What Turned Out To Be Much Easier/Harder to Make Than Expected?

[confettine]

I ask because, well, as I advised someone to make cheesecake because it's pretty easy to make, an user was surprised because she expected cheesecakes to be hard to make!

I also remember how much harder to make than expected was whipped cream (with a manual whisk, hellish). And the cake it had to go with. Urgh.

What cakes or muffins or baked goods turned out to a be much different level of difficulty from what you thought? Why?

 

[Trellum]

Carrot cake. When I first tried to make it I thought it'd be easy enough, but it turned out to be harder than I expected! Baking is indeed a real art! If you add a little too much or too little of something then you will be in troubles I learnt that when I baked my first cake... the carrot cake =D

 

[Shimus]

Carrot cake. When I first tried to make it I thought it'd be easy enough, but it turned out to be harder than I expected! Baking is indeed a real art! If you add a little too much or too little of something then you will be in troubles I learnt that when I baked my first cake... the carrot cake =D

Carrot cake got you too, eh? I made mine - and it looked like it came out, but it was harder than a rock (didn't rise right) and I just had to try it again. Luckily second time I got it just right....

Another thing was baked bread. First loaf I didn't know when to pull it, and I thought it was still low (didn't rise enough) so I left it in. WRONG ANSWER. It came out like burnt toast =/

 

[confettine]

The burnt toast bread is pretty unfortunate. I never got bread quite right on my own. *sigh*

And carrot cake, never thought of even making some! I know my granny makes an excellent one, but sometimes, it's hard to make something that can compare so I don't even try!

 

[Trellum]

Carrot cake got you too, eh? I made mine - and it looked like it came out, but it was harder than a rock (didn't rise right) and I just had to try it again. Luckily second time I got it just right....

Another thing was baked bread. First loaf I didn't know when to pull it, and I thought it was still low (didn't rise enough) so I left it in. WRONG ANSWER. It came out like burnt toast =/

Lol, Shimus! Glad to hear that didn't stop you from trying over and over =D I have a very old oven, it's so old you can't really see the numbers for the temperatures, so I got to do a lot guessing! To be honest I have no idea how I've been baking doing that, hehehe! Not going to dare making loaves of bread now tho, I could end up getting burnt toast too D:

 

[ACSAPA]

Key lime pie is actually stupid easy and has very few ingredients.
It's one of my favorite pies so I was delighted when I found out how easy it is to make.

 

[Trellum]

I love key lime pie =D I also make it from time to time, when i first saw it I thought it'd be a trouble maker, but it turned out to be a really easy pie to make Just like pecan pie! Not hard enough!

 

[Shimus]

Another issue I ran into one time was overbaking a calzone like I came out with the burnt bread, but I stuffed it and I watched it, and I even rotated it to not burn it all on one side - but like you, I had to eye it (no temperatures, just 1-10 stating how hot my easy-bake oven is, LOL) and it..well didn't come out.

Other than that, I don't have much fails. Usually I can still eat the failures too, so it's win win.

 

[Trellum]

Oh yaay! I'm not the only one who has to eye the things I bake on here Actually I was hesitant to reveal my oven is so odd and old that i need to eye everything I bake xD But I do, lol. Actually that's not so bad, what is really bad is the fact every time I want to turn the damn thing on I end up spending a lot time there using almost the whole box of matches!

 

[Shimus]

Haha. It's not too bad, it actively forces you to keep looking and playing around with recipes and then hover over the oven watching intently. They say a watched pot never boils, but I think an unwatched bread still rises - so you gotta be on your toes. Plus eyeing things almost seems to be a better then setting on universal temp on things and going off that - not everything can conform to such a temp.

 

[Winterybella]

I thought cookies would be a difficult task. Don't ask me why, I just thought it would be. Granted, I have not baked what I would call the perfect cookie, but I have through trial and error gotten pretty close. In short then cookies were not as difficult as I thought.

I have not yet tried a cheesecake but I always thought it was difficult to make. I might have mentioned it somewhere before.

Hopefully, I will soon be able to report on the sponge which sounds tricky. It's a cake I always thought was simple.

 

[Shimus]

Easier than expected has to be egg-based souffles and anything that requires dairy in the oven. It's generally an easy task to watch things rise.

http://www.mrfood.com/Eggs/Easy-Cheese-Souffle

This is what I made up, and it's actually quite simple. I always thought OH NO SOUFFLES will FALL or I'll fail them! Easier to cook then a lot of others I've experimented with though.

 

[Tina Nord]

Key lime pie is actually stupid easy and has very few ingredients.
It's one of my favorite pies so I was delighted when I found out how easy it is to make.

I fell in love with Key lime pie when I visited Florida a few years ago. It is sooooooooo good! I buy it around here during the summer and have been dying to make my own at some point. As long as it is stupid easy, I should not mess it up!

 

[Trellum]

Haha. It's not too bad, it actively forces you to keep looking and playing around with recipes and then hover over the oven watching intently. They say a watched pot never boils, but I think an unwatched bread still rises - so you gotta be on your toes. Plus eyeing things almost seems to be a better then setting on universal temp on things and going off that - not everything can conform to such a temp.

Hehehe, to be honest I barely see them while baking them I just sit in the couch for a while, I go check in intervals of 10 or 15 minutes, depending on what I am baking. But I barely pay any attention to my baking, unless the things has been there for a while, so I know the time is getting closed, but I'm always on my toes, hehehe! Most of the time things turn out well It's fun! =D It's like going on a new adventure every single time You should see how long it takes to turn that damn on (the oven), ugh!!!!

 

[Shimus]

Adventures eh? I quite expect a shocked look on yer face as you pull out a loaf of bread and it either deflates on you or is a hockey-puck. LOL

Jk. I cook bread like that too since my oven is close to my main chair/computer. Small places have their benefits, but not many.