the parable of the disorganized cake...

... titled thusly in order to have the option of providing a 'moral' at the end of the story. Which starts with the history of making carrot cakes. The recipe frequently used when there were small children here, who would gobble up anything with sugar while disregarding the nutrition of three cups of grated carrots. Sadly when they got old enough to attend parties where the cake was yellow with buttercream icing, 'homemade' went the way of mom-made clothing.

It is universally enjoyed, when made by special request, probably due to the stick-of-butter-block-of-cream-cheese-and-pound-of-confectioners'-sugar icing. Not healthy, likely even dangerous for people with chronic heart disease, skyrocketing cholesterol numbers and clogged arteries. But an occasional trip to The Edge can be forgiven, as long as you don't live there permanently.

I am going to a birthday event on Saturday, and wanted to make a carrot cake to take, along with candles that prove it is party when set ablaze.I knew the carrots in the fridge were creating roots, long white hairs growing in the dark. Can not begin to guess how long they have been languishing, but probably not safe to consume. So I stopped at the store my way home yesterday to get another bag of carrots to grate for the cake. And knew I was low on sugar, so bought a small bag of that. (If you are keeping score - this is my second trip to the grocery, the first being going to work for seven hours.)

I got home and got out my cook book only to discover I did not have enough cooking oil to complete the ingredients list. Debated about subbing butter, but if I used my only stick of butter, I would not have any to make the icing. So I went to the store to get cooking oil (and might as well get a box of butter while I am there going through the checkout line.). This would be the second trip to the store for ingredients and the third time in the grocery store for the day.

I grated (carrots), measured (sugar and flour), counted (eggs), put it all together and cooked it. Added five min. to the cook time when I decided the layers were not quite done when I gave a poke with a toothpick. After they came out of the oven, I discovered I did not have enough confectioners sugar to make the icing recipe. So the run to Walmart this morning to get a bag of sugar makes the third time I went shopping to get the goods to finish my project. It's done. Dishes are washed. Candles and matches ready to travel.

The moral to the story is: read the recipe, even if you have done it a dozen time. Look in the pantry and fridge just to confirm you have what you need. Especially if you are out of the 'cooking mode', and do not prepare baked goods often enough to know if you have what you will need without making three trips to the store to get all your ingredients. You might even want to write it down, to be sure you get it all on the first trip, if your brain is so full you can't store any more lists in there.