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| Cook's Country Strawberry Stack Cake |
To say things have been a little crazy here, would be an understatement. We have had lots of family here the past 2 1/2 months and I hate to overwhelm people (and myself) with trying new magazine recipes out on them. I prefer to use my little crew as a litmus test for new food anyway. They don't mind it, and they all know where the hot pockets and spaghetti-o's are in case of a dud recipe. They also certainly don't mind letting me know when they don't like a recipe I've tried. My feelings are never spared, and I like it that way....most of the time.
My parental units were here for Christmas and I had big plans to try a couple of new recipes on them (if they tolerated me through the teen years, then there is no scaring them off with a new recipe or two), then the fatigue of holidays, travel, and life in general kicked in. It was their last night here and I pulled out a dessert magazine recipe. I would say desserts are a safe bet, but if you've read any of these blogs before, you'd know my baking skills....how do I put this nicely....well, I'd have a better chance of joining the NFL then pulling off a beautifully done magazine dessert. The box of brownie mix in the pantry gave me just enough of a false sense of security to give the dessert recipe a whirl (a girl has to have a fall back plan).
Because I have a monstrous surplus of recipes and pictures I haven't gotten around to posting yet, coupled with my self-proclaimed baking skills, or lack there of, I figured I would skip taking pictures of the steps and probably not post another picture of an ugly dessert I attempted. I had no idea how much time this recipe would take and the pictures would just add more time to making the cake. My dad stayed up with me (New Year's Eve) to keep me company while I trudged through this magazine recipe. After the first hour, I heard my dad say under his breath, 'you should be taking pictures of this...'. I shrugged it off. I had made the dough for the cake and it was really sticky. That was the deciding factor that pictures were not necessary.
After complaining about the sticky batter for the umpteenth time, I heard my dad (again under his breath) say, 'maybe put a little flour on your hands...?'. What the heck did he know about baking? I can't even remember a time he opened the oven at home. 20 minutes later, as I poured my third glass of wine (give me a break, it was new years), I floured my hands. Hmmph. It worked. When did he become a baker? And why didn't I get this 'all knowing' baking gene? I kept complaining that the batter was clearly too sticky and even though the flour trick worked, it probably shouldn't have been that sticky to start out with. He said, 'you know, you'll be making this again someday and be worried when you can't make the batter as sticky because this cake turned out so well'. Quickly followed with, 'you should be taking pictures of this.' I rolled my eyes, knowing more than he did about how these recipes can completely fall apart on you, and then you are stuck with a phone full of photographic evidence showing you have no business being in the kitchen. I set out dividing sticky dough into 6 equal pieces...not easy. I just eyeballed it and moved on. I knew where this train wreck was headed as soon as it left the station.
I learned a long time ago, that I am not smarter than my parents. They actually are wise creatures and maybe I should listen to them. After I got my hands clean of sticky dough... I started taking pictures. As I did this, I saw my dad look up from his computer out of the corner of my flour covered eye, and grin...I poured the final glass of wine....from that bottle. 3 hours into this cake, I read down to the last step of this recipe and broke the news to my dad...' Ummm, well...I hope you've been staying up for the new year and not to try this cake, because I just read it has to be refrigerated overnight to let the strawberry layers soak into the cake part.'.
Clearly it was latter, because he went to bed shortly after I said this. Seeing as they were leaving at some ungodly hour in the morning, I figured I would packaged up a piece for each of them when I woke up to see them off. Unfortunately, I left my phone upstairs and it was too early in the morning to go all the way back upstairs to get it, to take a picture of the final whole product. By the time I got around to getting the phone to take a picture, the vultures....I mean, children had discovered the cake. Next time, I'll listen to my dad sooner. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...
Oh. And the cake was awesome. 3-4 hours plus overnight refrigeration, awesome.
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| Not Too Shabby, for a non-baker |
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| Into the Fridge it Goes.... |
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| How to Make the Individual Cake Layers |
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| Cook's Country June/July 2010 |
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