Is something burning?

This year I get to make the desserts! I was so excited. I planned my menu ( two cheesecakes, two fruit pies, and a cake), called a friend and made plans to take over her kitchen for the day. (My kitchen is roughly the size of a broom closet.) We had it all planned. I started with the cake. The directions said to let the butter come to room temperature and then cream. Well, who has time for that? I have a schedule. So I microwaved the butter and sugar together instead. After examining the soup-like mixture, I took the electrical hand mixer to it and happily started adding flour and eggs to it, following the recipe's directions. About 4 eggs later, I swore. I forgot to add the vanilla. I can toss that on top, I rationalized. Mixing away happily, I imagined my cake to be light,fluffy, beautiful, and scrumptious. I didn't notice the batter flying at high speeds outside of the bowl. Coming back to reality, I finished up my mixing, wiped down the outside of the bowl, table and chairs , then poured the batter into my pretty new 10 inch tube pan, and placed it carefully in the oven along side cheesecakes my friend had whipped together. Now is the hard part, the waiting.

About 20 minutes later, my friend asked me, "do you smell something burning?"
Me: "Nah...it's just the butter from the cheesecakes dripping onto the eye."
Friend: "Oh. Ok then."

Another five minutes pass. "Are you sure nothing is burning?"
Me: "Oh alright i will go check on it!" I sauntered into the kitchen and low and behold there was a distinct burnt sugar smell emanating from the oven. My friend was right behind me to say her "I told you so's". I opened the oven and we watched in amazement as this black cloud of smoke wafted upwards towards the ceiling and billow outwards towards the corners of her kitchen.

"Wow," we both said in between eye-watering coughs. "Smoke really does billow."

Wiping our eyes we laughed as we noticed the little flames dancing at the bottom of the oven. "Whoops, " I said, "I guess something was burning."

The problem: I had placed the pan on the top rack too close to the burner.

The solution: I lowered the rack as far as it could go, took a knife and cut off the top layer of the cake placed it back into the oven and let the cake finish baking.

The result: A yummy , but short , pound cake.