Maiden Attempt

Seeing that the present will not be in time for the man's birthday and loathing to have him empty-handed (at least from me) on his special day, I resolved to *surprise surprise* bake him a cake.

I came across a simple butter cake recipe one day and thought it's high time to challenge myself in this unfamiliar territory.

The first undertaking wasn't without its hiccups though. Despite the bright and clear weather, the dark force lingered on.

Lazy to dig out the proper stand mixer the in-laws got me, I made-do with a handheld mixer. Not a very brilliant idea. First, I used the wrong whisks and within seconds, chucks of butter stuck onto them. The whisks refused to move thereafter, no matter how much I persisted on. With a sigh, I reluctantly changed the whisks to another pair of whips.

Was happily creaming the butter and sugar when I noticed wisps of smoke churning out from somewhere. I told myself it must be from the pre-heated oven. I was in denial and I was just too lazy.

The whirl of smoke became too intense to ignore that I had to finally concede the smoke came from the rubbish mixer which I had used less than 5 times.

Resigned, I hastened to dig out the other mixer from its forgotten dusty corner. The cake must be done before the man comes home!!!

The rest was uneventful until the baking pan was in the oven. 30 mins later when I stole a peep at the cake, I was greeted with a burnt-crust-cake. The pan was too near to the top of the oven! *groan* I am so anal!!!

But. It was not a total lost cause.

At long last we got to cut the cake. I must say I wasn't disappointed at all by its warm golden hue. And I was especially happy when our teeth sank into its moist softness, buttery goodness and heavenly richness.

I heart my cake!

Oh, did I mention the man was absolutely delighted that I finally baked him a cake?! :D