Should've Known Better

I like to cook... a little. I've made beef and cheese enchiladas, pork chops parmigiana, chicken salad, potato salad, and penne pasta with a basil cream sauce, all within the last week (see the pictures as evidence!).

But baking has never been my thing. I'm just not very good at it. I can make cookies, and I can make any kind of dessert from a box, but baking from scratch is just... not... my... thing. I can follow a recipe, but things just never turn out right for me. I have two friends who can bake like you wouldn't believe, who even make up their own recipes. I feel so inferior!

One of my friends convinced me I could make a scrumptious carrot cake from scratch. I printed the recipe. I bought all the ingredients. I soaked the raisins in rum. I measured, and mixed, and creamed, and folded. The batter tasted delicious! I just knew I was going to impress my friends and family!

Three guesses... the first two don't count. It was a disaster! A few minutes after I put the pans in the oven, I smelled burning. The batter was oozing over the sides of the pans. I put a cookie sheet under them to catch the overflow, which I doubt was supposed to happen. I checked on them every few minutes, and it looked like th edges were too brown, but I let them continue cooking according to the recipe. When the cooking time was over, I took them out. They looked burned. I figured I would just cut off the top part after they cooled. Well, that didn't work! And when I turned them over onto the wire rack to cool, they completely fell apart! And yes, I did flour my pans as instructed.

Oh well. I'll just file this in the "should've known better" category! All that time, effort, and money wasted. Now I'm stuck with no dessert and people coming over in 2 1/2 hours. Guess I'll be visiting the Kroger bakery!