Pulling cake out of the dumpster

I like the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I've used many recipes from it, and never had a disappointing result - until now.

I love spice cake. It's aromatic, lighter than carrot cake, and is much more butch than white cake. It's especially good with ice cream (ok, what isn't?) and is at it's best when covered with chocolate buttercream frosting.

This weekend, I thought I'd make a nice spice cake for dessert, for a change of pace from fruit crisp and fruit cobbler. I made the cake following the recipe exactly. I pulled it out of the oven within the alloted time, cooled it, frosted it, then cut a big hunk to enjoy during a movie (I think it was Seven - ah, gluttony.) The first bite revealed a sawdust-like texture, not unlike my cat's diet kibble, only cinnamon flavored. Frugal yankee that I am, I can't throw out an entire cake, but I'm not going to eat chocolate frosted particle board. What to do?

Trifle. Whoever invented it is a crappy-cake-saving genius. I made a simple vanilla custard, hacked the cake up into 1 inch squares, then doused them in Grand Marnier. I layered the cake, some mixed berries I defrosted from the freezer, some berry preserves and the custard in a glass bowl. It could have used some whipped cream too, but I didn't have any on hand.

It was so good, I want to make it again. The cake was moist and delicious with the orange flavor, the custard was creamy, the fruit and preserves gave it some complexity.

I didn't take a picture of it because trifle is not that photogenic; it looks like a dog's breakfast - but tastes wonderful