Remember when I made this cake for a friend's birthday? It's her son's birthday this week and he requested the same cake. He's 16 but not too proud to have a cake like that. Given my previous success, I thought, "Sure, I can do that."
I made the cake early so it would have time to cool before I started decorating. Oh, I should point out that I was also making a cake in the shape of a calculator for an accountant friend - we're celebrating both birthdays tonight at home group. (And yes, we are all adults but we like fun cakes.) So, one cake was in the oven while I decorated the other. Food colouring and lollies all over the place.
I took a break to watch Kenny's World and Spicks and Specks, then got back to the cakes at about 9.30pm. All I had left to do at that stage was make the chocolate shell. So I made it. It looked beautiful.
It wouldn't come out of the bowl.
I remelted the chocolate and tried a metal bowl instead of the glass one I'd been using.
It wouldn't come out of the bowl.
I remelted the chocolate, tried the glass bowl again and left it longer in the freezer before adding the chocolate.
It wouldn't come out of the bowl.
By this stage I knew it would never come out of the bowl, because melting and remelting chocolate changes the way it behaves, and it was well past the point where the chocolate even had the ability to do anything but stick like glue to the sides of the bowl. I knew that, but a primal stubborn streak kicked in and I had to keep trying. Even though I knew it wouldn't work.
By 11.30pm I was almost in tears and conceded defeat.
I'll have about 90 minutes free tonight though, before home group. Maybe I'll give it another go...
Update:
It worked perfectly tonight and I think I've worked out what I did wrong (aside from keeping at it even when I knew it was hopeless). Both cakes were a hit and I'm so grateful for the friendship of both the people for whom the cakes were made.
I made the cake early so it would have time to cool before I started decorating. Oh, I should point out that I was also making a cake in the shape of a calculator for an accountant friend - we're celebrating both birthdays tonight at home group. (And yes, we are all adults but we like fun cakes.) So, one cake was in the oven while I decorated the other. Food colouring and lollies all over the place.
I took a break to watch Kenny's World and Spicks and Specks, then got back to the cakes at about 9.30pm. All I had left to do at that stage was make the chocolate shell. So I made it. It looked beautiful.
It wouldn't come out of the bowl.
I remelted the chocolate and tried a metal bowl instead of the glass one I'd been using.
It wouldn't come out of the bowl.
I remelted the chocolate, tried the glass bowl again and left it longer in the freezer before adding the chocolate.
It wouldn't come out of the bowl.
By this stage I knew it would never come out of the bowl, because melting and remelting chocolate changes the way it behaves, and it was well past the point where the chocolate even had the ability to do anything but stick like glue to the sides of the bowl. I knew that, but a primal stubborn streak kicked in and I had to keep trying. Even though I knew it wouldn't work.
By 11.30pm I was almost in tears and conceded defeat.
I'll have about 90 minutes free tonight though, before home group. Maybe I'll give it another go...
Update:
It worked perfectly tonight and I think I've worked out what I did wrong (aside from keeping at it even when I knew it was hopeless). Both cakes were a hit and I'm so grateful for the friendship of both the people for whom the cakes were made.
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