Cake = Fail

The Plan:

A Dolly Varden birthday cake for a friend's birthday. Easy enough - I have the tin for the cake, and I have made one before, so this should be no problem.

Then it gets complicated. I decide that instead of butter cake, I will make white chocolate mud cake. I look at the packet mixes, decide that the ingredients are cheaper to buy and go with that option. 3 blocks of white chocolate, much butter and flour and eggs are melted, mixed and poured into waiting tins.

The Result:



Ugh.

I hadn't used this recipe before, so obviously it is not a good one. The batter was very runny, and just exploded over the top of the tin (thank goodness I had it on another tray, or it all would have ended up on the bottom of the oven. I had to throw the tray out). Still, it might have been OK when I turned it out.

Nope. It disintegrated. It tasted alright, but couldn't be salvaged. Bugger.


So, onto a new cake. With time running short, I forgot about the fancy ideas and went with a basic butter cake. To make it even easier, I bought packet mixes.

Result No 2:



It's all good - didn't over flow the tin, turned out in one piece, decorated and ready for the birthday girl.

Lessons Learnt:

ALWAYS make a practice cake, especially for untried recipes. I usually do this, and teenage boys eat the excess cake for me. (They also eat all the leftover decorations, they're considerate like that). They actually ate the failed cake, too, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Jacaranda

Everywhere I look - Jacarandas in full bloom. A bit early this year because of the warm temperatures and lack of rain, apparently.

This one is outside the Regatta Hotel on Coro drive.