[//Nathan]

Ugh... Not in too good a mood right now.

Just tried to do a cake, vanilla icing on strawberry. Set the timer for 32 minutes, hopped on the Net. Just checked it, it was still going - and the buzzer never went off. I swear, when I actually buy an oven, one day when I have the kitchen of my dreams, the timer will be built in, and the oven will shut off when the time is up, so if the buzzer fails to buzz, at least the food won't be ruined. As it is, I don't think the cake is ruined. It looks a little done on the outside, but I'm sure it's fine. Once I ice it, I doubt my wife will notice.

Last cake I did, well, the last two, they turned out fine. The last one, I took out of the 13x9 pan and put on the large pizza pan, so I could ice the top and sides. This was a lemon cake with lemon icing. Anyway, I went to preheat a pizza, and after a few minutes, just as I was about to put the pizza in (frozen pizzas fit better on the small pizza pan) I smelled smoke. The icing had melted, and dripped down onto the grill or whatever you call that thing that heats up in the oven. We had to disable both smoke alarms and air out the house for an hour.

The cake before that, strawberry on strawberry (not much for chocolate, am I?) I left in the 13x9 pan, just icing the top. I actually put a frozen pizza in the oven, on top of the cake. The pizza was done alright, but the cake was another story. Charred a little on top, it was still OK, but not "right".

I have proven my proficiency in the kitchen for just about everything but desserts... it's pretty damn frustrating. But I'll learn - or burn down the house.

[UBERHOST.NET]

CAKE!

[Sunlite]

One word: Entenmanns
Problem solved !

[Quillz]

Ctrl + F for "wife" = found!

Just kidding. Anyways, keep at it. Cooking, like everything else, takes a lot of hard work and practice to master.

[Grant]

I would recommend asking your friends on how they make their cakes... I have made peach cobbler 100's of times... but a few days ago, I asked my friends mother how she made it... and it was really easy and painless. You just throw a peach cobbler mix in with a cake mix and bam you have peach cobbler. I used to layer everything out with pie crust... saved me 1 hr of work!

Point being: If you have some friends who love to cook too, talk to them about it.. they might make your cake making misery a paradise !

[Ian]

The moral of the story, don't put icing in the oven, it'll caramelize then burn. I enjoy baking and most people love my products but baking with a fan assisted oven is annoying, you never know how much to reduce the time by, the cook book says see the manufacturers hand book which then gives you something vague and says refer to the recipe.

Ian

[Phil Mossop]

I thought icing was meant to be put on last, after the cake has been put together with the filling and had time to cool.

[Midnightmadness]

Dont feel bad Nathan I once blew up a patatoe in the microwave

Dont ask how either I still dont know to this day

[Sam A]

Did you pierce it beforehand?

If you didn't, that's probably why.

[Rikki]

I'm not much of a cook, but don't you ice cakes after they've been cooked?

[Sam A]

That's the way most people do it.

[JasonIPS]

This is a really random topic, out of the blue...but I will say my favorite is Angel Food cake!!! I make my own special frosting, try it.... Just mix a thing of Cool Whip, make 1 box of instant chocolate pudding, and some cream cheese (Best thing ever).

[Midnightmadness]

Did you pierce it beforehand?

If you didn't, that's probably why.

lol I think thats what I forgot to do normally they would cook in about 10 minutes

[//Nathan]

Oh, I know when to put the icing on - I think. To clarify, I am putting it on after the cake is done baking. The trouble is after the cake is "done" it winds up in the oven to be stored. We don't have enough room in the fridge so we just leave it in the oven. The problem, it could be said, is in [not] checking the oven to be empty before turning it on.

@Sunlite - Entenmenns is cheating... and they're often too sweet anyway. You get a cake pre-made in the store, it's like the icing is in every bite; preservatives I guess. Especially in the South where everything's at least glazed, if not glazed, creme-filled, topped, and overglazed. Ugh. If I want super-sweet I make the coma cake:

Ingredients:

(One 10-inch Bundt pan, one double boiler (not a steamer!!!), electric mixer)

1 cup Butter, softened
4 Eggs
1.5 cups Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1 cup Buttermilk
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Semisweet mini-morsels, divided
2-4oz bars Sweet baking chocolate melted/cooled
1/3 cup Chocolate syrup
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
4 oz. White chocolate chopped (or chips)
2 tablespoons +2 teaspoons Shortening, divided

Instructions:

Cream Butter in mixing bowl. Gradually add Sugar beating well at medium speed using an electric mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time beating well after each addition. Dissolve Baking soda in Buttermilk stirring well. Add to cream mix alternatively with Flour beginning and ending with Flour. Add 1 cup of the Semisweet mini-morsels, melted, Chocolate syrup, and Vanilla string just until blended but do not overbeat.

Spoon batter into a heavily greased and floured 10" Bundt pan. Bake at 300º for 1 hour 25 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Now invert cake immediately onto plate. Let cool.

To make the topping:

Combine the White chocolate (chunks of solid white, or chips) with 2 tablespoons Shortening in top portion of double boiler. Bring water to boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook until it is melted and smooth. Drizzle White chocolate over cooled cake. Now melt 1/2 cup Semisweet mini-morsels with 2 teaspoons Shortening. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Let cool. Drizzle over White chocolate.

@Midnightmadness/Sam A - Heh, I never knew what would happen to a potato if not pierced. I always stuck a few fork-holes in them; currently I'm unhappy enough with microwaving potatoes that I cook them other ways: in the oven or boiling.

@JasonIPS - Welcome to one of my posts... The frosting sounds good, but I'm not a big fan of angel food cake - too airy. For a bundt cake I prefer, see the 'quote' above.

[blush]

My favourite cake recipes ever are from Desserts of Vitality (that link is for the whole cookbook... it's a friggin' huge pdf). I've never been disappointed with any of them.

Nathan you don't need to put cakes in the fridge to store them. Get a cake-sized tupperware and leave 'em on the counter. My round cakes (from the cookbook above) fit on one of my dinner plates, and my biggest mixing bowl fits over it quite nicely as an alternative.

[Priest]

I have proven my proficiency in the kitchen for just about everything but desserts...

That's funny because I've proven my worthlessness in the kitchen for just about everything except desserts!

You cook me dinner and I'll bake you a cake.

-P-

[Dªn]

I can't bake Cakes for life Nathan so don't worry! I do make a mean Chocolate Fondant though

[Sam A]

@Midnightmadness/Sam A - Heh, I never knew what would happen to a potato if not pierced. I always stuck a few fork-holes in them; currently I'm unhappy enough with microwaving potatoes that I cook them other ways: in the oven or boiling.

Same thing happens with cooked eggs, fried or hard boiled.

Microwaving a potato is just a convenient way to "bake" one, my mom sometimes does it when she hasn't time to cook.