Piece of Cake

Referring to something as a "piece of cake" is often used to describe a situation that was easy, or required little effort...

Unfortunately, today's cake was NOT a "piece of cake". Today's cake DID prove that it doesn't matter what it looks like, just what it tastes like.

I got up early this Sunday morning. We were scheduled to meet my sister's family at the park at 10:00 am. If I was going to decorate a cake in the afternoon I had to get it baked before we left.

The cake took forever. I was making a white cake, subbing cream for water and butter for oil. This cake smelled so good! I set the timer for 50 min. My oven tends to run warm. But when I checked on it the cake totally wiggled, I didn't even put my stick in it... it was CLEARLY still baking. 10 min later I checked on it again... mmm, a little more time. 10 min later, now 1hr and 10 min baking time, the wood stick comes out clean. But when I flip it over there is a HUGE crater in the middle:

Totally not suitable to decorate (and I had a really cute fish decoration in mind). So I did the only thing left to do. I packed the cake up, put some chocolate buttercream in my bag, and loaded the car with the kids to head to our picnic.

The minivan was filled with the scent of a deliciously baked cake. You couldn't tell that there was an unsightly crater in the middle.

After playing and eating and playing some more I brought out the cake. Everyone wanted a piece... So I cut around the center (still not cooked) and put chocolate buttercream icing on the side. Perfect treat for a perfect afternoon in perfect weather. (Yes, because I didn't grab a tip and was just squeezing the chocolate buttercream out of a coupler it DID resemble a fresh pile of poo... which all the little girlies found hilarious and added to the fun.)

At 10:10 pm I have a second attempt at white cake in the oven. I'll have to decorate it tomorrow night and go to work empty handed on Monday morning. But, hopefully, I'll be decorating a perfectly baked cake after work tomorrow.