Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Less than a woman

I baked a two-layer cake Tuesday night.

Well, I kinda baked a cake.

And as much I usually try to reject stereotypes that suggest women should own kitchen duties and other house chores, I still can't help but feel bad about my latest cake disaster.

Maybe I was tired. After all, I didn't get to leave work until close to 10 p.m. Or, maybe I'm not meant for kitchen duties. The only things I can cook are chicken and fish along with a few vegetables for sides. Hence, these are the meals I eat mostly.

Maybe my yearn to bake the cake was spawn from boredom. But since I had all the ingredients to bake I decided to do so and bring the masterpiece to work on Wednesday.

Then I realized I didn't have the proper baking pans. Being creative I decided to cook my cake mix in a glass baking pan and the rest in a skillet. The cookware seemed to be the same size but it wasn't. But I was determined to create a two-layered masterpiece.

I thought my co-workers would be so pleased. I imagined me sending out a mass email alerting them my homemade delicacy was there for the taking. It all made me smile.

Surprisingly, the cake mix baked in the skillet came out the best. I waited for it to cool and then put icing on it. The one in the glass pan didn't come out so well. When I took it out of the oven it looked charred in some places but not done in others.

Sigh.

That's when the trouble began. When I tried to place the last layer on top of the first layer, the cake split in two pieces. I tried to use icing to cover it up but it only crumbled more. Then some liquid cake mix bubbled up in a spot. Ugh...

I threw that layer in the trash.

I tried to salvage the first layer. I used icing to cover up crumbs the previous layer left. It looks OK.

I felt so defeated.

I guess it goes without saying that I didn't bring in any cake today.

3 comments:

Barry Ingram said...

I see I haven't gotten this "comment" thing down. Sorry for the blank post. What I had wanted to say is that cakes can be a real pain the keister sometimes. I'm lucky in that many of my co-workers are ravenous Philistines that will eat anything - and my dog, Ghost, will be glad to help, as well.

Ashley Northington said...

Aw, thanks. That makes me feel a little better. I still have the other cake--Ghost is welcome to have it.

Unknown said...

Next time crumble the thing up into large chunks. Pick off the burned parts and put it into a big container and layer it with cool whip and pudding and call it a fancy ice box pudding cake!