Learning Curves

Some flavours should come with a warning! Especially when it comes to cake. Look, this whole baking adventure is a continuous learning curve and the further into it I get the more I want to challenge myself. That being said, there is a lot to be said for recipe testing, trusting your gut and using your initiative.

I had a request recently for a white chocolate cake and though I'd had minimal experience baking with it I ploughed ahead. All seemed to be going okay, I made an extra batch of cupcakes from the batter so that I could try it and ensure it was good. I also found myself working under the intense Sydney humidity which meant taking my decorating station upstairs to work in the air con as the kitchen was at sauna level and from the experience with my Mean Girls cake I didn't want to risk another sweat fest!

However, with a fully decorated cake ready to photograph, I inserted the paper topper I had crafted and found it did not just slide in!!! Oh no!!! Disaster! Okay... perhaps the cake is just super hard and cold from being in the fridge? As I'd made an additional fondant decoration for the cake's exterior and fondant shouldn't really go into the fridge (especially when the contrast in temperature was as extreme as stepping from the North Pole into the streets of Singapore) as it too is liable to the sweats, I decided to box up the cake and keep it in an air conditioned room. My hope was that the time it spent out of the fridge would enable it to soften somewhat by the time it would be served. I did consider re-baking but there just wasn't time.

Cut a long story short the feedback was worse than I could have imagined. Now, I pride myself on creating bakes that not only look beautiful but taste even better, I mean after all that's the whole point of a cake right, to be eaten and enjoyed! So the fact this one only filled half the criteria was devastating. I went back to the recipe I'd used and compared it with another white chocolate cake recipe from a trusted baker source and noted the ratio of chocolate was a third of the one I'd used. Makes sense then that having doubled the first recipe to make my layers the overwhelming amount of white chocolate in the batter had solidified once it hit the fridge causing a cake that was overly dense and solid.

So, I've since been troubleshooting ways round the white chocolate issue should I need to make it again. First let me say I tossed that first recipe in the bin! Second, I will be recipe testing and reminding myself that I've been doing this long enough to know when a recipe doesn't look right or adjustments need to be made.

I had so many fellow bakers rally round me during my baking mishap and share their experiences with me too, from melting wedding cake tiers to broken cake layers we've all been there!

I will say it didn't end too badly, I issued a full refund and turned up with some surprise cupcakes to make up for the bad birthday cake ordeal, which were very gratefully received.

I'd love to know what learning curves you've encountered on your baking journey. Feel free to share in the comments below so we can all commiserate!