Have you ever had an idea, tried that idea and it completely come out wrong? Yeah, me too! I had this great (I thought so) idea on a apple spice cake. I love to use whatever short cut I can. My idea would be great had I made this from scratch. I didn't. I used a boxed spice cake mix and it went horrible!!!!
Let me tell you what I did. I mixed the cake according to package directions, omitting the oil. I melt some butter in a skillet, added white and brown sugar to the butter and then added diced tart apples. I cooked this mixture for a bit then let it cool. I then added it too the cake mix, put in loaf pans and baked them. Once done, and cooled, I proceeded to take the cakes out of the loaf pans and this is where it went bad. I picked up the loaf pan, and turned it upside down to allow the cake to come out and it did....it pieces!
I stood there for what seemed like forever, starring at my plate of cake crumbs. I had to walk away. I had to think about this.
I said in the beginning, I love to use shortcuts. This was more than a shortcut, this was a disaster!!! So, I went ahead and mixed up my glazed and poured it on the cakes. The boys would eat it no matter how it looked. And they did.
After spending a few days thinking about this, I tried again. This time, however, I did things a bit differently. Instead of adding butter, and sugars, I mixed up the cake mix according to the directions, diced up a couple of tart apples, tossed them in the batter, folded gently, poured into loaf pans and baked.
This time, they turned out perfectly! I was happy. Sometimes using shortcuts can be a great help to us. Sometimes, we add more than we should and end up with a mess. Funny how life is a little like baking, isn't it.
