Well, I've just taken my first ever 14" cake out of the oven and I've got to say it looks pretty good. No digital camera this week or I'd post a picture. I was only 95% sure the pan would even fit in my oven and I never did track down a baking core. Fortunately, it all worked out.

With all the baking I've done in the last week, four 6" layers (one backup), five 10" layers (one backup and one I've been addressing as "Lumpy"), and this latest monster, I've learned a few things. First, my new stand mixer is very nice to work with, both because of the quantity it can handle and because it leaves your hands free for at least a couple minutes at a time to do other things, like trimming the parchment paper liner for the cake pan. Second, it is a bad idea to use more than one rack at a time in my little oven. I don't know if the heat doesn't circulate properly or what, but everything I've baked on that lower rack has come out a little bit freaky (no offense, Lumpy). Thirdly, my oven does not appear to be level with the ground. I never really noticed before with the little 6" layers I was baking, but pretty much everything comes out of there a little lower on the left and a little higher on the right. Nothing I can't trim up in assembly, but still.

Another thing I tried in the last week was the amaretti recipe from Room For Dessert. They were delicious and well-received by all, but distinctly crispier than I am accustomed to. Like, seriously crispy. Rice cake crispy. The recipe did indeed use the word "crunchy" in its description, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. The real anomaly was that the recipe was for 60 cookies and I ended up with 13. Still not sure what went wrong there.