Week 52: New Year’s Funfetti Cake

This is it, my friends – my last cake of this 2012 cake project. I would like to boast that not only have my cake-baking skills have improved, but so has my food photography. This last cake, I was faced with a real challenge, because after the cake had cooled for an hour or so, this is what it looked like:

The entire middle of the cake just fell through the wire rack.

Did I not bake it enough? Did I add too many sprinkles, which may have  compromised the structure of the cake? So many questions. But it’s my last cake! It can’t be a flop! But there it was, a little cake disaster to keep me humble.

Let’s start from the beginning. I wanted to make a festive New Year’s cake. When I think of New Year’s, I think of confetti. Last year I made funfetti cupcakes and cake balls to bring to a friend’s party. That was the last batch of cupcakes I baked. Naturally, I wanted to make a sprinkles cake – a sprinkles cake on sprinkles steroids!

I thought about buying a box of Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix. I had the box of cake mix in my shopping basket. And then I thought, I CANNOT make my last cake with cake mix. And I put it back on the shelf and got a jar of sprinkles instead.

I looked up some recipes, adapted one to the size of cake I needed… and then I doubled the sprinkles. Here’s my mise en place.

I prepared the batter according to the directions of the recipe I was adapting from. I baked the cake for the suggested duration, but the cake looked  little unstable. I touched the top of the cake and it sprung back to the touch. I stuck a toothpick in the center, and it came out clean. I thought it was baked. So I pulled it out of the oven, ran a pairing knife around the edge and turned it out onto a cooling rack. It all looked fine and well.

But as the cake cooled, the center just sunk out onto the counter.

I transferred the remainder of the cooled cake onto a cake stand.

And I made some lime buttercream, despite what happened to the middle of the cake.

I frosted the cake and covered it with sprinkles. I think this photo hides the sunken middle pretty well.

I’m not one to let a tasty cake go to waste, so I helped myself to slice.

It wasn’t bad. So despite the middle of the cake going missing, it was edible and actually kinda delicious. But next time, I think I’ll trust my instinct and just prepare boxed Pillsbury Funfetti mix.