(Note: The pictured dessert is not the disastrous treat in question. This is a delicious and fool-proof Peanut Butter and Salted Caramel Ice Cream Cake from Taste of the South magazine and you can find the recipe here.)
My staff always likes for me to talk about a total bust, something that really messed up despite my best laid plans. Truth is usually stranger than fiction and certainly, in my case that is true.
Long before there was a Hoffman Media and the magazines we publish, there was me who read everything under the sun that had to do with homes, cooking and entertaining. Cooking and recipe ideas were my favorites. Now, I am the gutsy one in the family who always tries new recipes on my guests rather than going with the tried and true.
I was hosting a family dinner and decided to try this new dessert that was featured in a magazine (name omitted as they are a competitor of ours) but one you would know as it has been around for many years. And no, it is not from Southern Living!
This particular dessert was an award-winning stacked dessert. You bake a two-layer cake of your choice and then while your cake layers are cooling, you take your cake pans and fill them with semi-melted ice cream and refreeze. Then right before you serve it, you stack it, alternating layers of ice cream, cake, etc. It was a beautiful photo in the magazine and I knew that I would score extra points for this one. Every layer was perfect and I knew mine would be too.
When the night came and the family was gathered, I was greatly anticipating the premiere of my dessert masterpiece. After the entrées were finished and it was time for dessert, I excused myself to the kitchen to assemble the cake that I would then bring out for all to see before I sliced it.
It was a total disaster. I placed the first layer of cake on the cake plate and then the first layer of ice cream on top. Then the landslide began! I was trying to hold the ice cream in place while placing the second layer of cake on top, hoping this would stop the slide. Oh no, it made it worse. Every layer of ice cream was lopsided and the cakes were not level either.
I was standing there with a mudslide of melting ice cream and soggy cake. So, I found my trifle dish and crumbled everything into the dish. I found the bottle of chocolate syrup and drizzled chocolate syrup on the top. I rushed the new creation through the dining room and then back to the kitchen where I very quickly served it up in bowls.
Everyone loved the new trifle and wanted the recipe. Go figure.
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