A pecan pie was probably the most "difficult" item I've ever baked. I forgot the sugar and sat the glass pie dish on a hot burner without realizing it so it ended up exploding. I'm terrible at baking/cooking. If it weren't for my husband, I would probably eat corned beef hash out of a can every night. Cleaning up his mess is more my thing. When he's done cooking, it usually looks like he cooked for a family of 15, but I can't complain much- his food is amazing.
Godsdamned macarons. One day... one day I'll get 'em right! Too humid, too temp variable, too mixed, too chunky, too hollow, too dense, too too too too tootoototooototoooooo... asplodes into sugared lava globs of frustration
First thing I ever baked from scratch was a red velvet cake. Turned many things red, but it was damn tasty. And pretty. Also, improvising on the frosting got way out of hand. So much excess trying to undo too much milk then too much sugar back and forth over and over.
Cheesecake Strawberry Cupcakes that had real cheesecake and strawberry in the middle, they were one solid chunk of each. You had to get it just right or it would fall....man they were tasty. The frosting was easy part. Champagne and such...again tasty but a pain in the ass.
Without spending too much time thinking about it, I'd probably say a Tarte Tatin: an incredible upside-down caramelised Apple pie served with homemade crème fraîche.
A triple layered chocolate cake with homemade whipped cream and chocolate ganache icing. There was flour and egg whites and powdered sugar everywhere! So worth the effort though.
Pie crust. And it wasn't the baking it that was the problem. I got so frustrated with trying not to "overwork" the dough, and properly rolling it out that by the time I was done, there was no pie, but there was unbaked crust all over the walls, cabinets and ceiling (I had a little tantrum).
Back when I was living on my own in a nice apartment, the landlord had just updated some of our appliances, including a nice new stove for me. I tried it out by baking a single sheet of cookies, and they turned out fine, but I had a ton of leftover dough. Well you know how those giant, pizza-sized chocolate chip cookies were all the rage in the golden age of indoor shopping malls? I thought "I can do that!" and spread out all the dough on a circular pizza pan and baked it. The result: a "cookie" whose edges were charred black and center was still mostly raw dough. I had about a 2 inch ring of edible cookie all the way round.
I homebrew and one of the sites I follow for news has recipes that utilize the spent grain (when you do an all grain brew at the end the grain still has some use so keep using it!) and they shared a fairly simple recipe for spent-grain whoopie pies. It was an utter disaster. They left out so much detail I didn't know was missing (prep work, proper temperatures, processes) that it was a total failure. My wife, a far better baker, jumped in and tried to help salvage it but it was kind of beyond repair. We ended up dumping it in a pie pan and just cutting it like pie.
Pizza. How hard can it be? It's a staple! I tried making my own dough and found sauce and cheese for it. It stuck to the pan so badly that it mostly peeled off in chunks, leading to an almost inedible mix of dough and horrid sauce globs with islands of cheese that I eventually turned into a weird quesadilla thing. Horrible.
Sausage Rolls (a british thing) where I made the flaky pastry which involved putting a stick of butter in the freezer and coating it in flour so I could grate it. I used frozen flaky pastry after that.
I was dumb enough to try my hand at a friend's wedding cake a few years back. I had never built stacked tiers, had never worked with fondant on that scale, and had attempted any project that big. I also used a cutting machine to do part of the decorations - of course, had never used the machine or software before. It was about midnight when I realized that I watched way too much Food Network. Amazingly, it turned out beautiful and even tasted good.
Boston cream pie.
Strawberry Lemonaide cupcakes, that were rainbow swirled. Such a pain in the delicious ass. Followed closely by Unicorn Poop.
"Delicious ass"? Ewww... But seriously, those look good, even though they resemble turds
I tried to make those once, but they just flattened out when I baked them. How do you get them to keep their shape?
That's no cookie. That's unicorn dookie.
@Kleineleh That's all in the cookie dough recipe you choose. I went with a dense sugar cookie recipe and 1/2
2/2 - Let the dough set up in the fridge overnight after I added the color.
Thanks, @Thumperchick, I will have to go play with my recipes
My Little Pony poop.
A pecan pie was probably the most "difficult" item I've ever baked. I forgot the sugar and sat the glass pie dish on a hot burner without realizing it so it ended up exploding. I'm terrible at baking/cooking. If it weren't for my husband, I would probably eat corned beef hash out of a can every night. Cleaning up his mess is more my thing. When he's done cooking, it usually looks like he cooked for a family of 15, but I can't complain much- his food is amazing.
Godsdamned macarons. One day... one day I'll get 'em right! Too humid, too temp variable, too mixed, too chunky, too hollow, too dense, too too too too tootoototooototoooooo... asplodes into sugared lava globs of frustration
I love macarons. If you try again I'd like to try some. I'll even take the rejects.
Oooh, careful there! My last attempt produced glue-y sugarpucks for tooth-filling extraction:
I'll take my chances.
Hah! Remember this then, when, one random day in the far future, a lumpy sticky envelope arrives at mediocre, addressed to MehMod JonT.
First time I had my in-laws for dinner. Saw a recipe for baked alaska. That didn't look difficult. hahahahaha
I read this entirely Hannibal.
Hannibal isn't much of a desert guy. Think he prefers savory to sweet.
First thing I ever baked from scratch was a red velvet cake. Turned many things red, but it was damn tasty. And pretty.
Also, improvising on the frosting got way out of hand. So much excess trying to undo too much milk then too much sugar back and forth over and over.
Cheesecake Strawberry Cupcakes that had real cheesecake and strawberry in the middle, they were one solid chunk of each. You had to get it just right or it would fall....man they were tasty. The frosting was easy part. Champagne and such...again tasty but a pain in the ass.
Without spending too much time thinking about it, I'd probably say a Tarte Tatin: an incredible upside-down caramelised Apple pie served with homemade crème fraîche.
proper bagels with the sponge, kneads, multiple rises, boiling in malt water and baking are much more complex than baklava (which I've also made)
Cheesecake.........
A triple layered chocolate cake with homemade whipped cream and chocolate ganache icing. There was flour and egg whites and powdered sugar everywhere! So worth the effort though.
All from scratch? Beef Wellington...getting it medium rare was a pain.
Things with sugar...couldn't say. A lot if things are fussy, or time consuming, but not difficult.
The easiest, that no one believed, were saltines. And they were fab.
But now I am think I need to make my order number, superfluous-glib-pie.
Croissants. I was successful and they were delicious, but honestly since they take all day to make it's so much simpler to buy them.
I screwed up Rice Krispie treats once. Have also burned my fair share of toast.
It's devastating to burn cinnamon toast! Especially when there's no more bread.
Pie crust. And it wasn't the baking it that was the problem. I got so frustrated with trying not to "overwork" the dough, and properly rolling it out that by the time I was done, there was no pie, but there was unbaked crust all over the walls, cabinets and ceiling (I had a little tantrum).
Back when I was living on my own in a nice apartment, the landlord had just updated some of our appliances, including a nice new stove for me. I tried it out by baking a single sheet of cookies, and they turned out fine, but I had a ton of leftover dough. Well you know how those giant, pizza-sized chocolate chip cookies were all the rage in the golden age of indoor shopping malls? I thought "I can do that!" and spread out all the dough on a circular pizza pan and baked it. The result: a "cookie" whose edges were charred black and center was still mostly raw dough. I had about a 2 inch ring of edible cookie all the way round.
I homebrew and one of the sites I follow for news has recipes that utilize the spent grain (when you do an all grain brew at the end the grain still has some use so keep using it!) and they shared a fairly simple recipe for spent-grain whoopie pies.
It was an utter disaster. They left out so much detail I didn't know was missing (prep work, proper temperatures, processes) that it was a total failure. My wife, a far better baker, jumped in and tried to help salvage it but it was kind of beyond repair. We ended up dumping it in a pie pan and just cutting it like pie.
Mmm...Utter Disaster Pie.
either
this Espresso Chocolate Cake with Mocha Mascarpone frosting or 
these Raspberry Lemonade Bars.
YOU MUST MAKE THESE AGAIN AND BRING TO WORK! THE POWER OF KATY OF COMPELS YOU
@katylava deal. The raspberry lemon bars aren't actually all that bad to make just time consuming squeezing all teh lemonz.
@katylava I did try this once too and epic failed. (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/peach-maple-ice-cream)
that is too bad because peach maple ice cream sounds heavenly
After reading about all these amazing things y'all make I think we need a Meh Bake Sale or something so I can eat all of them.
@JonT Do it during lunch time. Invite us locals.
This whole thread is making me really, really sad that I can't eat wheat/gluten anymore.
Tasty pics, though. Fortunately, virtual baked goods are all GF.
I'm also celiac, so I sympathize.
There are entire aisles I now avoid at the grocery store. Too many memories *sniff
this:
and...i was successful. recipe for anyone that wants it:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/My-Kind-of-Chocolate-Birthday-Cake-232272
That could easily be gf... thanks!
Pizza. How hard can it be? It's a staple! I tried making my own dough and found sauce and cheese for it. It stuck to the pan so badly that it mostly peeled off in chunks, leading to an almost inedible mix of dough and horrid sauce globs with islands of cheese that I eventually turned into a weird quesadilla thing. Horrible.
If you have a Trader Joe's near you they sell really great pizza dough, just toss some sauce, cheese, and toppings on there and you're good.
I like the garlic & herb
@fonetik If I saw Weird Quesadilla Thing on the menu, I'd have to order that.
First time I made chicken Kiev was pretty challenging, as was the first time for chocolate covered cherries and pralines.
I was thinking the Suflete but it might actually be the meringue cookies we make at christmas. so easy to over or under bake
Sausage Rolls (a british thing) where I made the flaky pastry which involved putting a stick of butter in the freezer and coating it in flour so I could grate it. I used frozen flaky pastry after that.
Myself...
We need a Meh recipe book with everything that turned out terribly from here, titled appropriately:
Exploding Pecan Pie
Sugared Lava Globs of Frustration
Glue-y Sugarpucks
Baked Hahahahahalaska
Turn Everything Red Velvet Cake
Pain In the Ass Cupcakes
Superfluous Glib Pie
No Pie
A "Cookie"
Utter Disaster Pie
Weird Quesadilla Thing
Aw, we're like a ladies' auxiliary league. When are we touring the rose gardens?
I was dumb enough to try my hand at a friend's wedding cake a few years back. I had never built stacked tiers, had never worked with fondant on that scale, and had attempted any project that big. I also used a cutting machine to do part of the decorations - of course, had never used the machine or software before. It was about midnight when I realized that I watched way too much Food Network. Amazingly, it turned out beautiful and even tasted good.