Baking a Cake: Third Time Lucky

Hello People. After the disaster last time with trying my hand at baking, about which I have written here,I tried two more times. And I found success on my third try. I can't tell you how relieved I am that it finally worked. If it hadn't worked this time too, I would have had to abandon the project. My wife had put me on notice that if the project "bake a cake" had not tasted good this time, I will have to do the dishes and be solely responsible for changing my 18 month old son's diapers for rest of the year. Anyway, this is how I managed to save my neck. 

After the failure of my first attempt I was told that "tsp" in the recipe is actually "teaspoon" and not "tablespoon". That explains the overflowing batter and the bitter taste. Also I was told not to mix the batter too much. Looks like trying to get things too perfect isn't always a good thing, after all. I made these adjustments to the recipe and tried a second time. This time it took forever to turn brown. Even then it wasn't cooked at the core. Disappointed, I left the cake in the oven and switched it off. When I took out the cake pan to throw it away, the cake was about 70% done. So, it turns out that the temperature of my oven is not what its supposed to be. 

So, my third attempt, I did everything just the same way as the second time but increased the oven temperature to the maximum possible setting. In about 20 minutes, the cake had become brown, puffed up and separated from the edges. And it was yummy, my son is the main taster. So, here is the recipe that worked for me. 

Materials and Methods:

• 11/2 cups of "cake and pastry" flour.
• 1 cup of sugar (I used a little less that 1 cup).
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

All the above were mixed in a mixing bowl, lets call it "fluor mix". Then, I made a hole in the middle of the fluor mix and added the following:

• 8oz yogurt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• few raisins

This was stirred just enough to have everything mixed. Watch out, the batter should be thick, not watery. I poured the mix into a 9" baking bowl and added on top some pecans and sliced almonds. This is how it looked before going into the oven. 

The oven should be pre-heated to 340F. Since the thermostat in my oven seems to be broken, I set mine to the maximum possible. In about 15 minutes the cake had started turning brown and had puffed. I let it stay in the oven for another 10 minutes before taking it out. 

Results:

This is how the cake looked when I took it out of the oven.

I hope you can make out that it is in a convex-like shape. Also notice that the edges of the cake had moved away from the sides of the baking dish. This is how it looks inside.

And it tastes great. Now that I have shown her some positive results from my initial experiments, my wife has reconsidered my grant application and extended support for my culinary project for some more time. The cake tastes double good because it has happened at a time when an experiment that I had been working on for the last couple of weeks, and had looked very exciting at the beginning, has turned out a dud. 

Next time, another new experiment. Till then, don't give up on your watery cakes.