My dearest Rinki,
Yesterday after a long time (actually I can’t remember when it last happened) I spoiled a cake. It was not my fault truly speaking, because the electricity went off while my cake was in the oven and before my eyes I saw it deflating like a punctured tyre! I became what Riz calls a Lady Captain Haddock….If life were a comic strip, then the word bubbles coming out of my mouth would have said something like ##!!!****### ten thousand thundering typhoons## **# blistering barnacles etc …. . By the time the electricity came back on, the cake was a sunken mess and I thought cooking it some more would at least make it edible. But my Cake Goddess was on leave and the crust burnt. Yes, all in days work… from a soggy mess to charred top. When the cake cooled and I cut off….no make that sawed off the black bits, it didn’t taste bad actually, not like a cake and still a bit raw in the centre. I was left with a largish 2 cup cake and no idea what to do with it. This sorry excuse for a cake stood in the center of the dining table mocking me…so Mrs. Curry Cousin, what do you have to say now? Then it suddenly struck me that a cake is actually all things nice, like sugar and spice : ) … Why couldn’t I try to treat it like that? Sort of deconstruct it and then re-construct again. And that’s what I did, and you won’t believe the end product… WOW, the most amazingly buttery and delicious chewy cookies. And unlike their predecessor, they vanished from the table in a matter of minutes!
Vanishing Cookies from Cake Crumb
Left over Cake crumbs/ raw/hard cake
1 egg ( this can be left out in case of egg-less cake/cookies)
A little ground sugar
Butter/Margarine
Vanilla essence
Chopped Roasted Peanuts/ chocolate chips (optional)
(I haven’t given any measurements as it is difficult to predict the amount of scrap cake you would have)
Mix everything together into soft dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour.
Take out and form into equal sized balls. Flatten it a bit and mark with a fork. Arrange on a baking sheet, leaving space in between each cookie for increase in size. Bake in a pre heated oven at 200 degree centigrade for 20 minutes or till done. Remove from oven and stand on a wire rack till cooled completely. The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven and get harder as they cool down. These cookies will not be the hard crisp types but the delicious soft chewy types. Store (if any left!) in an air tight container.
You can also sandwich these with jam/peanut butter /butter cream icing and dust them with a little icing sugar
So next time, dear sister when you have too much cake crumb on your hand after shaping an intricate birthday cake or if you end up with a funny cake, then you know what to do!
Love you,
Ushmita didi
The Curry Cousins 
I never have much luck with brownies. They seem to turn out good but turn hard in a while- I think Ill try the ‘vanishing cookie trick’ next time and spare my beloved husband from loosing his teeth 😉
Thanks for the post!
Hi Mishti, this is Ushmita, I’m glad that you have found my experiment helpful : ) Next time you make brownies try to increase the butter content a bit and decrease the flour a bit and maybe add another egg and see what happens. another thing is never over mix your batter as that pushes out all the air, also dont let the mix stand too long, stick it immediately into the oven. If any of this is helpful, let me know.