You won’t always get it right the first time. What matters is how you handle the problems that arise based on decisions you make. 

On a rainy, cold and windy Palm Sunday afternoon, the maternal unit and I prepared to bake a Carrot Easter Bun for the first time in our baking lives. As with new ventures, we were excited and curious to find out what the end product would turn out to be. 

We tend to pride ourselves on being queens of recipe alterations and so, the maternal unit wanted to double the mixture. I warned against the alteration (because this was a first time effort). I was then teased on lack of yearn for adventurous experimenting. Now, I do not take lightly to such an accusation. I reluctantly agreed to altering the recipe. 

Naturally, if you double the recipe, ingredients remain the same, but quantities change. The batter increases, and of course, the baking containers needed would increase. It would also mean that required oven space to bake the product increases. 

Before correctly checking that we had enough of all the ingredients and enough baking containers, we excitedly altered. It turned out that we had to supplement some ingredients as we were short on some things. Oh yeah, we forgot to sift the flour. Funny thing about that is, upon mixing the batter, we had an endless amount of flour lumps. They would not do away no matter what we did. Funny thing about this is that I asked what happens if we just sidestep the flour lumps and bake with the lumps in tact. The only natural answer is that the lumps would be baked as is. 

Remember the flour lumps bit. 

Nearing the time to pour the batter into the containers, we realized that enough of the societal determined correct containers were too few in number. So what did we do?  We added a bit more than what was needed in each container. 

Smart. 

At this point, we conveniently forgot the science behind heat applied to a cake batter. This was done all in the name of yearning for adventurous experimenting in the kitchen. 
We placed the buns in the oven along with our chicken and breadfruit for dinner. No more than 20 minutes in the baking process for the buns and I smell something burning. I go to investigate and noticed that the batters were overflowing. Some of it overflowed on the chicken and some barely touched the breadfruit. Luckily, majority of the oven base was lined with aluminum foil and so the clean up wouldn’t be that bad. Luckily, we had covered the chicken with aluminum foil or else we’d be eating baked chicken with a toops of Carrot Easter Bun batter. The sound of that doesn’t sound too bad though. 

The bake time had to be increased by about 15 minutes because of the decision we made to alter the recipe so spur-of-the-moment. 

End product? 

Let’s just say that the aesthetic was not as pleasing as image on the recipe card. When we sliced into the buns, we found the flour lumps that were side stepped. That aside, as far as we could tell, it tasted good. After all, it was our first attempt, so we had no other Carrot Easter Bun to compare it to. Ha! 

Lessons learned? 

– You won’t always get it right the first time. 

– Make the best of situations after the decisions you make seem to make the process more difficult. 

– Don’t look at different situations as being difficult. Look at them as being an opportunity to create something new. 

– Be light hearted so that you may tell the story with a smile on your face. 

– It’s sometimes okay to alter and supplement. You don’t need to stick with the script at all times. SOMETIMES

– If you didn’t die, you can recreate. 
We’ll try this again. One day, one day, we shall. 

With love and flour dust on my nose, 

The Night Baker