adventures in baking

You guys.

German chocolate cake.

My mom's really sweet friend (whose babies I watch all the time!) is a baker, and she mentioned that she loves German chocolate. For her birthday, I'm having my mom take along this cake to her work. It was a really fun cake to make, for anyone who's looking for new culinary experiments. I'd never made this type of frosting before, and this was actually my first try making cake from scratch. (Before that, I suppose I'd only done cookies, pies, scones and the occasional lemon bar! All of those are fun in their own ways, but the specific recipes I'd used for them didn't rely so heavily on getting the baking aspect right.)

Did you know there are about seven thousand ways to mess up a cake?

I only had one pan, so I baked a layer at a time. The first one slid out beautifully, and I felt a sense of great satisfaction at having managed such a smooth landing. This abruptly changed when I tried to flip the cake back over later for frosting. I'd put it on a plate too soon, and it had gradually melted--so a huge chunk ripped out of the top! I was furious--and angrily ate up the pieces that I couldn't salvage. Luckily, they were only crumbs. I was able to carefully re-position the broken pieces and cover them up with a little extra frosting. Nobody really has to know. ;)

The frosting was actually my favorite part to make. I was very curious to see how the ingredients were supposed to magically turn into a thick caramel icing, since my last couple of attempts at this had turned out less than stellar. Powdered sugar is hit or miss, it seems. This was a unique method, as it required cooking the ingredients in a saucepan until they thickened up. I had to taste it a few times just to make sure it was coming out right, of course. (To be extra certain, I dunked some of the crumbs deemed unworthy of being included in the cake into the icing. After all, every experimental baker knows that you have to get an idea of the full effect! That's what I tell myself, anyway.)

Maybe baking isn't for me after all--"you only wanted me to make you half a cake, hmmm?"

Is decorating the cake anyone else's favorite part? I'm always so anxious for the layers to cool so I can stack them up and have fun making them pretty. This icing was sort of difficult to keep smooth because of the coconut and pecan bits, but I have to admit that spreading frosting is calming in an odd sort of way. Maybe because it takes so much focus?

Anyway, I really hope my mom's friend likes the cake! At any rate, I'm sure her two little boys will! ;)

For anyone who is curious and would like to try, I used this recipe for the cake and this one for the frosting. I know--technically the cake recipe is not specifically for German chocolate, but it can be modified and is still quite delicious with the coconut pecan frosting.

Let me know if you decide to try it! Who else enjoys looking for new things to bake? Any masterpieces or disasters?

- Katie