Hoo boy. After my weekend of failed layer cakes, I bought (and had overnight shipped) The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I was determined to not let those 4 sad, flat, chewy, lifeless discs scare me away from layer cakes. So I picked a recipe to try ( I think this was a white cake), and baked my little heart out. The RELIEF I felt when these actually risen cakes came out of the oven is indescribable. With that hurdle cleared, I thought everything would be smooth sailing from there.

First of all, I chose a needlessly complicated icing recipe. I was too impatient to actually beat my butter so my icing was yellow and greasy. Not to mention, I sure as hell didn’t make enough. The silver lining was that I demonstrated that I was better than garbage (only just…) at using a star tip. Frankly, the whole experience was so frustrating, I couldn’t even tell you what this stupid thing tasted like. But I remember it was edible, and my family dutifully took pity slices and commented that it wasn’t “so bad”.

Thanks, family.