i’ve been wanting to learn how to cook for a while. not necessarily hard things, but just things i could realistically do. i pass the baking aisle in the supermarket all the time seeing the cake mixes, and wonder if i could figure out how to do that. i have the cake pans that came with my multi pack of non stick cookware, and i have bought eggs before. so the other night, i went about trying to bake a cake. after seeing how people like Kari can make elaborate cakes involving boiling icing, i was just hoping to make the cake come out like the picture on the box.
since i don’t have a mixer (yet), i decided to use a fork to combine the eggs, cake mix, oil, and water. not bad, and it didn’t come out too lumpy, in fact, not lumpy at all. however, the directions where it called for two minutes of medium speed mixing was a bit tough. you try to mix cake batter for two minutes with only a fork, trying to twirl your arm like a mixer. they should make that some kind of machine at the gym. after the batter was mixed, i poured it into the pans. i sprayed them with Pam even though as mentioned they are non stick. i figured better safe than sorry, and Pam does do a good job of keeping the meat from sticking to the grill. after the called for 35 minutes on 325, i took the two cakes out of the oven. much to my shock, they did not rise properly. the horror:
unsure of what to do next, i let the cakes cool as the directions said, thinking that somehow they would flatten out. they didn’t even rise to the top of the pan. i was concerned, but figured things would work out. i came back to find that nothing improved, and i was going to have to somehow work with uneven cakes. i laid the first down on the tray, thinking the cake would smush back into itself and flatten out. unfortunately this plan was misguided, because the cake cracked down the middle:
i was not sure what to do. i consulted Carla who was online at the time thinking that as a girl she could help me out. she told me about using dental floss to even off the top of the cake, which i was able to do for the second cake, which worked to perfection. i iced the first layer of cake and filled in the crack with icing. i laid the second layer down on top, and tried to hide the imperfections. it came out rather well considering everything was uneven, and you really can’t tell there was a problem.
most importantly, the cake tasted good, and the first foray into real baking was successful. i want to try again to figure out how to make the cakes rise properly, because i have recollection of my mom making cakes that when they came out rose to the top of the pan completely flat. now…next step, KAHLUA CAKE!
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