Leaving a trail of destruction as I go

With some new acquaintances coming over tomorrow afternoon for the first time I thought I would impress with a cake.

What a stupid idea - I hate baking, why on earth have I invited someone over for coffee and cake - I should have said a beer and some savoury nibbles - why oh why did I think making a cake was a good idea.

The trail of destruction extends across the kitchen, into the Rayburn, across into the pantry and into the bread machine and the electric oven.

Grrrrr - perhaps it is not too late to make a few quiches and some sausage rolls.

Maybe I should have stuck to just one cake - but no - I had to be clever about it and try to make three.

First cake - Apple tart - now you would think this is simple and thoughtless. For some reason though it just won't dry out and it resembles some soggy pastry with some dry apple slices floating on a sea of compote.

Disaster number 2 - a pineapple upside down cake - again should be easy, I have made it before - only last time I remembered to turn off the overhead element in the electric oven - not so this time, the base is still wet but the top is only just on the right side of not being burnt.

Last and most certainly least - Citrus fat free cake - this may possibly be rescued if I make some icing or something to cover up the fact that I made it in the bread machine, and then tried to turn it out while it was still too hot and therefore the centre fell out with the paddle onto the table. I have wedged the centre back in and may just get away with covering it up. (At least this one tastes good - obviously when it fell out I did have to sample some to make sure it was edible - no-one will notice, its not like there wasn't already a hole in it!)


Maybe I should go to the shop - NO - I won't admit defeat in the face of cake making - going back to the recipe book - I am determined that I will serve something cakey bakey made by my own hands tomorrow.