As I made a chocolate Bundt cake today for a friend's birthday (the Chocolate ganache bundt cake from Zoë Bakes Cakes), I couldn't help but think of how many ways I was not adhering to best practices when baking. According to the experts, you shouldn't separate eggs using the shells (I did), and you should crack each into a separate bowl just in case it is spoiled (I didn't). The recipe said to sift the dry ingredients to remove any lumps; instead I just ran a whisk through them and hoped for the best. I didn't measure the vanilla, I eyeballed it. Same for the baking soda and salt. I did not scrape down the bowl as often as the recipe instructed.

Despite my cavalier ways, the cake turned out well and received rave reviews, even from an admitted chocolate snob. Nevertheless, today's bake made me think about when best practices crash into the reality of cooking situations. I want to follow appropriate cooking guidelines - both from a food safety standpoint and from a quality perspective - because I know that if I take too many shortcuts, I can end up with lackluster food or (worst case scenario) something dumped into the trash can uneaten.

After many years of baking I think I understand where I can bend the rules, and because I've been dealing with a health issue I will cheat as much as I can get away with. It doesn't always turn out as well as today's bake - last week I winged it with a sandwich bread recipe which ended up in the worst case scenario, a collapsed loaf of gummy bread not fit for man nor beast. Knowing where to draw the line between following everything to a "T" and taking shortcuts can take years to understand, and even when you think you know it all you discover that, in fact, you don't.

Although I want to always employ best practices, life does not allow it. Health issues, time considerations, monetary problems, and other obstacles make it impossible to follow every cooking rule each and every time. Cooks just have to do the best they can and not beat themselves up if the dish goes awry. Sometimes you can skirt the rules and still have acceptable results. Consider the guidelines above with respect to eggs. It didn't matter if I broke a yolk by using the shells to separate the eggs (one did break), nor was it an issue if the eggshells had bacteria on them because the cake would be fully baked. The chances of getting a rotten egg these days are almost nil, so those two best practices could safely be ignored. I ran a bigger risk with eyeballing the leavener, and truth be told the cake was probably a bit more dense than it would have been had I measured accurately. But I was able to a) bake the cake and b) have enough energy left over to attend my friend's party, so the shortcuts were worth it. Next time I will measure more carefully. Probably.