Key Lime Pie and 6-Minute Cake

Some folks, when they cook, have the luxury of chasing everyone out of the kitchen and really focusing on what they're doing.  Maybe they don't have kids, or maybe they are the stars of cooking shows.  They definitely don't stop 5 times during the course of measuring ingredients to help someone go to the bathroom, let someone in who accidentally got locked outside, serve a glass of milk, clean up the spilled glass of milk, answer the phone, and shout "stop teasing your brother!" twenty times.

All of those obstacles could be overcome, of course, if only I didn't have pregnancy-induced forgetfulness.  The evening before Guy's birthday party, I baked up the cake (you can see photos of it decorated as a Webkinz).  JUST as I was sliding it into the oven I realized...this cake HAS NO BAKING SODA!!  I quickly sprinkled the soda on the cake and stirred it in a bit.  The result was pretty fair...maybe a little flat but definitely not the brick I almost deserved.  Phew.

Then, for Xander's birthday, he requested a layer cake in which one layer must be strawberry and one must be chocolate.  The strawberry layer came from a box, but I AM pretty capable of making a chocolate layer, so I got right to it.  I like to use this 6-minute recipe, which you all should try next time you get an unexpected message that guests are arriving in ten minutes, or you realize that you have less than ten minutes to spend in the kitchen before someone needs a ride to T-ball, or you like the idea of NOT having any extra dirty dishes (mix the cake right in the pan).

MOOSEWOOD 6-MINUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE

In 9" round pan, sift together:

1.5 cups white flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

Then mix in:

1/2 cup oil (or replace part of it with fruit puree)

1 cup cold water

2 tsp vanilla

When the batter is smooth, add and mix:

2 Tablespoons vinegar

Stir just until the vinegar is distributed, then bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

So, that's it.  I made the cake with two layers and decorated it and we sang "Happy Birthday", but when everyone TASTED the cake, they knew something was just a little wrong with the chocolate layer.  Doug asked, "Did you forget the baking soda?"  No way!  As if I would ever make THAT mistake again.  No, this time I forgot the SUGAR!  (At least we all enjoyed the strawberry layer)

So, yesterday I made Red Beet Chocolate Cake, to use up the beets that were in our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share this week.  Last time I made one of these, I really liked it.  Because I didn't want to leave out any key ingredients, I actually checked them off the list as they were added to the batter.  No mistakes here!  Even with all my diligence, the recipe was rather disappointing.  It tasted like RED BEET without much emphasis on the CHOCOLATE or the CAKE parts.  This is the down side of internet recipes- I can't remember which one of the millions I used last year and liked .

This reminds me of the time I decided to take Doug's request for a Key Lime Pie for his birthday.  I bought all the ingredients and meticulously followed the recipe.  After making the pie, I tested it and BLEEechh!  It was awful!  I think I must have used rotten milk or messed up the ingredient ratios.  I was running short on time before the birthday bash, so I tossed the yucky pie in the trash and ran to Trader Joe's for a frozen key lime pie.  

After dinner, I brought out the defrosted key lime pie and we all sang the birthday song.  I served everyone a slice of pie and sat down to taste, for my first time, what a REAL one is meant to be like.  BLEEechh!  It tasted just as bad as the pie I had made!  Horror of horrors!  I realized that I had thrown away a perfectly good homemade pie (the definition of good is, apparently, a matter of opinion).  The REAL cause for my troubles was that I simply DON'T LIKE KEY LIME PIE!!