LoveFeast Table

There are a lot of similarities between me and and my blogging partner in crime, Kristin.  We generally WANT the same outcome when it comes to the way things should come out.  But, let’s just say, sometimes it takes me a little bit more time to get there!  A perfect example of this is the cake I am about to share with you.  This cake, is the Pioneer Woman’s Strawberry Shortcake Cake.  There are some similarities between me and the Pioneer Woman and I will point them out as we roll along here.  But, this does not insure instantaneous success, even with much hopefulness. I baked her cake, not once, but twice.  So, you, dear reader, can learn, by my example, what not to do.  Kristin also baked a cake, Martha Stewart’s.  (This post is coming, a beautiful wedding cake!)  She did hers’ in one day, one morning actually.  I’ve seen her work in her kitchen.  I can tell you this.  It was relaxed, smooth, and graceful.  I am sure that a soft breeze blew gently through her sunny window and birds chirped as she ran her mixer.  That is her kitchen mojo.  Mine involved breakage, failure, starting over, a sundown and a sunup and then finally success.  But, in the end, we both got what we wanted, a beautiful cake to share with our family and friends.

Here was my first mistake.  I skimmed the directions.  I admit it.  I’m a skimmer.  I skimmed through my Charles Dicken’s class in college and I skimmed through this recipe.  This is why I don’t get an “A” in Dicken’s or this cake.

Here is my next mistake.  Do not do this.  Do not be tricked into thinking that the power of a cowgirl boot can summon the power of the Pioneer Woman to make this cake.  For me, it did not.  Also, it did not help that I decided to bake my cake inside an old coffee can.  I did it here, for Banana Bread, and it worked out beautifully.  For Strawberry Shortcake Cake, not so much.  Pioneer Woman specifically says to use a “cute pan”  specifically and 8 inch round cake pan.  Old coffee cans are not cute.  Enough said.

My strawberries turned out beautifully.  But, then again because I again, skimmed, Pioneer Woman’s blog post I missed the tip of the day.  Add Grand Marnier here.  This would make this cake more happy.  But, because I have success with crushing strawberries I think I’m on my way.  I can do this thing.  And, then I see a sign.  Some thing, some critter, some thing of nature, has pooped on my deck.  This must be an omen of good luck.  Why do I think this?  Because the Pioneer Woman has animals pooping on her deck (or porch) all the time (at least I think she does).  And, I am trying to make her channel her pioneer energy into my suburbia cake!  Obviously, it all adds up!! 

Would you be tricked by this beautifully browned top of this cake?  Cause I was.

But, the inside was gooey and undone.

It’s a dilemma but, I am committed.  I will not give up.  The day is young…at least at this point.

So, I remix the ingredients and pour them correctly this time into two cake pans!  I later discover it is suppose to be one cake pan.  I leave out the sour cream, which I think is what probably makes this cake “the bomb“.  I scrape out the pans.  I wash the pans.  I remix.  I re-pour.  I revisit my commitment.  I bake.  I cool.  I sleep.  I wake.  I frost.  I get this:

And this:

Lots of kids around our homes tend to do this, lickin’ the plate clean thing!