living dangerously
Oct. 22nd, 2005 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mountain_laureli am not known for my skill with baking. thus it was with some trepidation that a few minutes ago i put what i hope will be a pumpkin spice cake into the oven. things began simply enough. i planned to use the instructions for applesauce spice cake from the Better Homes cookbook, and substitute pumpkin for applesauce. then i discovered i had no baking soda. aie!
the recipe called for a teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder. looking up the appropriate substitution, i found that i could replace each half-teaspoon of baking soda with two teaspoons of baking powder, and then replace the acidic liquid in the recipe with something else. so. five teaspoons of baking powder. wow, i hope that doesn't completely throw off the flavor of the cake.
i replaced the buttermilk with milk. easy enough. i spooned in the pumpkin. the recipe called for a quarter-cup of vegetable oil and a quarter-cup of softened butter. i didn't have enough butter, so i substituted another quarter-cup of pumpkin and called it "low-fat." to make up for all that, i found a few dried cranberries languishing in a cupboard and tossed them in at the end.
making a wild guess, i decided my largest springform pan is about equivalent to a 13x9" pan and poured the batter on in. then, into the oven. miraculously, i had guessed right when i cleverly set the oven to preheat at about 240F; the interior was at precisely 350, as recommended by the recipe. of course, it may not stay there. i have to check periodically. my oven is a capricious and unpredictable beast.
this is either going to be a very satisfying cake or a very embarrassing failure. the cake does appear to be rising, at any rate. but then, it would, with five teaspoons of baking powder.
i am reminded of something![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crisper once said to me when we were working together: "When I look in the dictionary under 'control', there's a picture of where you were standing before you fell over." he never said if in the picture, i landed in a cake.
the recipe called for a teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder. looking up the appropriate substitution, i found that i could replace each half-teaspoon of baking soda with two teaspoons of baking powder, and then replace the acidic liquid in the recipe with something else. so. five teaspoons of baking powder. wow, i hope that doesn't completely throw off the flavor of the cake.
i replaced the buttermilk with milk. easy enough. i spooned in the pumpkin. the recipe called for a quarter-cup of vegetable oil and a quarter-cup of softened butter. i didn't have enough butter, so i substituted another quarter-cup of pumpkin and called it "low-fat." to make up for all that, i found a few dried cranberries languishing in a cupboard and tossed them in at the end.
making a wild guess, i decided my largest springform pan is about equivalent to a 13x9" pan and poured the batter on in. then, into the oven. miraculously, i had guessed right when i cleverly set the oven to preheat at about 240F; the interior was at precisely 350, as recommended by the recipe. of course, it may not stay there. i have to check periodically. my oven is a capricious and unpredictable beast.
this is either going to be a very satisfying cake or a very embarrassing failure. the cake does appear to be rising, at any rate. but then, it would, with five teaspoons of baking powder.
i am reminded of something
crisper once said to me when we were working together: "When I look in the dictionary under 'control', there's a picture of where you were standing before you fell over." he never said if in the picture, i landed in a cake.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-22 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 07:30 am (UTC)well, ok. actually i'd just skip the whole mess and make pumpkin bread instead. the cake is good, but it's too sweet for my taste, and i'd like something a bit denser. with pecans. and maybe some maple syrup.
i have lots of pumpkin left. i should've gone to the farmer's market saturday -- i could've picked up some pecans there. next weekend, perhaps.