Three Layer Cakes and Perfection

Three layer cakes are the bane of my existence. I don’t know what it is about my oven or pans or sweatpants that make only two-and-a-half of the layers turn out. Ever. 

 

Today for instance, I tried my hand at a German Chocolate Cake by request of a work friend. The batter came together great (and easily) and it was all fluffy and beautiful and I even separated it evenly among all the pans (a first!). I rotated the cakes halfway through and everything seemed hunky-dory. Until I opened the oven again when the cakes were finished baking. One of the cakes had partially sunk while baking!

So…what to do, what to do? I figured a two layer cake would still suffice for my coworker (he wouldn’t know the difference anyways) so I frosted and decorated it and it is one of the best looking (two layer) cakes I've ever made. But that still left one lopsided layer to deal with. That’s when it hit me – CAKEBALLS! 

I love me some cakeballs, or cakepops, depending on what part of the country you’re from. I imagine this is much like the great soda vs. pop debate that rears its ugly head whenever I meet someone from out east.

Anywho – I took the scraps from my attempt at a cake, crumpled them up all nice and threw in the leftover coconut pecan frosting. After a quick chill and dip in melted dark chocolate (to counteract the intense sweetness from the German Sweet Chocolate) and another trip back into my fridge – voila! I had cakeballs!

That’s when it dawned on me. First, I really like coconut pecan frosting. Second, I wondered if athletic shorts could shrink while you’re wearing them? My elastic waistband definitely got a bit tighter. Hmm…odd (refer to number 1). Third, and probably most importantly, I was able to take an imperfect outcome and turn it into something pretty and tasty! Which made me realize, even if something isn’t perfect it can still be wonderful in its imperfectness. 

I have wanted to start this blog for a long time now, I have even written a few posts (though I haven’t actually gotten around to posting majority of them) but something keeps stopping me from continuing. I have ideas and pictures and thoughts written down. Yet, I keep finding excuses to put it off. I don’t want to be imperfect. I don’t want to misspell something or not be funny. I don’t want to mess up. I don’t want to fail.

I have been waiting for the perfect time to publish a post for weeks now, but I realized there will be no perfect time! I just had to bite the bullet and do it! I made a really delicious treat out of a pile of crumbs today – if I can do that I sure as heck can write on my blog! Enough waiting and panicking and worrying about if it was going to be read or if it was going to be right! And so, I’m doing it (duh, you’re reading it right now) and will keep doing it. Today, tomorrow, next month – it’s happening. I want to write and read and learn and grow – and I hope you’ll do that with me. Who knows what delicious things might come of it.