Cinnamon Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Let's say you have spent, oh, six years studying Economics.

Say that you are very familiar with this concept of sunk costs, or investments that have been made in the past.

Let's also say that you know very well that in deciding whether to continue a venture or not, you have to ignore the past investments and look at the future.

This is all for the sake of discussion only, you understand. Oh, wait.

Uh...hello?

Hello?

Did I lose some of you when I wrote 'Economics'?

Come back! This is totally about baking.

So you know that failed buttercream frosting turned failed cream cheese frosting in the fridge?

What should I do with it?

a) apply the economics principle of sunk costs, toss it out and start anew, or

b) continue to sink in more effort, more money, more time and new ingredients to salvage the failed cream cheese frosting?

Oh, you guys. You know me so well.

Intrepid, yes, but whoever said that The Failed Chef is rational?

My belief that everything in life has a purpose continues to burn strong. I scoured the far reaches of the internet and discovered brave and creative souls, I-Heart-Baking who turned failed frosting into Japanese stye cheesecake and foodismylife who turned failed cake into cake pops. No equipment to whip the egg whites or to do a water bath ruled out the Japanese-style cheesecake. The fact that I already made cake pops ruled out the other.

But I take inspiration from the greats, and soldier on with my cause.

My quest was complete when I realised that the ingredients inside the failed cream cheese frosting are part of the ingredients for the cream cheese pound cake that The Little Teochew made and also this Allrecipes cream cheese pound cake. Although I have icing sugar instead of caster sugar in the batter and that may affect the consistency and structure of the cake (What? Did that phrase come out of my mouth?) and the ingredients are going to be added in a different order, I am nothing if not intrepid in experimenting, so let's give it a try!

Since B and I both love cinnamon, I also decided to add a cinnamon swirl in the batter because I lifted inspiration from JC's cinnamon swirl coffee cake. Combining the two ideas, here's the result.

Cinnamon Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

The pound cake:
Failed frosting
1 cup self-rising flour
2 eggs, room temperature

Cinnamon swirl:
2 tbs ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175°C.
2. Add flour and eggs to the failed frosting and beat until smooth in a mixing bowl. I would advise not cursing like I did even if beating the mixture by hand using a fork is not fun. You, dear reader, should use an electric mixer if you have one.
3. Reassure the mixture, in spite of my constant cursing, that it will turn out fine this time because the third time is always lucky. Cross your fingers.
4. Grease and line a 9-inch loaf pan (because that is all I have. The Little Teochew recommends an 8-inch round pan).
5. Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Layer the half of the cinnamon mixture on top. Layer the next third of the batter on top and add the rest of the cinnamon mixture before topping off with the last third of the batter.
6. With a satay stick, poke into the batter and make circling motions to create a marbling effect and swirls of the cinnamon mixture.
7. Bake for about 50 mins.
8. Take a slice after the cake has cooled down for 20 minutes in the pan.
9. After realising that the result was a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, cream cheese pound cake with cinnamon accents, resist the urge to tell the frosting, 'I told you that everything will work out'.

Just stuff your face with the cake and give gratitude that some efforts do pay off. That will do.

What would The Failed Chef do next time?

• Sternly tell the various incarnations of frosting that its days of failing on me are over. Over! Understand?!
• Find something less sweet compared to frosting to put on top of cakes or cup cakes - ganache maybe?