toastin'

I write about food a lot.
When reading this, please ignore the last post about going on a weekend long diet, because really...come on now.

My momma raised me right. Growing up, there were certain forbidden foods-Mountain Dew, sugar cereal, Pringles, and store bought desserts of any kind. I love her for those rules. I am an awesome baker (if I do say so myself) as a result of them. But along with a talent for making melt in your mouth chocolate chip cookies, those childhood dietary restrictions have left me with a taste for certain store bought treats. I know they are not good. But I feel slightly rebellious when I am eating them, like I am doing something just a little bad. And who doesn't like to break the rules every now and again? Pillsbury Funfetti Cake and Funfetti Frosting hold a very special place in my heart.

Last week, I received a birthday present from a very dear friend. Along with a plethora of other wonderful things that made me smile nonstop all weekend , she included a box of Funfetti Cake mix and frosting. I saw the perfect opportunity to try something I've wanted to do for a month or so now-toaster oven baking. My curiosity for what one can really cook in a toaster oven actually started in France. I had what would be considered by most to be a toaster oven. However, this was the queen bee of toaster ovens. It was huge, had a temperature control, timer, movable racks, and control for whether the user wanted to heat to come out of the top, bottom, or both (that control probably has a name, but heck if I know it). It was basically an oven. Over the course of 7 months, I cooked our Thanksgiving chickens, coffee cake, pizza (both homemade and frozen), sweet and regular potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc. I even made toast in it most mornings, since our real toaster was broken. I really feel like despite its title of "toaster" it was a step up from the real oven I had when I lived with Maryse. Her gas oven had to be lit with a chop stick that we lit on fire using the gas burners.

There is no denying this year I took a huge step down. I have a toaster oven, by every definition of the word(s). It has one dial, which is its on/off switch. That one dial is the timer. It turns on for a maximum of 15 minutes. However, I have felt a need to use it since I moved in. I see it sitting in the corner of the kitchen. I feel like it is mocking me. It knows I've always felt ordinary in almost every way, but I can bake. It calls to me "Laura, use me. Try it. I dare you. Come on. Let me ruin your baked goods. I'll take away this thing you are good at."

Having spent most of this month's money on my visa and flight to China, the ingredients to bake something are not in the budget. So when I received this cake mix, I saw my opportunity to tackle the metal beast in the corner of the kitchen.

My battle weapons, and yes that is a pan I am using as a mixing bowl. I have a poorly stocked kitchen.

Ready to go!

So far, so good!

It was about at this point in the baking process, that I realized my toaster oven, true to its name, was in fact doing a lot of toasting, not so much baking.

So I turned the heat off, hoping that they would continue baking and stop toasting. It kind of worked. They turned out okaaaaay, not awesome. But it is hard to mess up cake mix cakes, except for the cupcake that I filled up too full and put too close to the edge of the pan. That is the reason my apartment smells like burnt now. I did not use the entire mix. I am not sure what I will do differently during trial run 2. But I think my toaster oven baking skills need a little work.

Unrelated note, I picked up my visa the other day. I'M GOING TO CHINA ON SATURDAY! WoOt!!