Apr 6, 2015

Slop Cake

4/06/2015 — cori
The kids usually like to request certain types of cakes for their birthdays.  This year Chloe requested a white cake with fudge frosting.  Simple enough.  I am good at reading the back of the cake box and following directions.  Unfortunately, this is what happened after following the directions to a T.


Not cool.  No amount of frosting was going to fix that ravine in her cake.  It looked more like a hamburger than a cake.  All we needed to do was throw some sesame seeds on top.  Utter fail.  The only solution was to do this:

 

Delicately heave it from the cake platter to a plate using a spatula.  I told the kids, "It would be a big help to me if you could please eat it off the plate.  I don't want to be reminded of my failure."  Chloe was thrilled that she got to eat a cake the day before her birthday as well as on her birthday.  She told me, "Mom, that slop cake didn't look very good, but it sure tasted good!"

 

Here is attempt number two.  You only get to see this small portion of the cake because it may or may not be leaning slightly to one side causing it to look a bit lopsided.  But this side looks great! And I was told it tasted great too, even though it wasn't very stable looking.

Come to find out, the slop cake called for 3 egg whites to be mixed into the batter.  Never again will I only use egg whites, unless I plan to make Angel Food cake.  The cake has nothing to hold it together, no binder, so it couldn't help but fall apart.  Lesson learned.

My cooking is a constant reminder to my kids how far from perfect I am.  We all expect something to go awry, look a little weird, not be done on time, or a host of other issues.  But in the end, it always tastes good and that's all that really matters to us.



Pineapple Tutorial

4/06/2015 — cori

The other day Bennett couldn't wait to go grocery shopping with me.  I wasn't sure if it was because he honestly wanted to spend some time with me or because he had hopes of picking out certain food items that weren't on my grocery list.  Come to find out he was having a hankering for pineapple.  He asked if he could get some.  How could I deny my child something from the fruit category.?  Of course I said, "Yes.  Go ahead and look in the cooler in the Fresh Foods section of the store.  You should see a little container with it already chopped up."  

He came back and reported that there were no already pre-cut pineapples lying around.  "Now what, Mom?"  I thought long and hard and told him, "Well, Buddy, if you can figure out how to cut a real pineapple, you can get one.  I've only done it once, so I couldn't tell you how."  How pathetic is that?! I can't even teach my kid to cut a pineapple.  Thank God for YouTube!  As you can see from the picture he has his phone sitting out and the Pineapple Tutorial walking him through step by step.


Way to go Bennett!  Anything you want badly enough to work hard for tastes better in the end.  At least he thought so.

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