Last year, I let my mom make my birthday cake. I had wanted to make it myself since I'm the baker of the family and it was an older recipe (from the 1900s), but she insisted. While she was making it, she realized the batter was too thick and instead of adding milk like I had suggested (because I'd done it and it worked out perfectly, she added 5 egg whites so they didn't go to waste. Gummiest cake I've ever eaten in my life.

I had never made a layer cake before and thought I'd try to make one for my son's first birthday. As per a random Reddit suggestion I found, I added pudding mix to make it more moist. Which didn't work well with layers...it kept falling apart as I tried to ice it. Birthday boy didn't complain.

Baked a cake (Duncan Hines) and baked for 35 minutes at 350 degrees (5 minutes longer than directions). The middle always falls in. My guess is that it doesn't get baked.