I need a reality check on my current no-orange cake situation.

Background: yesterday the topic of conversation was Florentine Carnival Cake.  This cake is made with oranges.  It’s delicious. My wife was writing down the recipe before she forgot it.

I noted that I enjoyed this cake.  She asked me if I wanted some. I did the intelligent thing and indicated that yes, I would, if she felt like making it.

She asked me if there were enough eggs.  I checked. There were.

Later, I go downstairs.  She has a bowl out, covered with a cloth.  That indicates dough!  And then she confirmed that by taking the bowl up to the living room, where it’s warmer.

I get up this morning, and I smell the smell that indicates that an oven was on and something was baked.  So I come down to the kitchen and find… that she has baked a loaf of bread.  No Florentine Carnival Cake.

NOTE THAT THIS IS FINE.  I have fresh-baked bread for my breakfast.  But I was expecting Florentine Carnival Cake (which is made with oranges).  That would be an entirely different breakfast.  So I am confused, as men often are when something unexpected happens, and I say “That’s not orange cake, is it?”

My wife laughs.

Here’s the thing: I feel that my confusion here is totally justified. I just want somebody to tell me that, yes, it was reasonable for me to assume that cake was being made, even if it’s typically not made from dough that’s left to rise overnight and maybe I should have remembered it.  It’s been a busy couple of days; I may not be tracking well.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some fresh bread for breakfast.  Maybe some cheese and an apple, too.

Moe Lane

PS: Yes, all of this means that the cake was a lie.

13 thoughts on “I need a reality check on my current no-orange cake situation.”

  1. This seems to be akin to biting into a pickle that you think is a kosher dill, but turns out to be a sweet pickle. Your mouth is all set up for the one and when it turns out to be the other, the sensory discombobulation is disorienting.

    1. EXACTLY. And it doesn’t even matter if, when you’re asked to choose between dill and sweet, your response is typically “Yes, please.”

      1. I must differ, here. I LOVE dill pickles, but for whatever reason find most ‘sweet’* pickles… I’ll go for understatement with ‘unpleasant’. 😉
        .
        That said, one can see how the conversation as described would have aroused an expectant hope.
        .
        *Not sure what all varieties are defined as “sweet”, there are some besides dill that are okay, but Kosher Dills are the definitive (and best, hands down) pickle. SO ya’ll help yourselves to all the non-dill pickles in the world. More dills for me 😀

  2. Yes, it was reasonable to expect it. But at least you have the proper perspective on things.

  3. I’m unclear on the question.
    .
    Yes, there was dough, yes there were enough eggs, but .. at no point did you ask whether the dough was, in fact, cake.
    .
    I find it hard to accept “the cake is a lie” (although I do see what you did there) as Mrs. Lane does not appear to have actually, you know, fibbed ..
    .
    That said, I definitely get the disappointment .. bitten into many *many* oatmeal-raisin cookies of unusually smooth texture expecting chocolate chips.
    .
    Mew

    1. Aren’t those cookies the worst letdown ever? I’m not sure the lovely Mrs. Lane could be accused of lying, but Mr. Lane may have skirted lying *to himself*. An easy mistake when cake is involved.

      1. Thing is, the cookies *as oatmeal-raisin cookies go* are usually pretty good .. it’s just that they’re not chocolate chip.
        .
        For a truly bad cookie, there were these savory peanut-butter things I once encountered…
        .
        Mew

  5. People… what is going on here? Cake is not dough, it is batter. In addition, cake batter does not need to rise (the warm room clue), however, bread dough does rise and needs a warm room to rise in. Moe, at no point in this incident were you ever going to get a cake, it was bread all along and you have compelling evidence for bread all along.

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    Here’s the thing: I feel that my confusion here is totally justified. […] maybe I should have remembered it. It’s been a busy couple of days; I may not be tracking well.
     
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  7. The cake was not a lie, just merely misleading.

    You should have known at the rising part though.

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