Win Some, Lose Some

I attended an infant first aid class this weekend, which was really informative. I hope I never have to use it but I feel better that I am somewhat prepared. One of the girls from our prenatal class hosted the class at her flat. I thought it would be a nice gesture to bring a sweet treat since the class lasted three hours.

I decided to make a crumb cake. It is easy and always a hit. Plus, it goes really well with tea and everyone here loves their tea. Since the class started at 12:30 on Saturday, I wanted to make it Friday afternoon and have it done with. So after I got up from my afternoon nap on Friday, I got started on the cake.

I wasn't impressed by the butter that I had bought but figured that it would be fine. Everything seemed to be going well .... until I put it in the oven. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was heartbreaking to watch my beautiful cake turn into a disaster. The edges started to puff up like pizza and the middle bubbled up and then sunk down. After 20 minutes, I took it out of the oven and it was burnt on the bottom and edges and completly raw in the middle. What could've gone wrong???

The disaster cake.

I had already cleaned up the kitchen while it was baking so I didn't feel like starting over again. I just left it. To my surprise, I didn't let it get to me. It is never fun to take the time to bake something only for it to turn out bad. Plus, I was thinking that I had wasted some good American flour on it! During the night, I kept thinking about what could've gone wrong. I came to the conclusion that it must've been the butter (that was more margarine like than butter), or the sugar (that was larger crystals than I normally use).

I was up early on Saturday morning and ready to take another chance at the cake. I went to the store on the corner and bought new butter and sugar. I wasn't going to chance anything this time. I went home, got out all of my ingredients, and double checked the recipe. Then, I realized what I had gone wrong. Baking SODA is NOT the same as Baking POWDER! I remember putting in 3 tsp of baking soda and thinking "that's a lot of baking soda" but never once did it cross my mind that it should've been baking powder.

In the end, the cake turned out beautifully (with baking powder!) and everyone loved it. I saved a few pieces for Oscar and me and we already finished them this morning. So I guess, this goes to show that in baking - you win some and you lose some. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes. I am sure I will pay A LOT more attention to recipes when they call for baking soda and baking powder from now on.

Crumb cake success!

A cultural note: There are only two Americans in the group - me and a lady from NY. We were also the only ones who thought to bring something. Even more, a homebaked good. She brought some Duncan Hines brownies. It is not very common here, or in Spain, to do that. It must be a very "American" thing to do. I still do it anyways :)