I really am my grandmother's grand-daughter

For my 21st birthday, Nana as always, took charge of baking the cake. The request was for 'the usual' - chocolate - which Nana could churn out whilst sleepwalking with both hands tied. I arrived home from Auckland (where I was studying) and a few nights later we had a big dinner at Mum's. The end of the meal came and out came the cake - two layers of Nana's signature chocolate cake sandwiched with mock cream and topped with a thick layer of chocolate icing and coconut. It was perfect as always... but Nana was first to point out it 'wasn't the cake she had been planning'. You see, Nana had tried not one, but FOUR different recipes to make the perfect birthday cake and each attempt had ended up in the bin. It was too dry, or didn't rise high enough, or an ingredient was omitted... Mum was shocked to hear she had thrown away completely edible cakes because they weren't up to Nana's very high cake standards and we all had a good laugh at Nana's kitchen perfectionism.

Well, after last week's icing disaster (which was very close to being a 'bin' moment), I've just returned from throwing away an attempt at Gingerbread with Lemon Glace Icing from the August 1986 issue of The Australian Women's Weekly.

My first mistake was to substitute the required pan size. The recipe called for a lamington pan, which I didn't have, so I just lined a round tin. My second (and most fatal) mistake was not adjusting the cooking time to suit a deeper baking tin. As with all gingerbread batters, this one was quite 'dry' so when I tested the cake, the skewer came out nice and dry and I pulled it out to cool. It took almost an hour for it to sink, but I blamed it on a careless transfer to the wire rack. I went ahead and iced the cake thinking all would be okay... but instead of cutting out a photo-worthy piece, I ended up with a 'cooked on the outside raw on the inside' slice worthy of nothing more than the wheelie bin downstairs.

So I took my lead from the original kitchen perfectionist and bundled the whole lot into a plastic bag and into the bin. if there was any doubt I was cut from Nana's apron cloth it's gone now. I just hope my next attempt(s) don't end up in the wheelie bin as well!