If I'd known you were coming... Part One of Two

disaster averted... so far.

I've had this book for three years.


I bought it with a gift card because when it says "Sedaris" you usually can't go wrong. In addition to being ridiculously funny, it is full of recipes. Up until today I've never made any. This morning I made a white cake from scratch. GO ME!

Inspired by Amy's whimsical fancy, in addition to the regular ingredients, hiding in the back, there is food coloring for the buttercream frosting and a can of "ready to decorate" frosting with decorator tips.



When/if this cake is consumed, we will have eaten two full sticks of butter. All natural butter though

For all of my lack of direction following and cooking skills, somehow, somewhere, I learned to separate eggs. How did that happen? All three on the first try.



What I did not realize was that House of Sophanne lacks anything resembling a mixing bowl. First I tried this



and some vision in my past of my mother with chocolate cake flinging it's way across the kitchen came to mind. No mixing bowls? Time to improvise.



While I have no concrete recollection of cake-making in our house (except for the chocolate one), I must have learned something from my mother. I instinctively knew how to grease and flour the pan, checked to see if it was done by putting a butter knife in it and seeing that it came out clean, and when the cakes came out of the oven for cooling, I went straight to the dinner plate, put it over the cake pan and turned it upside down.



As the cakes were baking, I did some blog reading and found that Kristen says "save your egg whites and make meringue." That was a little ambitious for me and Liza was a little miffed at not getting to lick the sugary-buttery bowl. So instead-



I can't begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to making and coloring the frosting. And while a stranger to this blog might scoff at the simpleness of this post- you, my regular readers, understand the mountain I have scaled!