Plenty of room for 'air' when making air-fried cake

"No," I responded. "But I have an air fryer."

And then I opened up my phone and showed her a picture.

It's hard to describe why I'm so obsessed with this trendy, egg-shaped appliance, which makes food crispy and delightful on the outside by circulating hot air.

I think part of its appeal is that it reminds me of the Easy-Bake Oven I never received as a child. Remember? You stuck a tiny tin of cake batter into a cute device and — after a mere 72 hours of cooking over a lightbulb — you produced a flavorless, cake-oriented object big enough to feed an elderly gerbil.

The air fryer is even bigger and fancier — and can cook portions large enough to feed THREE elderly gerbils. In fact, its limited size is its biggest shortcoming, as I would gladly trade it in for a drive-through model.

The best thing about this gizmo? Potatoes. It magically transforms any frozen spud — be it crinkled, totted or waffled — into a golden, crunchy nugget of tuber-iffic goodness.

It does so in a fraction of time that an oven does, and it requires little to no oil.

Which brings up yet another (alleged) strength of the air fryer: It allows you to cook in a more healthful way.

Actually, I take issue with that claim. I have gained at least 10 pounds since acquiring this fryer, and 99.9 percent of that extra weight is directly tater tot related. It has made the art of the artful French fry entirely too easy. Oil or no oil, you cannot live off of crispy crowns and ketchup for 97 days straight and expect to look like an Olsen twin. An Orson Welles twin, maybe. But not an Olsen.

And forget CrossFit. I cross fry at many meals. Not only do I use the fryer to make potatoes, but I then will cook hamburgers (seared delightfully on the outside, moist inside) and roast asparagus in there.

That's probably why I got cocky. I figured I was some sort of world-renowned air-thority who could fry her way to the Airlympics.

And so I decided to use it to make a cake. The internet is brimming with air-fryer cake recipes, so I chose a chocolate cake recipe from the creators of the Philips Air Fryer, the supposed No-Fry Daddy of the lot.

The batter — laden with three eggs and sour cream — looked downright decadent. The problem came when I tried to find a pan to bake it. Again, the gadget is so small that a regular 8-inch round wouldn't fit in it. (The Philips people actually have created a special cake pan for their model, but I needed to improvise with my cheap knock-off.)

The only pan that fit was a stainless-steel mixing bowl. I greased the very bottom so it would release, filled it with batter and set it according to recipe directions: 25 minutes at 160 degrees.

That seemed awfully low to me, but who was I to question the wisdom of the Fry Gods? After all, the Air Fryer magically cooks everything faster, so surely a cake would burn if you tried to bake it at the usual temperature.

Twenty-five minutes passed, but the batter barely seemed cooked. It looked more like chocolate pudding that has developed a protective skin after sitting out too long at the buffet. I put it back in for another five minutes. It still quivered like Jell-O.

This went on for some time. I decided to re-check the recipe. And that's when I realized that the Philips Air Fryer is actually based in the Netherlands, which means the temperature was ... Celsius.

I cranked up the temperature, which only proceeded to burn the top of the cake. Eventually I gave up and removed the cake — only to find that the center was still raw.

I hesitate to share the recipe, as it was such a spectacular fail. However, if you're an adventurous sort, you can find it at spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com.

Heck, I might even give it another try — albeit with the proper temperature and a more Air Fryer-appropriate pan.

You know what they say.

If at first you don't succeed, fry, fry again.

Readers can reach columnist Tammy Swift at tswiftsletten@gmail.com.