Dessert Calamities
.....nothing to trifle with, or are they???

Okay, tell me this has happened to you. I hope it's not just me! 

If it is----I blame my old oven!

 You are having company for dinner.
Your meal is planned. Your house is company-ready. Your table is set.
And you are clean and presentable.
The food is in the oven,  the salad is in the 'fridge.
The cake is cooling.
You are looking forward to a nice relaxing evening with friends or family.

But, what is that??? Oh, no! Your cake fell! Or it fell apart when you took it out of the cake pan.
Don't  panic!
Re-envision your plans.
 As long as it is cooked through (because of the eggs)
here are several nice options:

If the cake is in a nice glass pan, cut through it and spread something like
jam, preserves, fruit, pudding, chocolate sauce (honey or Agave mixed with cocoa powder), chocolate chips, apple sauce, yogurt, maple syrup and cinnamon, nuts, granola, coconut,
nut butter or whatever you can think of on it encouraging it to fall into the spaces/cracks.
Ice cream is great too but be sure to freeze it afterwards.
Then spread the whole thing with frosting. Serve in small bowls or some other pretty serving piece in scoops with maybe a dollop of something or a small piece of fruit or some zest on top.

Or
 if only slightly fallen and still having good crumb just add more frosting to the sunken part either in the pan or if you can get it out, on a plate and frost the rest as usual

Or
cut the sunken part out, neatly.
Then frost the rest of the cake and fill the hole with fruit, preserves, whipped cream, pudding
---whatever you have on hand that will look nice. 

Put a spoon in it for guests to use to add to the cake as a sauce.
In a pinch a squat vase with flowers in it looks amazing.

Or
 get out some pretty glasses or even nice mugs.
Scoop the cake (and this works for too-soft pie crusts and crumbly cookies too)
into the glass. Tilt the glass to make a diagonal pattern in the glass
if you think the ingredients will stay that way when you turn the glass upright.
Alternate the failed dessert with whipped cream, ice cream, crumbled cookies,
frosting, nuts, jam or fresh or frozen fruit.
Top it off with something pretty like whipped cream and a sprinkling of nuts or fruit.

IF it is the frosting that didn't turn out you can, if salvageable at all, use it as an ingredient mixed in with the cut cake.
Or, after checking for allergies, use a nut butter mixed with cocoa powder and honey to taste and the right consistency. Instant frosting! If you add enough cocoa powder it will hide the taste of the nut butter. It will be like a chocolate fudge frosting. Be sure to warn guests if it has nuts in it---nut allergies are so common today. One way to do this is to put some nuts of the same type as the nut butter on top of the cake.Or place a  nicely written small note in front of the cake or folded like a tent over the serving utensil or even on top of the cake in back.
Drizzles can substitute for frostings. I mix honey with cocoa or carob powder. Or I use maple syrup or honey with cinnamon for a spice cake. Warm cake served with a little un-whipped cream over it is delicious too and gives an old-fashioned look to your dessert.

If, while frosting a cake you have stirred up some crumb from the cake, don't worry,
if it is not fixable just very carefully, steal some crumb from underneath the cake
or one of its layers or use nuts or granola and sprinkle over the whole cake
 to make it look  like it was on purpose.

Or....and this is my favorite because it is pretty.
My old oven does not bake evenly, I do not like to bake, and I am not a very good baker.
That said---I usually make this on purpose.
It's a tradition for Christmas.

 The Trifle
For a crowd I use one or two punch bowls.
For a smaller group I usually use a footed bowl.
For an elegant look make as parfaits served at each guests' place I would use a
lovely glass of some sort.
As my husband would say, it tastes just as good no matter how you serve it. 

But in my opinion it's best in something glass
.....and pretty!

I break up the cooled cake as I go with my hands or a large spoon and  layer it in the glass bowl.
Some  recipes call for you to add some sort of liqueur or sherry to the cake, little sprinkles at a time
but I don't do this.
It was often nicknamed "Tipsy Cake" for this reason.

I have the following ingredients set out as I layer:
pudding---I often make this from scratch the old fashioned way or buy
organic pudding with good ingredients at the store.
Some type of preserves.
Fresh fruit---berries are my favorite
real whipped cream
a crumb of some sort of sliced almonds
I layer these being sure that each ingredient is pushed up against the side of the glass
so that the layers can be seen.
I top it off with whipped cream and decorate the top with whatever I like
---sliced nuts, cake crumbs sprinkled on top of the cream------
 I add fresh fruit around the edges in a pattern depending on what I have left.
My favorite combination is chocolate cake with tapioca pudding and raspberries or strawberries. But it is good with yellow cake, German chocolate, angel food cake---whatever you want. You are only limited by your creativity and what you have on hand or can afford.
 I refrigerate and serve after the meal to oooo's and ahhhh's usually.
It is very impressive looking even though it is often made from a failed cake and whatever I have on hand!

I love this about it!

If your failed dessert is un-fixable or it happens too late to fix.
Have a good laugh telling your guests what happened.
Offer them some fresh fruit,
cookies you have made or some ice cream if you have that on hand. 

Make smoothies!
Or don't serve anything at all---that's okay too!
Guests appreciate and feel most comfortable with their hosts when they are real

Remind me to tell you about my infamous "Bird-Poo Cake"
That was 31 years ago and we still laugh about it!
Creativity is not always pretty!

Goodnight.
Kathi~