Baking...seriously!

So, I'm not much for baking. It's not that I don't enjoy the end result, it's just that I've never really done much of it (except for the occasional boxed brownie mix). Well, today I decided to BAKE!!! I'm trying to thwart J's efforts of fiting into his blues (that were fitted at the Academy) when he heads TDY next week. hee hee. I saw this recipe for Carrot Cheesecake in Better Homes & Gardens and it looked scrumptious. It did involve a boxed cake mix but there was more to it than that. Of course, it's still in the oven and I've already had a disaster of sorts. I went shopping at the dreaded Wal-Mart earlier today and when we got home I started immediately in on making the cake.

The first directions include mixing a carrot cake mix which I did, no problem (hey, I can follow directions). I poored it in my beautifully greased and floured springform pan and moved on to step #2. This involved softening 3 boxes of cream cheese...WHAT?!? Why do I only have 1 container of cream cheese??? Somewhere between grabbing them at the store, tossing them in the cart, and heading to the check-out they disappeared.

Of course I wanted to blame the cashier for not handing me all my bags but I looked on my receipt and I only paid for one cream cheese. So next, I think I'll blame the cracks in the cart at the back. But, in the back of my mind, I know the real culprit is a 2 1/2 foot, blond-haired, blue-eyed sneak that likes to toss stuff (usually my grocery list, her sippy cup, etc) out of the cart. Ahh, Sneaky-G strikes again!

So, I digress. The prepared cake mix, raw eggs and all, ended up sitting in the pan on the counter for 2 hours before I finished the rest and got it into the oven. J was at work for a couple of hours this afternoon (on a SATURDAY!) so he couldn't head to the store for me and M had just started her nap so I was tethered to the house. On top of everything she slept for an hour and a half which is typically unheard of in the afternoon. Hopefully we don't all die of salmonella poisoning (is that the one you get from raw eggs?). The worst part of this drama is that now, with cooling and refrigeration time, we'll have to stay up past midnight to get a taste of this possibly delicious, possibly deadly, dessert.

And, just a couple of minutes ago, J looks in the oven and says to me "Is it supposed to be this tall?" Well, I don't know but it does seem kind of odd that the cheesecake part is raised about 2 inches above the pan... hmmmm. Surely it'll deflate some. Right guys? Right...???

Anyway, I'll let you know how my bodacious baking efforts turn out!