Zeno's Bar & Grill

We've posted some over-the-top volcano cakes here before to illustrate the type of Perfect Mom feat that nearly drives the heroine of our first book over the edge. Well, this weekend I had my own Perfect Cake experience, and it felt damn good. All these years, I had been using the el cheapo pans that you buy in the supermarket, which resulted in puffy, bubbly layers that didn’t fit together like they do on the Duncan Hines box. Somewhere along the line, I acquired two Nordic Ware heavy duty, non-stick, circular pans. On Saturday afternoon, I was shocked to see my cake layers emerge from the oven, perfectly flat and ready for assembly. To think it would have been this simple all along if I’d only known. And here it is...
--Melanie