Okay, so the other day my husband saw a cake on Facebook that he wanted to try. I, being the loving wife that I am, said, share the post so I can see it and I will bake that cake. So I copied the recipe, it was for a pound cake. I had never made a pound cake before. Cool, I thought, I get to make this cake and it will be awesome. Don't even have to ice it or decorate it, all I have to do is cover it in powdered sugar. Well I mix the ingredients as per the instructions and the batter looks terrific. I pour it into my pan and there is a bit left over. Leftover is good as I have a small pan that worked perfectly! Well my oven is preheated so I put the cake(s) in. Knowing that the small cake takes way less time I kept an eye on it and took it out when I considered it done. It was great. Now the other cake still had a ways to go according to the recipe so I debated walking to the stored to let it finish. It still had about another 20-25 minutes. I checked on the cake just to make sure it would be okay while I was gone and not only was the cake already done but was well on the way to being burned! I took the cake out but it was too late. The burned taste ran throughout most of the cake. A cake fail :( Now usually my cakes will fail during decorating (operator error) but to burn one was very embarrassing. All the powdered sugar in the world would not have saved it. So for the to do and not to do when baking a cake or any recipe for the first time:
To Do:
- Always copy the recipe exactly (I did)
- Make sure you have what you need before starting (Check)
- Follow the directions as given (again, I did this.)
- If all went according to plan you should enjoy whatever it was you prepared :)
Not To Do:
- Don't try any substitutions or additions during the recipes first run. If you do and it doesn't turn out then you won't know if it was the recipe or something you did or didn't do.
- Don't assume that all ovens cook the same. Some ovens are hotter than others and some bake unevenly. It's all well and good to use an oven thermometer but if you are getting someones homemade recipe then their oven might be off.
- Don't go off and leave it assuming it will be okay. If I had left and come back when it said it would be done that cake would have been charcoal.
- Don't give up if it didn't work. Try it again or find another recipe for it. Cooking can be fun and enjoyable. We learn from our mistakes and sometimes we learn from the mistakes of others.
