Monday, June 22, 2015

The Day the Cake EXPLODED!





There was a day when a cake exploded in our kitchen and it was very scary.... in fact, I never even knew such a thing COULD happen, so I am sharing this to warn others of the possibility.

Supper was about all ready... and the table was set. We were having baked potatoes with butter and cheese sauce, cottage cheese and corn. Yes, there should have been a salad in there too, but things were hectic and I don't think one had been made.

A cake had even been baked and had just been taken out of the oven and set on an unheated burner on the stove to cool (We do this often.. with baked goods fresh from the oven).  Meanwhile, someone put the corn in a pan on the stove and turned the burner on quite high to get it done quickly... we were rushing to get supper on.  The problem was that the wrong burner had been turned on.  :(  

All of a sudden, there was a loud bang and glass flew everywhere.


We all rushed to the kitchen to find the girls crying and scared, but thankfully, unhurt. They said there was a fire... there was a tiny flame in the cake - you can see the charred remains here.  I have no pictures of all of that... things were too busy as we dealt with the emergency.

The large glass cake pan was on the burner, but all of the sides were gone and this little flame was starting. The burner had already been turned off, but how to remove this mess all over the burner?  The whole pan was in pieces... even the bottom. I quickly grabbed a wooden spoon and 2 big cookie sheets with sides, while a son dumped baking soda on the small flame.  I used the wooden spoon to scrape cake and glass off the hot burner onto the pan.. then also on to the next pan.


What a mess! Now that the fire was out, and the mess was off of the burner, we took stock of what else was going on.

Like I said, the girls were unhurt... they were both across the room when it blew... I shudder to think of what could have happened to them if they had still been in front of the stove. I am so thankful for God's care of them. One of them was barefoot and was helped from the kitchen to avoid the glass on the floor.



My son had scrubbed a LOT of potatoes to bake (he likes to eat a lot and leftover baked potatoes make a nice small potato salad). The plates were already dished up on the table and many extra potatoes were on the stove on a cookie sheet.  This is one of the potatoes on the stove... see the glass embedded into it?









 
 Here you can see the glass IN the potato and more beside it.

There was glass ON the table, all over the floor, on counters, a little in the two adjoining rooms... it was a very sobering mess.

We threw out all of the potatoes (about a 10 pound bag's worth), the cottage cheese, the nacho cheese, the corn, the cake, all 6 sticks of butter sitting on the counter softening for baking, and more.   No, there was no glass on the butter that we could see, BUT this was not a time to take any chances at all... and there WAS glass on the counter, so we threw it all out. My husband swept glass, a son hunted for a box for all of the glass... and we all worked to clean up, all the while giving many thanks to God for protecting the girls. What a blessing that no one was hurt!!!!  NO ONE WAS HURT!  Wow!   We are still giving thanks for that.


I use many glass pan... Pyrex and other brands and I love them. I have glass bread pans, casserole dishes and more. They take more room to store, but I like them and they work well for us.

I had no idea such a thing like this could happen... and by the way, it is rare that a wrong burner gets turned on, and this should NOT have happened.  We had a new stove and the controls are a bit different from the old one. Plus all of the rushing around... plus, my adrenal fatigue and extra tiredness the last week have combined to leave me not making many of the meals at all... and the girls are very capable... this was just one of those accidents. Very frightening... and a wake up call to be much more careful, but everyone is fine... it is all taken care of... and I am so thankful. 

Will I still use Pyrex and such glass pans? Yes, absolutely... I love using them and will continue. We have been careful with them in the past, but will be even more careful of them now.  The kids told some friends what had happened... and at some point, they had the same thing happen to them!  I had never heard that story, so it seemed like a good idea to do this post as a testimony to God's protection of us in this emergency... and also as a warning to be aware that such a thing CAN happen, though it must be rather rare.  

Why did it blow?  I don't know... we figure the concentrated heat on the bottom of the already hot pan must have done something...  these are not meant to use on a burner. So, this is just a warning from our mistake... and I hope you never experience a similar one.... this is a "heads up" to be extra careful.

By the way, my husband went to buy take-out pizza that night and we enjoyed it...  and we were extra thankful for God's blessings.  My sons mourned the loss of the apricot cake also, but there will be other cakes. For now, I am so utterly thankful for God's mercies in this situation.  Have you ever had this happen?  Have you heard of it happening?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Thank you for visiting my blog today... I hope you have a good week. 

 












Shared on:

Scraptastic
Friday at the Fire Station
Weekend Potluck

24 comments:

  1. My poor cake :( lol Great post Mom! That was really scary. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you.... it was scary... and I am so glad no one was hurt. What a blessing. We can make another cake..... in fact, maybe you should make another cake for supper tonight, my dear. Hint Hint... :)

      Delete
  2. Oh my, when I saw the title of your post, I knew it had probably been a glass cake pan. I've heard several terrible experiences of people having their glass pans shatter and explode unexpectedly, but most are because they were put on a direct source of heat. It is such a scary thing, and I'm so thankful that everyone was okay. Friends of ours had to take their daughter to the ER because the glass embedded in her leg when the glass pan broke, and she had to get stitches. So yes, I too love my glass pans, but take extra precautions with them because of the fact that they can break with direct heat. It is a wonderful post that you shared about a very scary event, and hopefully this will help others too. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We could see the very real possibility of someone going to the ER in a situation like this and we are so thankful it didn't happen that way.... I had never heard of this until it happened to us... and we are definitely being much more careful. I am so thankful for the protection God gave. Thank you for visiting and commenting... I appreciate what you said.

      Delete
  3. Oh, my! This is awful. No, I have never heard of it happening, but this will cause me to be extra cautious. It was a very big blessing that none of you were hurt. Just another manifestation of God's providential care. Praise His name!!! So thankful you are all okay, dear friend. Praying for you. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More and more, I find that He protects us in ways we had no idea we needed protecting... until a later time. How thankful I am for Him and His mercies to us.

      Delete
  4. Thank God nobody was hurt!!
    And thank you for sharing this very important post.
    Have a blessed day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have certainly been doing much thanking of God... what a blessing that He prevented injury... it could have been so bad. I hope others can avoid having this happen to them.

      Delete
  5. Oh my goodness, that sounds like it was such a shock for everyone. I was once in Europe and sitting by the stove in the kitchen of my relative when the door blew off from a gas build up. Everyone was safe but the sound and shock is what really gets everyone.

    Glad everyone was safe. Good reminders!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, how awful... that would be very frightening! Yes, we were all safe... and it was a big shock...even that it COULD happen. We are certainly counting our blessings. :)

      Delete
  6. Wow, what a scary thing to happen, my friend! Praise the Lord that everyone was okay :) Hugs to you, dear one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really was scary... and we are certainly praising God for His protection. :) Thank you for your sweet words. :)

      Delete
  7. I remember something similar happening when I was young - a cold glass pan from the fridge placed on a still hot burner. It only cracked and ruined the dish inside - nothing so tremendous as your experience, but still something I'll never forget. I'm so sorry dinner was ruined, but thrilled to hear no one was hurt!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am too... dinner can be replaced.... I keep thanking God over and over for taking care of our family when this happened.... it could so easily have been a tragic outcome. Sobering. Thank you for visiting.

      Delete
  8. I've never heard of the happening! But now I'm just worried about my son being in the kitchen when I cook!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean.... I get the idea that the danger comes from being on a direct heat source, like a burner that is turned on, so with care, our kids will probably be fine. It certainly is something I will be aware of and extra careful about though. A scary thing.

      Delete
  9. Thank God that no one was hurt! I never heard of something like this happening.

    Hugs,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree.. we are still thanking God in amazement that no one was hurt... at all. Wow. Very scary... so thankful for God's protection.

      Delete
  10. Oh my goodness! I have never heard of or seen such a thing. I'm glad everyone is okay and thanks for the kitchen safety reminder for all of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't either, so I felt the warning needed to get out there.... we continue to be amazed that no one was hurt... it could have been quite tragic.

      Delete
  11. Wow! So glad your family was protected!! I will be sharing this story with my 4-H friends who will surely be baking a lot in the coming days for the county fairs taking place in the area. I remember a pyrex dish exploding in the oven one time. My mom had the oven stuffed so full that it was touching the wall of the oven and the concentrated heat must have caused it to break. Thank you for linking up to the Country Fair Blog Party this month. We do hope that you will join us again next month!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you..... that is what I hoped to accomplish... to alert others to the dangers... thank you for passing the word along. Your story of the one that blew while in the oven... and the oven being so stuffed full is scary to me... been there/done that, but never had one break. Wow... I will be more careful. Thank you for visiting... and for sharing that account.

      Delete
  12. That is the worst when that happens! We have also done that over here several years ago when making tacos. A glass pan was on the stove for something else and the wrong burner got turned on. It exploded and glass went everywhere. Ours also started a fire. Of course my fire man husband was at work. Go figure. Thanks for sharing at the Friday at the Fire Station link-up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! I had never even HEARD of such a thing until this happened to us... but I find other people have had trouble also. Sounds like no one got hurt with your experience either, which is a blessing... a fire would be an added problem and it is too bad your husband wasn't there. We sure are more careful knowing what can happen with those pans... although I still love to use glass bakeware.. and that it about all I use. :)

      Delete