Baking...er Burning...a Cake



Photo from here

Today I spent the greater part of the morning trying to make a really nice bundt cake from scratch.  It had a secret ingredient---7 Up!---and the rest of it didn't seem too hard.  It had the most delicious lemon smell as I stirred it.  We all enjoyed licking the sweet batter from the bowl.

Well, I am known for my terrible cooking, so it should not be a surprise that I managed to ruin that cake!  I came downstairs to the smell of burning.  No, the cake was not burning, but little globs of it were dripping down onto the heating element, creating a terrible smell.  After the dreadful hour of "baking" had passed, the cake was still jiggly when I touched it, and I decided I had done something terribly wrong (actually, first I blamed the recipe and then I blamed myself!)  What a waste of time!  What a waste of money!  (5 eggs!  3 cups each of flour and sugar!) 

I was so disappointed with myself that I told both of my children not to say anything about the cake disaster.  I think they knew I wasn't kidding (they know when I mean business).  My sweet little son walked over to the "cake," which was now resting on the stovetop, poked his little finger into the runny, gooey mess, and then proclaimed, "It's still good, Mamma!"  And he proceeded to eat several licks of it.  I tried some too, and it really wasn't half bad--just dripping and gooey inside instead of hard like a cake.  I felt my disappointment fading away with each little swipe that his finger made into that cake. 

As I began the annoying process of cleaning the dried globs of cake on the bottom of the oven and on the two oven racks, I thought:

• We should always watch ourselves, lest we get too prideful.  You see I later learned that I had made a very simple, careless mistake.  I thought I had the right amount of butter, but in fact I used only half of the amount.  This applies to anything in life--running, cooking, whatever.  Don't become too complacent in what you are doing.  Be diligent and careful.

• Learn from your mistakes.  So what?  I burned a cake!  So what? I didn't finish a marathon.  It took my little child accepting my mistake for what it was for me to realize that we all make mistakes.  How we deal with them is what's important.  I hope to accept their mistakes with as much patience and kindness as he did today with mine today.

We all make mistakes.  What are you going to learn from yours today?