Day 109: Birthday Cake Challenge

My birthday was last weekend, but we didn't do much of a celebration because we were up at Lake Tahoe. Instead, we waited a week, and prepared to do everything this weekend.

For as long as I can remember, I've had a favorite birthday cake that my grandmother has always made. It's a basic white cake in 2 layers, filled with strawberries and frosting, covered with frosting and more strawberries. The other thing about this cake is that it is always made in a specific heart-shaped pan. The pan has been in my family for years and years, and my grandfather even at one point had to go have the pan re-tinned, because the finish started to wear off. To me, it wouldn't be a birthday without this cake, in this pan.

My mom decided to make the cake this year, as she had never done it. So she got the recipe and pan from my grandmother, and planned on baking the cake on Friday so that it would cool and be ready for filling and frosting on Saturday before we went to dinner with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin. I got an odd phone call at work today from my mom: "Do you want me to make the second cake now, or wait until you get here tonight?" I was confused about the second cake part...because it's just the one cake, cut in half and filled. As it turns out, when the cake is removed from the oven, the pan is inverted while the cake cools because of the inclusion of egg whites in the batter. If the cake were to cool with the pan right side up, the center would fall, or deflate. Apparently when the first cake cooled in this manner, the center of the cake fell out of the pan, leaving a ring of cake around the edges of the pan. Hence the need for a second cake.

We made the second cake this evening. It was cooked a few minutes longer just to be sure it was done, as that is the only thing my grandmother could figure caused this problem. We listened carefully for any sound of a plop, but luckily none came.

Time for filling and frosting tomorrow! Yum. Oh, and we have lots of cake pieces to munch on, too.