Epic Failures in the Kitchen

I would say that every baker has had a bad day in the kitchen. We have all had failures...some epic and some just not good. Yesterday was one of those days for me. As I was working last night I spent the afternoon in the kitchen baking to take some treats in for the girls who were also sharing the same nightshift-fate. Luckily for me I made a slice (to be posted about next) which was totally delicious and redeemed me somewhat. However I had spotted a couple of recipes on the blogs I follow which I thought sounded and looked great. The first was a Feijoa, Banana and Chocolate Bundt Cake. OMG I should have trusted my instinct and have known this mixture sounded wrong. It had too much moisture in it and too much fruit and you can see the evidence in the photos below. I knew things were going to be bad when it just wouldn't cook. The recipe said 45 minutes and after 1 1/2 hours with the skewer still coming out wet things were not looking good. I found the recipe here. Her one looks amazing so I might have to ask her what I did wrong. This was what I ended up with...

About 10 mins after coming out of the oven....not looking good

Looks good turned out.....

Stodgy, wet, inedible mess!

So after that fail I thought I would try another cake. This cake while not a total disaster was dry and the icing set like hard toffee and needed a jack hammer to break it. I loved the story behind this cake and the name of it  Vintage Goldenglow Cake also appealed. While the cake was easy to make, I must have over boiled the icing (I did boil it for the time stated), so when I went to cut it, it was pretty much impossible...although it did taste ok if you like sugar This recipe was found here but I won't be making it again. Take a look at the post though because it makes for a lovely read.

You can see what I mean by the hard icing (which got even more hard))

Looks dry!

When this happens it's important to not loose heart and move on to the next recipe. Remember we are all human....and there are some recipes out there that just don't work!