Okay, so last Thursday I wrote about making a St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake. I, in fact, made two, and both cakes turned out great…However, the process of making them did not go flawlessly. For reasons I can only guess at, because I’ve no clue what my brain was doing, whilst mixing the base bready layer — I added one cup of milk.

I was only supposed to use 5 tablespoons (a quarter cup plus 1 Tbsp).

This significant increase in liquid became readily apparent when I started mixing in the flour. Instead of forming the expected dough, all I had was a loose batter. Knowing that humidity can affect how much flour bread needs, I added a handful of flour. And another. And another. 

Then the handfuls got bigger.

By this point, I must have added about two or three extra cups. I wasn’t measuring, so I’m not sure. However, the dough was sort of starting to do what it was supposed to, but it still wasn’t right. And I was trepidatious about adding much more, lest the final product turn crumbly or worse, not rise at all. Finally, after a solid ten minutes of mixing, I looked at the recipe and immediately realized my error. Scraping my mistake out of the mixing bowl into another, I set it aside and started again.

By the time I looked up from all the measuring, mixing, and side chores a couple of hours later, I discovered my mistake had risen. 

Even more surprising? It looked like regular bread dough. 

Deciding — nothing ventured, nothing gained — I shaped my mistake into a round loaf and stuck it in the oven. Using the cake’s baking temp of 350 degrees, I baked it until the top turned golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. 

And much to my astonishment, my mistake turned out great! A slightly sweet bread that paired really well with butter and/or lingonberry jam. Admittedly, it was a tad crumbly, just as I feared, but for a bake I’d completely messed up and written off — it was amazing!

My 52 weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2025