Keeping things in order

We'll begin with the Crockpot Pound Cake Flop.

I have been enjoying a wonderful blog lately, A Year of Crockpotting. The recipes tend to be gluten free, which makes it even more appealing to me. When I found a pound cake recipe, I thought it would be the perfect birthday cake for my GF husband. Foolproof, even!

Not so foolproof as to survive a crockpot that has been around as long as I have, give or take five years. But still, how hard could it be? Grease crockpot, mix ingredients, pop them in, vent the lid, and cook for four hours.

Except after 3 hours, a burning smell filled the house. Maybe it cooked fast? Old crockpots can be temperamental, I suppose. So, I turned the crockpot upside down with a plate held in the critical position, tapped, and awaited the deliciousness of pound cake.

But to no avail. This is what glared at me from the crockpot.










And, after carefully loosening the edge of the cake and trying again, this is what came out. Ashes of Pound Cake, and a buttery-eggy ooze.

Not good.

If a cake is unbaked, but burnt, what does one do? I decided not to try for longer, but rather to see if there was anything edible. So, by cutting the cake in to fourths and using an extractor, I was able to get it out of the crockpot (which, after 2 days of soaking and some water changes, was back to its normal self). The cake was incredibly dense (undoubtedly helped by my substituting a GF flour for Pamela's Baking Mix, and not realizing that the baking mix included baking powder and other goodies), but the semi-cooked/not-quite-burned-parts were good.

I think I'm getting a newer crockpot for Christmas. Maybe mom wants this one back? It is GREAT for soups and mulled apple cider. The cider is on today's menu.