Oh no! Major fail!

Pin It Now! Okay, so I win the ever-popular "FAIL" stamp on this blog post. Last night, in such a rush, I tried to make a Polish Black Cake with Butterscotch Icing for my usual Tuesday evening gathering. Well, I am pleased to say that the icing turned out great, but that is all that turned out! Noooo......


I ended up leaving work late yesterday. Problemo numero uno.. I quickly ran to Whole Foods to pick up my ingredients for the cake, long, long lines. Problemo numero dos.. I, then, had to walk the dog as soon as I got home. Nowhere near a problem, I love walking Daisy Mae! By the time Miss Daisy and I got back from our walk, I only had an hour to make a cake. Nail on the coffin! As I was rushing through putting together the cake batter, I made a major mistake!

The recipe (from cooks.com) calls for:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons oil
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups hot (not boiling) water

Fantastic! Easy! The recipe I ended up using:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup baking soda
2 teaspoons baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons oil
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups hot (not boiling) water

........ Inner monologue: Oh crap! I thought it said baking soda!!! I did think that was too much, oh boy, how do I scoop this out and salvage the recipe?? Okay, maybe I'll ditch it and start all over again... oh geez, but I only had enough ingredients for this single batch... Holy moly, it's already 6:45 and I have to be at St. Francis Xavier Church by 7:30... Let's salvage it! Let's scoop out what is obviously baking soda among the sugar and flour, it will undoubtedly be okay.... (one minute later) hmmm.. It should be okay.... (5 minutes later) uhhhh.... let's pray it will be okay

... Major FAIL.


Needless to say, by the time I had to leave, the botched cake was still in the oven. I asked my roommate to take it out of the oven when it was finished, and maybe it would still be okay to bring to work with me the next day, so then it's not completely a waste.

WRONG! Major "fail". I probably ended up scooping out flour, considering the end result. Oh well. The icing turned out fantastic, nonetheless. I learned my lesson, big time! I should have made the cake in the morning when I had the time. Please learn from my lesson! I am still very new to this baking gig and am learning because of the bumps along the way. I am absolutely determined to make this cake again and have it turn out.

Before I sign off of this major failure, allow me to, at the very least, share with you the amazing Butterscotch icing.


Butterscotch Icing
(courtesy of my future Mother-in-Law's recipe book!)

1 cup brown sugar
4 oz/1 stick butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 2 cups confectioners sugar (which, for me, turned out to be about 2.5 cups)

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the brown sugar and butter, stirring until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 2 minutesadd the milk. Stir until mixture returns to a boil... remove from heat and let cool to lukewarmadd the vanilla beat in enough confectioners sugar to make the icing spreadable.