A wise person once said, “When life hands you a dilemma, make dilemmonade.” Or something like that. Something like, “When life hands you an under-risen cake, make biscotti!”
We’ve all been there, hopes held high for that perfect swan dive that turns into a belly flop, that soufflé that poofed, the cake that didn’t rise. Recently I had high hopes for this zebra cake but alas, it came out of the oven not quite risen enough, despite my having left it in for the prescribed time. I attribute this to the fact that I was probably a little overzealous in the blending of ingredients. Or perhaps my oven temperature was a little too low. Or both. At any rate, a cake that is under-risen isn’t necessarily headed for the sin-bin. So many hopes and dreams and good ingredients went into this that there was no way I was letting it go. Besides, food waste– from unsightly veggies to ugly cakes- is just wrong.
Back into the oven with you!
Fortunately I love biscotti, and figured this cake-flop was half way there. If you look at the ingredients for a recipe for biscotti, they’re pretty similar to a cake recipe, right? So instead of chucking it I sliced the cake (to the middle) into several half-inch slices. The circumference of a nine-inch pan is twenty-eight inches, so half-inch slices will give you about fifty six biscuits! After slicing I gently placed them on a wire rack and put them back in the oven for about an hour at 225 F, essentially to slowly finish the cooking process without burning. The result? The “biscotti” came out beautifully! Crispy but not hard as a rock nor dehydrated to death; a cross between a cookie and cake, solid at the bottom but still light and airy, the flavours of chocolate and vanilla seemed enhanced somehow. Perfect for snacking on as is or dunking into your cappuccino. There are other ways to rescue baking disasters-bread pudding comes to mind- but these turned out so delicious I just might make them this way on purpose next time!
