AIBU to ask for your baking disasters? Just butchered buttercream

[Aberforthsgoat]

been feeling crappy and thought I’d do some backing as I find it cathartic
Simple sponge with buttercream
Except the sponge burnt around the outside and despite following the recipe exactly and using a mixer, the buttercream icing had lumps of butter in it 😂
Turns out it wasn’t so cathartic after all

I haven't got the patience or skill for what my brain wants to make.
They always come out a little half arsed but my DH says they taste okay enough!
Here's 3 of his home baked birthday cakes throughout the years.
Practice makes perfect.
He'll get a decent one when hes 83.

As a teenager, I visited the Ideal Home Exhibition, when Swiss muesli was a new thing. On the side of the packet, were recipes incorporating this new product, marketing I guess, and my mother was happy to let me have a go in the kitchen, and left me to it.
At that time, the metric system was little used in the UK, so whoever had translated the recipe's ingredients also gave imperial measurements, and missed the significance of an additional "b", so instead of "tsp baking powder", it prescribed a "tbsp".
My DM, as an experienced cook, would probably have spotted the fact that this was an awful lot of raising agent........it rose all right!
A lesson in oven-cleaning was the next step.

I made coconut pineapple bread once, but thought it would taste nicer with fresh pineapple. Turns out fresh pineapple has way more liquid than tinned. I left it to rise on the work surface as usual after mixing. It made it over a third of the top and part way across the floor before I noticed.

I'm ignoring the non setting lemon meringue pie. And the bit where it fitted into the bin in its container almost perfectly. 😁

I make a mean lemon drizzle but since moving it comes out burnt on the outside or raw in the middle. I’m blaming the change in oven. Can’t wait to get a new one!

Op, if your butter cream has lumps of butter it may be the butter wasn't soft enough when you used it. If you microwave the lumpy butter cream for a few seconds, give it a beat,if still lumpy, repeat. Keep microwaving and beating and it should come back. Little by little though. I've done this plenty and it works!

I used to be a good baker. Not sure what's happened.

Check your oven temperature. When you get an oven thermometer it's a revelation. My guess is your oven thermostat may be slightly off and the oven may not be quite warm enough, or maybe something's wrong with the fan. I found our fan oven was a full 20 or 25 degrees hotter than the dial said, so no wonder I kept doing a King Alfred!

Dakiara pineapple juice has an enzyme in it that breaks down gelatine, which is why you can't make pineapple jelly.

Suffice to say I took my frustration out on the lying skewer.

Skewers are useless for cakes. A thin flat knife does a much better job.