Cake!

As I've mentioned previously, it is the custom of our office to bring a cake on your birthday. Today is my co-worker Sippho's birthday and he asked if I would bake him a cake since my cupcakes were so good. Since I happened to have leftover frosting and a box of yellow cake, and because flattery for my baking is very rare, I said yes.

I get home after work, pull out my ingredients, and prepare the batter. Realizing that I have extra chocolate chips leftover from holiday baking, I decide to pour them into the batter to make a chocolate chip cake. I pour the batter into a greased pan, realizing only after I've slid it in the oven that I didn't follow the high altitude directions. Ooops. I putter around the kitchen while the cake bakes, only realizing about 20 minutes into it that wasn't I raised to walk gently when a cake was being baked? And haven't my dogs run all through the kitchen, doors been slammed, and who knows what else? Ooops.

When time is up, I pull the cake out to find a distinct valley in the middle of my cake with some charred edges around the side. Ooops. Did I not calculate 375 degrees farenheit accurately to celsius?

Baking genius that I am, I decide to transfer the cake to a long tupperware, thus removing crispy edges. This is when I realize that all the chocolate chips floated to the bottom of the cake pan, making a chocolate crustiness on the bottom of the cake. Ooops. I coat the thing in frosting and sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips, making what looks to be a 5 year old's attempt at baking a cake. Enter a husband doubled over in a fit of laughter here.

Regardless, Sippho was ecstatic about the cake. It was gobbled up before 9:00am and everyone raved and raved about my baking prowess. If only they had someone that was a good baker making treats for them!

A Zimbabwe post coming soon, maybe even tonight! I just need to upload pics.