You won't believe it: Cake experiment number 4

It was all going so well. 

New recipe, high sided cake tins so the batter couldn't cascade over the edges, the oven only turned off randomly whilst cooking and the grill didn't fall off. 

Beautiful I thought as I put the risen cake on the work surface. Wow. I had cracked it!  I was so pleased. I just needed to cook the other half before taking a picture for evidence. 

Wiping the crumbs off the work surface, my hand caught on the wire rack the cake was cooling in and it fell on the floor!  Disaster!  

So I have my photo evidence of my 'risen, slightly squashed but I'm sure it will taste fine with jam' cake!  

Nairobi floods

I understand the BBC have reported the floods that we have experienced here in Nairobi over the past few days.   Tragically nine people lost there lives in the floods which took place in the most torrential rain I have ever experienced.

Having grown up in South Wales I am very familiar with rain!  The amount of rain, and the sheer deluge of the rain in the past few days however has really astounded me.  After several months of drought the long rains season has now being going on for around a month.  These rains aren't the days of drizzle that I remember from my youth but torrential downpours and thunderstorms nearly every night.  At first I was amazed at how quickly the water disappeared into the parched soil but after several weeks the water has no where left to go, hence the floods.

The floods have brought with them an addition hazard, with a Cholera outbreak hitting the city, especially in the slums.  Maz and the kids received a vaccine today and I will follow suit tomorrow evening. 

                                                                                                                                                           

This is a wonderful country but overcrowded cities such as Nairobi cannot cope with rain like this. Please pray for a temporary let up in the rains, for those whose property has been damaged or loved-ones killed and for an end to the Cholera outbreak.  

Oh that hurts!

Sometimes it is worth having the injections for the treat afterwards!  

Cake number three

I'm on a roll and we are already at experiment number three:  

Factors changed:  Flour. (Now using self raising rather than all purpose) 

Result:  Better than last time although still seeps over the sides. 

So if you look really closely you may be able to see that this cake (number 3) has risen, albeit only a few millimetres more, but I would say this is progress wouldn't you?  It is amazing that it had the success it did really as the oven turned itself off four times whilst cooking and the grill fell down onto it too.  

I was discussing my experiment (for that read 'cake disasters') with a friend who recommended I used a tablespoon of oil. Sounds strange but worth a try for next time. 

I still couldn't serve this to guests but the kids are enjoying all of the experiments. 

Experiment number two of high altitude cooking.

So here's my next attempt of cooking a cake at high altitude. As you can see the results are pretty similar to the first one. Oh dear!  So what did I do differently?  I sieved the flour and cooked it on a shelf lower.  Both of these factors obviously make no difference at all when cooking at high altitude!  It is still as flat as a pancake and the mixture still seeped over the sides rather than rising.  A change of flour I think next time.  (At least this experiment tastes good even if it doesn't look great!).