Lucy or Martha?

    Today, Thing 1 came to me and said he wanted to make a carrot cake.  After deciding it would be a nice way to warm up the house (it just seemed cold on this drab, rainy day) I said yes.  I informed DD via text.  He gave me the dancing for joy emoticon.  (Carrot cake is his favorite cake.  One of the only cakes he likes actually).    I was going to tort it.  With cream cheese frosting.  I briefly contemplated making orange and green frosting and making little carrots on it (don't worry that wasn't going to happen!).  This was going to be a grand cake indeed.
    So I found a 5 star rated recipe.   I had even found a recipe modification that made the original a little more "healthy."  I grated carrots.  I assembled my "mis en place" of ingredients.  I preheated the oven with my baking stone (because baking geniuses know baking stones are good for even heat when baking.) and prepped the pans.  I got my mixer mixing.  The batter looked beautiful and smelled great.  I poured it in the pans and put it in my well heated oven (double checking my oven thermometer to make sure the temp was correct - as a baking genius would do of course). 

     The timer rang and I grabbed a toothpick to check the doneness.  Tooth pick came out clean so I put them on a cooling rack and set the timer for 10 minutes to flip them out the pans to cool.

     This is where the baking choir starts to sound a bit off key.

     I  expected the cakes to flip out no problem (since I am a baking genius - they should have popped right out, right?).  Yeah, they didn't. 

     I used a plastic knife to go around the edges (even though they looked like they had pulled away).  They didn't come out.  I did a toothpick check again.  Not done.  (The baking genius must have tooth picked the outside of the cake, where it was done - doh!)

     I decided to put the cakes back into the oven (thank goodness the baking genius had a still hot baking stone in it right?).  I pulled them out five minutes later.  I did this several times before I realized the baking genius had forgot to turn the oven back on.

     The baking choir is sounding pretty terrible at this point.  At this point, this is feeling more like an episode of  "I love Lucy" than "Martha Stewart Living."

     I turn the oven back on and put the cakes back in.  After 10 minutes, I pull them out and let them cool.  At this point I'm worried I'm just drying the outside out and possibly burning the bottom.  I put them outside to quick cool.  After flipping them out, part of the bottom ripped off.  They for sure still weren't done inside.
    
     You might be saying, "Give Up".   Bake a new one. To this I say "Never"!  I am too stubborn.  I don't like to be defeated.  I hate wasting food.  I already had the cream cheese frosting made.  DD was expecting carrot cake.  He even made the "dancing for joy" emoticon.  He doesn't get worked up over much.

     At this point I turn to Google.  Here's when I tried to microwave one of them.  Shockingly that didn't work either.

     While I was nuking it one last time, I found a "fix" for cake mistakes.  Turn heavy, underdone cakes into pudding.  I am starting to feel like more of a genius again.  Well at least I'm happy this cake hasn't totally gotten the best of me. 

     I whipped some eggs, milk, and brown sugar (I was out of vanilla at this point), cut the cakes into cubes, threw it all into a greased 9x13, and put it back into my still hot oven for 45 mins at 350 degrees. (thank you baking stone).  And, yes I did turn the oven back on this time.

    I let it cool and frosted it. 

    It's actually pretty good.  (Maybe it's the cream cheese frosting?)

    Moral of the story, if life gives you underdone, dried out carrot cake, make pudding instead!

Nuf said :)

I will try a new cake tomorrow.  Or Wednesday when DD comes back home from working. DD brought more vanilla home.