Not so Pretty

The other day the missionaries were coming to dinner and it was a  little over an hour before they were to arrive.  Then Brombeere said that we probably ought to make a cake or something for dessert.  So she started talking about how there was a cake mix in the pantry and we could throw that together quick and all.  Only for the last several weeks I had been thinking that we needed an excuse to make this scratch cake recipe I have that I like pretty much.  So I got up and started making it.

You know me, get everything out first.  This recipe is a real simple one, just a few ingredients and throw them together without a lot of fuss.  My kind of recipe.

So I started with the butter and sugar, mixed it all up nice and smooth.

Then I added the eggs and the rest of the liquids and beat it some more.

It was looking pretty good so it went in the pan and into the oven.  We used to have two regular sized cake pans for making normal layer cakes but they wore out a while back so right now we don't.  The only pans we have are the ones Brombeere acquired back when she was learning how to decorate cakes.  They're a little bigger and more sturdy.  One pan was big enough for all the batter so that's how it went in the oven.

Then, while the cake was cooking, I started on the frosting.  I've gotten braver about making frosting.  Normally I have trouble getting the consistency right and seemed to always end up with way more frosting than I wanted.  But the last couple of times its gone better, got the right consistency and the right amount.  That, plus I really like the flavor of home made frosting lots more than the store bought stuff.  So once again, get everything out ...

And, once again, success!  I was pretty pleased with this part.

Then the timer on the cake went off.  We opened the oven door and slid the rack out and the middle of the cake jiggled, like jello.  Nope, not done.  So back in the oven it went.  Two more tries, more than double the time the recipe called for and finally it looked done and ready so out it came.

Unfortunately, when we tried to take it out of the pan we discovered it still wasn't done all the way through.  Not even close.  Well, the missionaries were waiting for dessert.  So we explained the situation to the missionaries. Brombeere suggested that the cake around the edges was probably done and we could serve that part.  We explained this to the missionaries, that we could do that.  Just that the cake wasn't as pretty as normal.  They were okay with that.  One of them even said he really liked gooey cake and was just fine with it.   So that's how we served it.

Then, once we finished cutting pieces for everyone, the rest went back into the oven and cooked for another 20 minutes.  I think the total cooking time ended up being almost triple what the recipe called for when cooking in two pans.  We'll know better next time.

The frosting?  Well, we just served that on the side like whipped cream and let everyone put what they wanted on.  It would have been pretty hard to frost this particular cake like normal.  But in the end, even though it wasn't the prettiest cake you've ever seen, it still tasted just fine.  And it satisfied the craving I'd been having.  Success in failure, right?