Cake

So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I was going to become a great cake baker. I ordered a comprehensive cake cook book and a couple of 6-inch round pans so that I could experiment without having to make enormous cakes. I started last week with a simple pound cake. It was all gone before I had a chance to take a photo, so I guess it was a success.

Yesterday, I decided to make a white velvet butter cake with maple buttercream frosting.

I assembled my mise en place (a fancy French term for "put all the stuff on the counter"), feeling very Food-Network-chef.



Apparently, though, it's not enough to just have your ingredients looking pretty on the counter. I was making the buttercream in a noisy stand mixer while the cake was baking, and did not hear the timer go off. By the time I realized what had happened, the cake was a tad overbaked. So when I tried to take the layers out, this is what happened:



The icing came out pretty, though.



And I used half of it to ice the layer that did not come apart. I guess it could have been worse.