The Infinity Cake: It just growed like Topsy

[caddyman]

As I type, I am eating a piece of cheese that had the name Ilchester Cheese Chuckles on the wrapper. It's been that sort of day.

For a portion of this afternoon I have been unaccountably tired, but I seem to have got my second wind, now. Just as well, I guess, since colonel_maxim's party has started two flights downstairs and I ought to put in more than just my recent fleeting appearance. That fleeting appearance is the reason for this entry. ellefurtle has been baking again. Actually she has been mixing cake batter again. Baking is a work in progress.

The middle of the cake after an hour-and-a-half of baking in the big round baking tin, is remaining obstinately uncooked. Like magma, it is pushing the crust ever higher higher. The cake tin is about three inches deep, maybe three and a half. The middle of the cake has risen to that height at least once. After forty or so minutes, when the cake (ostensibly a marble cake) had taken on the appearance of the world's largest American muffin¹, Furtle trimmed the top off as it had started to singe. Ten minutes ago we went back down on what was the ninety minute mark. The inside is still hot, chocolaty, magma and the muffin top had reappeared. We trimmed that off, too². The next approach, to stop the top burning (or growing), was to move the cake lower down the oven. I suspect that may just slow the inevitable growth down. I believe Furtle has invented the Infinity Cake and that as long as we can keep cooking it, it will simply grow, the roiling centre pushing ever more crust upwards until we trim and eat it.

I hope we can because the other option is to call out The British Experimental Rocket Group and turn the problem over to Professor Quatermass.



¹In English usage at least. The Americans call them English muffins despite the fact they are nothing like a muffin. Will no-one take ownership of these huge teacakes that spill out over the top in a mushroom shape?

²And very tasty it was.

Comments

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

mmm .. tasty.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

it was yummy :)

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Noooooooooooooooooooo! Don't start the American Muffin argument again, how many replies did you get last time ?

(they are fairy cakes by the way, just big ones)

[littleonionz.livejournal.com]

Ieeeee Infinity Cake! run!!

[boredinsomniac.livejournal.com]

Huh? We don't call the mushroom-shaped things English muffins. We just call them muffins. English muffins are something completely different, flat and more similar to biscuits (bready biscuits, not cookies).

I see from other commenters that muffins have been a topic of debate in your journal before. Hope I'm not rehashing it... Anyway I think we Americans can agree to accept responsibility for the mushroom things, as we've not pushed it off on anyone else in the history of that particular baked good.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

It gets very confusing. There is enough difference between UK and US usage that you never quite know what you're ending up with when you visit the other country.

Muffins, biscuits, bacon and ham are all different as are the places where food is prepared. In the UK you wouldn't find, say a "Pork Butcher", but you would find a "Family Butcher" which rather horrified an American friend of mine on first encounter.

[boredinsomniac.livejournal.com]

family butcher, heh... it is indeed confusing, and not just when it comes to food. I once said something to a British guy about writing on his skin with a certain brand-name marker, and he thought I wanted to carve the words into his skin with a knife... O_o

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I can see that might be disconcerting, yes!

As a matter of interest, what was the brand name?

[boredinsomniac.livejournal.com]

Sharpie. Don't know if you've ever heard of them, but in the US they're the Kleenex of markers.