Recipe Failure...and the Recovery

We enjoyed having some family in town over the weekend, and had planned to have a nice dinner together on Saturday night with a few extra in attendance.  I try NOT to have desserts in the house, but thought that 10 of us could probably polish off a regular size dessert at one meal and I wouldn't have to be concerned with the tempting leftovers.  So, I began to search the cabinets for ingredients and ideas.  My Betty Crocker cookbook is a standard go-to for recipes around here and I already had it out to make the main dish.  As I looked through the desserts section, there was a recipe for Boston Cream Pie, and I just happened to have all the ingredients.  So, I mixed up the cake part, baked it, cooled it according to the recipe instructions and dumped it out of the pan....literally....

The picture doesn't even show how bad it was...there was no way to salvage it into anything that resembled a cake.  My husband walked into the kitchen and said, "OHHHHH NOOOO!"

Enter sacred wisdom from one of the best cooks I know.....my mom!  You could turn it into a trifle.......

OH YES, that's what I'll do.

So I mixed up the cream filling, and as it cooled, I added a bit more milk to make it thinner...I layered chunks of the cake and the cream in a large bowl...

After that, I made the chocolate sauce for the topping....there are few foods that I love to watch and smell more than chocolate and butter melting together...

(I know I'm weird....)

Once the chocolate had cooled, I added more hot water than the recipe called for in order to make it spread better (especially since I had nothing resembling a smooth surface to spread it on...) and poured it over the top of the trifle, spreading with the back of a spoon as best I could.

It certainly was not the most beautiful of desserts, and if I had been able to add some fancy whipped cream dollops or something on the top, it would have made it much more aesthetically pleasing, but in the end, it tasted good, and there was only one small spoonful left after dinner.

Thanks mom, for the great advice - all was not lost on my dessert gone wrong!  This works well for other cakes too, and if you can keep some vanilla pudding mixes on hand, they can be made quickly for a filling.

We had a great time with our family and guests, and as we sat around our table, I was once again reminded of the great blessing of friends, family,  food, and fellowship.

linking up at Women Living Well