Birthday Cake Drama

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday.  Which means today is the day I baked his cakes.  Yes, that's right, I baked cakes, plural. 

Let me start by saying I grew up in a strictly chocolate birthday cake household.  Every birthday was celebrated with a homemade chocolate bunt cake frosted with homemade chocolate frosting.  That background information means just one thing...I have never baked anything other than my typical chocolate-cake-with-chocolate-frosting.

Until today.  When I baked 2 white cakes.

I found a simple recipe online that I decided was beginner-worthy for the occasion.  I thought to myself that the cake would look so much better if made in bunt form.  If it was in bunt form I could pop it out of the pan and put it in a pretty glass cake serving set that I have.  It would have looked lovely on the kitchen table in honor of husband's birthday.

My good intentions failed.  Although the edges of the bunt cake were baked through, the center was a hot mess.  I should have known better to adjust the temperature, the time, or something before thinking baking it in a bunt cake would be okay. 

So...true to my being I got dramatic and upset with my end result. 

After being calmed down by my too-kind hubby we discussed options.  We considered frosting it anyways and dealing, rolling the cooked sections into cake-pops, or starting over.

I couldn't rest unless I started over.  I started over with the correct 13x9 pan that the recipe calls for.  The results were far more impressive.

I will share the final assembled cake photo soon!

Have you ever had any disappointing baking experiences?