Odds N’ Ends (Epic Fail Edition!)

Frozen

Deep breath. I have a confession to make.

I’m a failure.

It’s true! I fail constantly. Daily, if you must know. And I have a darn good time doing it. Because how else is the really great stuff supposed to happen unless I get stomped on and rejected and keep my humility? Stuff like this awesome cake that I worked on in cake decorating class?

Cool Cake

Even Pepe the Cat, a family friend, loved it.

Cool CakeBut life ain’t always so grand. In fact, I just spent a despairing hour with a piping bag. So I’ve dedicated this post to my baking fails. Believe me, there are many. And my pride is so low that I don’t mind sharing them with you. Here we go, folks. Hang on and enjoy the ride!

Fail #1: Peanut Butter Truffle Photo Shoot

In case you haven’t noticed, I am not very good at photography. I’m a hack. But I love baking and I love taking pictures, so deal with it. I’m gonna keep trying. In the meantime, I might take pictures like this:

Peanut Butter Truffles

Yep, that’s a peanut butter truffle that I made using this recipe, which is one of my favorites from my blog. Look, I took a bite! Not so appetizing, huh? For some reason, the aesthetic gods were not smiling on me that day. I took crappy pic after crappy pic. Even though the recipe rocked and these tasted A-MAY-HAY-HAY-zing, it didn’t much matter if I couldn’t make them look good.

Peanut Butter Truffles

Insert sniffle here. Okay, I’m over it. Moving on…

Fail #2: Sacher Torte

I made this for my mom’s birthday. It’s one of her favorite all-time cakes, and it comes from Vienna, so she doesn’t get it often. I figured I’d surprise her. We started out with things being fairly promising!

Sacher Torte

Five hours later, total despair. My glaze flopped. Shoulda used that candy thermometer! See? It’s all…not smooth. Bumpy, really. What a shame!

Sacher Torte

I tried to make up for it with some cute marzipan decorations (that’s an apricot, BTW, not a pumpkin or an orange butt), but nah. Couldn’t fix it. It wasn’t bad. Just wasn’t good.

Sacher Torte

If you’re curious, the recipe is here on Epicurious. But yeah. My confidence is totally shattered! Feel free to try it, get it exactly right, and then brag to me how much better you are. I’m cool with it!

Failure #3: Pancake Cookies

No, don’t get excited! It was just awful. Chocolate chip cookies that I tried with oat flour. They went flat. Flatter than a pancake. Totally embarrassing. I can’t show you a pic. That’s how mortified I am! Instead, I’ll show you this lovely photo of the side of my daughter’s Frozen birthday cake:

FrozenTwo tiers of megawatt chocolate with purple. Lots of purple. And some pink. And that thing on top isn’t paper. It’s edible. Hey, what a mom will do…

It’s not the prettiest cake, but she liked it. I’ll show you a prettier cake next time. I’ve been having fun in cake decorating class!

Because we can always learn. And we eventually produce awesome results like this:

Bakery-Sized Chocolate Chip Cookies

See? Pancake cookies, this time with real flour. Presto! They are now chocolate chip cookies. Oh, what a difference!

Okay, kids. Over and out. I’m including a link-up here if you’d like to add your hard work. Go nuts! Or comment and that will link up to your latest recipe.

Happy weekend, pals!

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Mir

I fulfill many roles in life: wife, mother, teacher, everlasting learner. This site is dedicated to one role that expresses my creativity in ways that I find consistently challenging and rewarding: baker. Inventing new ways to enhance food, especially if that food involves chocolate or peanut butter (or both!), is a passion of mine. I look forward to sharing my ideas with you.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Mommy

    I thought the Sacher Torte was delicious–the cake, the frosting, the marzipan decorations–everything. Super treat!

    1. Mir

      Wow, that’s so sweet! But you might be a little biased. A teensy bit? Love you!

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