When Good Cakes Go Bad

I went to the grocery store yesterday with the intention of buying a pre-baked angel food cake for a recipe I am making to take to work tomorrow.  However, when I saw the selection in the bakery, I reconsidered.  They had a small dinky cake for $4.  It was like the size of MAYBE half of a standard angel food cake.  So I went to the cake mix isle.  I got a mix for $3.  I swear I stood there for 10 minutes debating the price of that cake mix.  $3 for a friggin cake mix?!?!?  You've GOT to be kidding me.  And *I* gotta bake it?  So, it's been awhile since I've done the grocery shopping.  Obviously.  I was expecting it to be $1.49 at the most, like a regular cake mix.  Apparently this one is special.  So I buy it.  I'm in a time crunch and have no other options, other than the over priced small dinky pre-baked one.

I prepare to make it last night.  I read the high altitude instructions.  Cause, well, I'm at a high altitude.  The special instructions say to add 2 TABLESPOONS of corn starch to the dry mix.  I read it 5 times to make sure it didn't say teaspoon.  Nope, it definitely said tablespoon, and 2 of them.  So I do it.  I add all of 2 leveled tablespoons.  I mix it for the required time.  It foams up as expected and gets all full, as I remember.  I put it in my special angel food cake pan.  I put it in the oven.  I wait.

I check it after the first 5 minutes.  It's rising!!!  Holy cake batter, Batman, it's rising!  I always get nervous about baking, cause baking at this altitude is NOT like baking in KS.  I let it go another 10 minutes and check it again.  It's rising MORE!  Wahoo!  It feels like real success.  I'm all happy with myself because I made a wise decision.  I just let it go, cause it's looking like a real angel food cake. 

Another 10 minutes go by.  My hubby walks through the kitchen and says "Uhhh, I think you need to check this".  I run over to the oven.  OMG, the thing has morphed into some kind of cake monster.  HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN???  Oh yea, the corn starch.  All 2 tablespoons of it.

Keep in mind, you can't see some of the stuff that slid over the edge and onto the bottom of the oven that is under the foil I quickly put down.  Can you see that haze?  Yea, that's SMOKE.

The good news?  Our house smelled like toasted marshmallows all evening into the next morning.  I love toasted marshmallow flavoring in my latte (along with caramel--awesome combination).

So let me ask, does anyone else have a GLASS bottle (with a metal cap, not plastic) on which to turn the cake over to let it cool?  Remember how mom used to bake/cool an angel food cake like that?  My mom always used a Heinz vinegar bottle.  Thank goodness, I had a bottle of limeade carbonated beverage for some booze concoction I had in mind at one time but never got around to making.  Otherwise, I would have been screwed.  Again.