Getting Closer

So, if you've been reading what's here for sometime now you may know that I have had my fair share of struggles when it comes to baking a cake.  For some reason, I'm determined to figure this thing out.  That's very unlike me; really I usually can't be bothered with solving mundane problems that don't really adversely affect my life.  For example, I can't be bothered to figure out where those socks go when I come up short while folding clothes.  I assume the missing one will show up at some point and if it doesn't, oh well I just throw the single sock away.

But, for some reason this cake thing is something I want to figure out.  I like cake and I'd like to think I could make one at some point in my life.

I've been picking apart each bad cake of the past trying to see where I've gone wrong.  So far there has been an investment in new cake pans as well as an oven thermometer.  Today, I had the help of a friend who was sure her carrot cake recipe was the easiest ever.  She told me so as we sat in her kitchen on Wednesday night.  I laughed when she assured me that anyone could make this cake without fail.

"No, you come over and watch me make it and you'll see, it won't work out."

She agreed and showed up this morning to oversee the baking process, even better she grated all the carrots as well.

It really was an easy recipe, one that would involve three layers of carrot cake.  I mixed up the ingredients in no time and we put it in the oven.  We adjusted the oven temperature based on the reading from my shiny new thermometer and left the batter to rise and bake its way into cakedom.

It worked!  Sort of.  It was by far the best of my attempts but still just a teeny bit dry.  My friend and I rated it a 7---which is out of the park for me considering my other attempts wouldn't even make the rating scale.

No one who knows me would describe me as a perfectionist--I'm far from it.  However, this slice of success has me excited to try one more time, or more if needed.