The Great Cake Adventure

Sooooo... I've never been much of a baker.  Sure I've made a few cakes over the years but very few, and they were always out of a box.  Recently my friend Lee (who can throw a rotten tomato and match stick together in a pot and come out with something wonderful) invited us over for supper. I brought the meat, she made the sides and desert.  We had a wonderful time and the cake she made was beyond delicious.  I wish I had taken a picture because along with it being insanely tasty it was just beautiful.

My family LOVED it and my husband was particularly pleased when Lee sent him home with a large chunk of it for another day.  I think he managed to get three slices out of it, which he ate with gusto.  There was no question throughout the family that they'd best leave Daddy's cake ALONE.  And so finally I decided I should at least TRY to make this cake.

I even ran into Lee at the local Wal-Mart and she helped me find all the ingredients she used - I insisted on using EXACTLY the brands she had used so it would taste the same.

And so I took it all home and about a week ago finally had the time to actually make it. Rebekah was my assistant, and really, we had a great time making it.  We followed all the directions including for the icing.  In the end, apparently...  something went wrong:

Yeah.  Like I was saying.  Something went ... wrong.

But still... it tasted good.  But... oy.  The presentation definitely left something to be desired.  

And so I tried again and this time... May I have a drum roll, please...

With a little help from Lee...

and a recipe from Joanie...

BEHOLD the KEK!