Some nights I am inspired to cook. And, yes, it takes inspiration (which is more than a growling stomach). Tonight, I was not inspired but I had to make a dessert for work. Living in Minnesota, I have found, requires you to prepare things for potlucks every now and then...

So, being on dessert duty, I took my crisp, hardly used copy of "Homemade Cakes" off my kitchen self and proceeded to get very excited about a yogurt and fruit cake. Simple enough, less than 10 ingredient, most of which I already had. It was after I returned from the grocery store with vanilla yogurt that I started my necessary pep talk: "Ashlee, baking is like chemistry lab. This recipe has been proven to work. All you have to do is follow the directions & measure things carefully. It will be fine." Turns out baking and chemistry lab are a lot more similar than I thought - I'm not a natural at either.

After I started to realize (er, accept) that this attempt will likely end in failure, I decided to start following my intuition. Move the cake down a rack, set the timer for 5 more minutes... Nope still a failure. It's bubbling with heat, but not forming into a cake. My plan to teach myself to cook has turned into a waste of resources.

I think it is time for Plan B. I'm calling in sick.