- May 11

Something To Trifle With

I can bake and frost a layer cake and I can bake a loaf of homemade bread but I cannot make a successful pan of Rice Krispie treats to save my life. My kids like the store-bought ones better anyway. Thank goodness.

Up until recently I would have told you I could make a pretty decent apple cake too but then I would have gone and proved myself wrong.

With the drop in temperature, I decided to make something with cinnamon in it. I found a recipe for a Raw Apple Cake and was confident I could make it happen. I even had the ideal pan for it!

Years ago, our neighbor had baked us a cake in a beautiful swirling vortex of a pan so I asked her if I could borrow it. With the detailed cake pan in hand I got to work. The pecans were finely diced. The five Granny Smith apples were cut into small pieces and the batter was thick and gooey. I greased and floured the lovely cake pan until it was picture perfect. As I spooned the batter with its pecans and apple pieces, one-third of my brain said, "This isn't going to work." The other two-thirds of my brain told me to think positive.

I would have listened to the one-third but it was too late to back out, so I kept on. The cake stuck impressively. As in not a single crumb came out of the pan without some sort of prying motion applied to it. It wasn't burned but the sugar content of the batter, the apples, and the intricate detail of the cake pan itself all combined for an epic flop. It happens.

I cleaned out the pan and returned it to its rightful owner. Then I gathered the cooled pieces of cake into a bowl with a lid. I thought I would let the sting wear off before I attempted to salvage it.

I posted a picture of the gathered bits to social media because I believe in sharing the flops along with the successes.

Many of my dear friends suggested I make a trifle with my flopped cake by layering the crumbled bits with whipped cream or vanilla pudding. That would have been a fine way of piecing my project back together if my family hadn't already eaten half of it just walking past the bowl periodically.

I chalked the whole thing up to experience and wished we could use whipped cream or vanilla pudding to salvage all of our flops in life.