Frannie makes a cake

Two weekends ago was Frannie’s birthday. To celebrate she decided she was going to make a cake for her kids. The problem? Frannie had never made a cake from a box before. It kind of turned out a little bit like an Amelia Bedilia story…

I got home from work to find Molly and Frannie outside pouring brown liquid from a pot. What is going on? Well…Frannie, who’s second language is English, read “3 cups of water” instead of “1 1/3 cups of water.” She and Molly were in the process of getting rid of some of the excess. Next the recipe called for ¼ cup of vegetable oil. Thinking that all oil was the same, Frannie added ¼ cup of olive oil…NICE olive oil that her boyfriend sent her all the way from Italy! THEN proceeded to douse the pan with the same nice olive oil! But Frannie the recipe calls for VEGETABLE oil. Frannie’s response? “But olives ARE vegetables. That means that olive oil is vegetable oil.” Well…she had a point there...but still... After that, Frannie poured the cake mix into the pan and then proceeded to make the frosting…in the same chocolatey pot she had just had the cake mix…including the raw eggs. However, despite all the rough edges, an hour later, Frannie had a delicious chocolatey cake awaiting her section. I’ve already told her that when I grow up I’m going to write children’s books about her – Frannie and all her misadventures :).