Had to Share

It's another snowed in day here in Northern New Jersey.  It started last night so school was cancelled for the kids.

By 8:00am it seemed as if they should have just called a delayed opening rather than canceling school altogether.  I am on a secondary street and the roads were fine.  But, oh well, make the best of it. I decided since I am hanging in with the kids, I would bake a cake. I'm not sure if it is the cold weather or the fact that I have grown more patient in my years but I have been really into baking lately. 

I have always said I was more of a cook than a baker.  I like the immediate gratification of sauteing, grilling or roasting something.  If a dish can not be made within an 30-40 minutes, I would skip it all together.  And to bake, you need to be precise in your measurements and I am more of a toss it all in the pan and let's see what happens kind of girl.

Anyway, I found a great recipe for a Sour Cream Coffee Cake which sounded simply divine.  I had all the ingredients in the house, so, I thought I'll whip this up real quick, throw it in the oven and in 55 minutes, pull out the perfect coffee cake to have in the afternoon after doing a little shoveling and clearing of the snow.

I followed the directions.  I mixed, I poured.  I thought, wow, that was so easy. I'm going to start baking even more!
 
40 minutes passed and as I was clearing off the counters and washing dishes, it hit me.

The recipe called for 1 1/2 sticks of butter.  As I was throwing out the wrappers for 2 sticks of butter, I came to the realization that this cake may not come out exactly as it was supposed to.

Well, how bad can it be?  Maybe it will just be a little more buttery - not a bad thing in my book.

The timer went off and I took out the bundt pan.  So far so good.  Everything looked okay.  I let the cake rest and as it was resting, it started slowly deflating in the pan.  I flipped it out onto the cooling rack and hoped for the best.

After coming in from some time in the snow with the kids, I looked over to the counter and the cake was now half the size.  The incredible shrinking cake!

Uh oh.  I took a knife and sliced into it.  It gooed all over the plate.  Ewwww!  Not pretty!  I was so pissed off, I tossed the whole thing right into the garbage.  I almost threw it out the window - which is my signature move but thankfully, it was too cold to open the window.

Frustrating!!!

So, why am I telling this story?

I guess to just share that even if it doesn't go well with a recipe, try and try again.  I know so many people who are intimidated by all things kitchen related because of a previous disaster.  What's the worst that could happen?  You pick up the phone and order a pizza.  Or throw together a pb&j sandwich, or have cold cereal for dinner.  Or even pick up a cake at the bakery or use a boxed mix.  At least you can say you tried.

Shake it off and get back in there!

As I sit here writing this, I think back and should have taken a picture to post.  It really was pathetic.  I promise to take a picture of my next disaster to share with you.

Otherwise, if you are ever in the neighborhood, just check the bushes outside my kitchen window.