The Best Food Holiday

Well, most people would say that Thanksgiving makes the best food holiday. And yes, it is up there, however, the Superbowl might take the cake. Literally.

Last year, around Superbowl season, I began obsessing over the Williams-Sonoma Sandwich Cookie Pans - aka Oreo Cookie Cake. After trying to convince everyone I know to buy them for me, and getting no takers, I caved and just bought them myself.

Is it not adorable? It isn't exactly cheap. However, when you buy the pans, you get the cake and frosting mix for $10 more (normally $20 - YIKES!). So I decided to debut the cake pans for the Hope San Mateo 2010 Superbowl Party. With the help of Margaret, we diligently followed each direction to a T. Including the buttering and dusting of the pans with cocoa powder. We timed the cooling before flipping to the minute. We did everything the directions told us to. Unfortunately, the cake still stuck a bit to the pans. And even worse, after we assembled it, and left it in the fridge to chill, when I woke up Sunday morning, I discovered this:

Yes, an Oreo Cookie Cake Casualty. I wanted to cry.  After a few MacGuyver like moves, I made the broken top layer into the bottom layer, and no one was the wiser.

A few weeks later I baked the cake again, this time from scratch, as per the recipe on the box (which, by the way is delicious, but not as insanely amazing as the box mix). I carefully buttered each crevice of the detailed pans, dusted with cocoa and let cool appropriately. Unfortunately the cake stuck to the pans again, and came out in several pieces. I puzzled them together, and served the cake to my family, who didn't seem to mind.

Well the Superbowl has come again, and I was ready for a Oreo Cookie Cake Rematch. This time I was going to go with my instincts - the recipe calls for a Pioneer Woman amount of butter, these are non-stick pans, and with a little cooking spray the cakes should have no problem coming right out. I sprayed those suckers down. In the scalloped edges, around the COOKIE imprint, in each decorative design.

Good news folks, the Oreo Cookie Cake Pans were no match for my master Canola Oil Spraying Skills, they slipped out like a charm, and in one piece. I could not be happier with the results.

Hopefully, the people of Hope San Mateo were as well.