Baking During COVID

When I was making petit fours (basically mini cakes), I had done it before and the cakes had come out perfectly, so I got a little cocky I suppose, and didn't get nearly enough oil on the pan. Needless to say, I scraped it off and had uneven sides and a giant hole in the middle. Luckily, you cut petit fours into squares anyway. After trying the best I could to cut the cake into even slices (with some help from my dad) and frosting one side, I realized I didn't have enough space to cut it in either direction. I ended up with some very long petit fours.

Another time this happened was when I was making a honey bundt cake. I flipped over the pan onto a cooling rack and the top stuck. Luckily, you are supposed to put some plums in the center of the cake, so I added some to the top as well. 

The last cake disaster I have for this piece is when my cake came out perfectly. I piped the letters legibly and set it on the table.  While getting a paper towel to clean up the side of the plate so it looks neater, I see my dog take a giant bite out of the side of the cake! There was no time to redo it, so I made some frosting and shoved it in the hole and no one was any the wiser. 

I’m glad a lot of people have been able to experiment with baking during the pandemic, and I hope that your baking fails don’t put you off from trying again. Of course I've had more mess ups than mentioned here, but I always like to think about how my baking fails made me a better baker today.