A very sweet friend arrived with a birhtday cake the other day. Our oven is on the fritz (despite telling my landlord close to a month ago.) Try that one...preheating oven, 2 cannabilistic kids frothing at the mouth for pizza...and the oven doesn't preheat. I throw matches inside it, hoping something will hit a gas source like a pilot light (or we'll have a third fire and have to go out for food) - to no avail. That was not fun. The whining. The whinging. Hungry children dead set on pizza. Thank you Nutella, you've saved my life more than once. I'm glad there's an alternative to Spam these days. The can is so unpalatable.
I forgot to tell Husband about the oven problem and assumed it was fixed because the landlord was messing around with it. Apparently, on my birthday Husband and posse mixed batter for a cake and made frosting. they put the cake in the oven and after 30 minutes the cake was still batter. The oven, however, does have the fairly useless ability to still broil everything, so Husband just figured he could broil the birthday cake. Now, I don't know if this is a commonality in Ireland - failure to understand that broiling is exposing food to direct, intense high heat, or if this is a Husband thing (please chime in Irish readers.). He'd actually never heard of "broil," probably because it has nothing to do with sausages or bacon. Anyway, broiling the cake didn't work so well. I'll leave the image for you to chuckle over, along with Husband's confused look ("Heat is heat", he claimed.)
I did love the effort Husband made, and the Y chromosome which has a gene that says, "Pshaw, if I can get Junior to a sushi restaurant without his Superman cape, I can broil a birthday cake." Thanks Mo, for this glorious birthday cake. She told them to make it blue with huge pink flowers. We loved it! Junior clandestinely drank a bunch of batter from the burned/liquified birthday cake and ran up and down hallway for about 30 minutes, like our cat at 3am, but he has since recovered. Next year the ante is upped, Husband. Pink ombre cake - directions at Glorious Treats.
Hands down the most beautiful birthday cake I've ever seen. I hope M painted it! and that you will turn that first photo into a print so I can buy it. What a gorgeous burst of color. Thanks! and thanks for the hapless hubby anecdote. Now, seriously. Do not wait for the landlord. Tinkering with a broken stove can lead to a FIRE. Call a professional and deduct the cost from your rent check. PLEASE!!! House decisions?
Posted by: rainydaymuse | January 26, 2012 at 05:32 AM
Nope, 'broil' is not in the Irish vernacular. I always imagined it to be something similar to 'boiling', so imagine how I'm picturing husband cooking that cake!
The substitute is a beauty!
Posted by: Sadhbh | January 26, 2012 at 12:24 PM
I like his optimism. Thank YOU for those glorious photos. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Posted by: permanent magneta | January 26, 2012 at 01:46 PM
Aha - one person in defense of Husband. Now, that's an image! Interesting, I do remember someone boiling a chicken there, once.
Posted by: Pink mohair | January 26, 2012 at 02:45 PM
good for him for at least making an effort, but if it's a gas stove, GET IT FIXED!!!
Happy belated b-day, dear Pinka!!!
Posted by: pigtown*design | January 26, 2012 at 03:54 PM
I thought it was fixed - I swear!
Posted by: Pink mohair | January 26, 2012 at 04:36 PM
Ok, ok, we'll get it fixed, y'all. You must be a weary of reading about fires as I am of experiencing them.
Posted by: Pink mohair | January 26, 2012 at 05:17 PM
Word to my motha! I want a cake like that one, if only for a purty blog post!
Happy birthday to a girl with an epic mealtime husband (take him stat to Youtube to see the Epic Mealtime vids)
Posted by: phyllis | January 26, 2012 at 07:57 PM
Here in Ireland we've never heard of broiling. Is it boiling? Grilling maybe? I think it must be grilling. Anyway, the cake is amazo. I like the husbands style.
Posted by: Tracey Foran | January 27, 2012 at 07:02 AM
Yes, broiling and grilling are pretty similar but w/ slight differences (I looked it up.) When we grill we usually do it outside. The broiler is the heat element on the very top of the oven, and you control temperature w/ the temp of the oven. That's the extent of my knowledge. I guess I can't laugh too much at poor Husband now!
Posted by: Pink mohair | January 27, 2012 at 07:11 AM
My husband in the US doesn't understand broiling either.
Posted by: Roberta V | January 28, 2012 at 10:07 PM
I just found your site, i love it and it is funny one of the first things i read about is your irish hubby trying to broil your birthday cake, i am from ireland and i had no clue what broiling was, i have been in the states for 9 years and have only recently been okay with using the broiler :)
Posted by: michelle | February 16, 2012 at 10:01 PM