I'm another one who wasn't taught much about cooking and had to learn on my own.
Eggs have to be cooked for you to eat them, riiiight?
When I made my first-ever chocolate layer cake, in a house I shared during college, I used a recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook to do it. I figured that was a reputable cookbook, so I should have no trouble. I was in tears over what I thought was a major flaw in the recipe - it didn't tell me how to cook the eggs before putting them in the cake batter!
My housemates had to work hard to convince me that I was to put the eggs in raw - RAW!! - and they'd cook along with the rest of the cake ingredients.
The cake turned out just fine, I'm happy to say. :oops: :-D