My Cake-tastrophe

So I sign up to bring dessert to my women's Bible study leadership training session last night.  I gather all the ingredients, followed the recipe (which I've made the past 20+ years) and get the cake in the oven.  I check on it when the time is up and it's still bubbly and not solid at all. I start thinking something is wrong with the oven. I let it bake another 10 minutes and pull it out of the oven and this is what greeted me:

   So I scratched my head and started investigating.  I checked the recipe again thinking I'd done something wrong.  I even went to my old recipe box that I'd put away after printing all my recipes out and laminating them and putting the new ones in a nice, new recipe card box.  Nope...no differences...same old faithful recipe. My husband comes walking in and I tell him what happens.  He starts looking around and noticed the expiration date on the cake flour. Way past the expiration date!

    I PROMISE I'd JUST bought a brand new box of cake flour and thought I'd thrown the old one away, but he was right. The new one was still unopened in the pantry. 

   So I sent my husband next door to borrow a couple of eggs from the neighbor and went about making a new cake with the NEW cake flour.  It seemed to turn out right this last time and the ladies at the Bible study leadership meeting raved about the cake.  Whew...I'd been nervous about it all till I saw it turned out well after all.

   The new one (I forgot to take a pic after the second set baked and before I frosted it):

As I was running late to the meeting (due to my cake-tastrope which died a slow and painful death), I had to frost this one pretty quickly and head out the door, so my frosting skill could have been better.  

Learn from me...do NOT use expired cake flour! :)