Rough day in the kitchen....aka "Know thy Swedish Oven"

For those of you who don't know me well,  I have to tell you that I LOVE to bake....cookies, cupcakes, brownies, etc.  Nothing fancy, but I enjoy making treats (and my daughters like to "help" their mom!).  That being said, I have been a little intimidated by the idea of baking since we arrived.  First of all, it's a little tricky finding all of the ingredients I am used to (no chocolate chips to be found, baking soda is scarce, etc.).  Then there is the whole Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion thing.  It's not horribly difficult to manage, it's just one more opportunity for error.  And then there is my tiny little Swedish oven.  It looks very cute and unassuming (it's too small for my big American cookie sheets), but it got the best of me yesterday.

We had dinner plans with friends, and I was planning to make a lovely angel food cake to bring for dessert.  I was using my favorite cookbook, my good old measuring cups (not those crazy metric things) and relatively simple ingredients.  Unfortunately, my oven has SEVEN different settings and I did not fully investigate how to select the correct one.  "How hard can it be?"  I think to myself....and select one at random.   That's when things went terribly, terribly wrong...

When it was almost time for the cake to be done, I noticed a slight burnt smell and was a little concerned.  I then opened the oven and there it is...a very brown, very (very) flat angel food cake.  I almost cried!

With no extra time to whip up something else, I was forced to grab a store bought apple pie and ice cream on the way to our friends' house and then confess to them my failure in the kitchen.  However, I will do some research and try this cake again....stay tuned!