessert Disaster
Last weekend I was asked to bring desserts to a family birthday party, so I thought I would be my own Betty Crocker and bake a chocolate layer cake & a key lime pie. I know. My first cue that it was not going to go well was that I discovered the night before that I did not have powdered sugar. Now some of you may or may not know that frosting of any kind generally requires powdered sugar...and a layer cake is not a layer cake without frosting. I was not off to a good start towards the new Mrs. "BC." Sunday after church we rushed home and I got going on the pie. Crust in the oven--check. Pie filling made & baking--check. Cake made & baking--check....on to the frosting....whoops. Discover that I underestimated the amount of cocoa powder needed; decide to run next door with fingers crossed, hoping they have baking cocoa (they did.) Cooking frosting & notice a faint burning smell. Sniff, sniff...hmmm. Not the frosting. Where is that coming from?! Peek in the oven & open it to see a huge plume of smoke blast out of the oven. Agghhh! Cake has bubbled up over the cake pans & is now burnt to a charcoal-crisp on the bottom of the oven (reminiscent of Senia's latest baking trauma.) Cakes are not baked through; they are still jiggly. I did everything right: I measured correctly, I poured into the correct pans, I made sure the racks were in the right place, I preheated...I guess it will always be a mystery. Pull cakes out after baking for a few more minutes in a cooler oven (Keith's idea--I guess I should call him Mr. BC. :) After cooling, transfer cakes to wire rack...well, "transfer" is a loose term--I threw them quickly onto the rack as they started to crumble. Frosted "cakes" and layered, turning them into one big slanting pile of chocolate. (See picture.) I called it "Chocolate Blob." Surprisingly, it tasted fine (how can you go wrong with chocolate, chocolate cake?) The key lime pie was a success, too, if I may say so. I would even make the chocolate cake again...as long as the smoke alarms have new batteries & the kitchen is well ventilated.
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3 comments:
Having similar oven catastrophies just days apart makes me feel more connected. Even across the miles, we must share the same bad luck. ;)
Mom was raving about the desserts today, so they must have been a hit! Thanks for posting pictures of The Blob Cake (patent that one, Mrs. BC).
Senia, you and I should start a dessert disaster club! While the cake didn't have the typical "cake look" it did taste absolutely delicious. It was like the chocolate frosting (professional chef's call it "ganache") soaked into the cake and it was so rich and delicious and decadent. Yes, decadent.
Isn't it strange how you can make a dessert at home for your family 10 times in a row. A dessert that no one but your family will see. Ten times out of ten, the dessert turns out so well it could win 1st place at the fair. Then, you make a dessert to bring to an event and...disaster. Why is that?
I'm re-reading my comment and I wanted to make sure that the dessert disaster club was looking for Senia, HEATHER and me. The way I wrote it it sounded like just Senia and I were going to start the club and that we were going to exclude you, Heather. Not the case at all. Didn't want you to feel left out.
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