There are bakers and then...

And then there are people like my sister who couldn't follow a recipe if her life depended on it. She cooks a lot, and normally does a decent job. Baking just isn't her thing. She decided that she would be the one to make my birthday cake. I was a little skeptical, but who am I to judge.

*side story* One day I handed my sister a recipe for no-bake cookies. You know the peanut butter chocolaty delicious things that taste like fudge. Anyway I told her it was easy just follow the recipe. Next thing I know I hear the KitchenAid going and I think to myself, you don't use a blender to make that recipe. No you don't, but she did. She poured all of the ingredients into a bowl, and turned the mixer on. No bake, no fuss, just mix. The oatmeal that is supposed to cook and bind the cookies together blended into a flour and the cookies were rather interesting to say the least. *end side story*

I came out while my sister was starting to measure out the dry ingredients for the cake. She was putting all of the ingredients in a bowl. This is a perfectly fine step, but we do have a KitchenAid mixer (after the no-bake cookies disaster we obviously know she knows how to use it) and the lovely thing about the chocolate cake recipe is that you can throw all of the ingredients in and just mix. I suggested the mixer and she said she was doing it her way. I let it go.

"Emily!" I was waiting for it. Well I didn't want to be waiting for it, but I hadn't heard the KithenAid at all, so it was coming. There in the bowl were all of the ingredients for the cake. It looked pretty gross and unmixed. I grabbed a whisk and fixed it and asked once again why she didn't use the KitchenAid.

What is a cake without icing? Well I figured if she didn't want to use the mixer for the cake, she would definitely use it for the frosting. Oh no! She puts the peanut butter in a bowl, and looks at me.

"I will not fix frosting by hand!"

Oh the huffing and puffing that went on as she put it into the bowl for the KitchenAid and started blending. The end result: well it was kind of thick. I told her to put it on the hot cake and hopefully it would melt down a little. No that is not official advice, but baking with my sister brings out the worst in me.

Tonight my mom, sister, and I are going to friends to celebrate my birthday and eat a lot of cake. While it doesn't look like the Cake Boss would approve of it, the cake my sister made should taste pretty good. For all of you non-bakers out there, I hope you leave your baking to a professional. It's just safer in the long run.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily