Died-and-Went-to-Hell Chocolate Cake
 

Kitchen disaster alert!! Bwoooop, bwooop, bwoooop!!!

I just made [b]Eating Well's Died-and-Went-to-Heaven Chocolate Cake[/b] that has gotten so many great reviews off this board. The batter was super-duper runny, even though I followed the recipe. But, confident in y'all, I poured it into my greased-and-cocoaed PC springform/bundt pan and away I went. I noticed that the pan had a slow drip from the bottom (ok, my pan sucks), so I put the pan on top of a cookie sheet while it baked. Timer goes off, I open the door..... and I have a chocolate volcano alllll over the inside of the oven. It was so odd looking!!! It only blew out one side-- much like Mt. St. Helens. I'm guessing my pan was just leaning ever so slightly that way. The side that had exploded fell immediately when I opened the oven door.

I let it sit the requisit ten minutes, inverted it onto a cake plate and got only the bottom half of my already deformed dessert. :rolleyes: I now have the ugliest cake known to mankind.

And the icing on the cake (so to speak), is that I'd invited my entire family over tonight to have cake and coffee with the in-laws, they'd all accepted and by 11am every single one of those stinkers backed out. My family are such a**holes. But that's another story......

Here's the recipe I pulled from this BB-- is anything amiss?

* Exported from MasterCook Mac *

[b]Eating Well's Died-and-Went-to-Heaven Chocolate Cake[/b]

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs -- lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup hot strong black coffee

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 12-cup Bundt pan or coat with cooking spray. Dust with flour and shake out excess.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, white sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add buttermilk, brown sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla; beat with electric mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Whisk in hot coffee until completely incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack for ten minutes; remove from the pan and let cool completely.

16 servings


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Per serving (excluding unknown items): 151 Calories; 4g Fat (26% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 28mg Cholesterol; 319mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 1/2 Starch/Bread; 1 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates


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I guess I should jump in and defend this cake since it was my fault (I'd like to think not so much a fault as a plus - depending on how you look at it!) for introducing it to the board...
Yes, the batter is VERY runny, that's the way its supposed to be - but it ends up like a normal cake so that shouldn't be any problem. I'm not familiar with a springform/bundt (I thought it was one or the other, not sure what the combo is) pan but I will say I've made this cake a zillion times and have NEVER made it in a bundt pan! (I know, that's what the recipe says but I'm not a recipe follower most of the time!) So maybe someone who can has more insight but I've always made it in a 9x13 or in round layer pans, etc. - whatever I needed, I always treat it like a regular cake. I've never had any volcanic activity with mine either - that sounds very odd indeed! Mine have never overpuffed or exploded in any way - they always just look like normal cakes to me. I use plain old Hershey's or Nestle cocoa (but have used Trader Joe's brand years back as well - don't know if that's a different type), sometimes real buttermilk, sometimes the milk and vinegar trick, I've used eggs or egg beaters - no matter what its always come out beautifully for me with no pan stickage or anything.
Also, I never make the frosting recipe that comes with it - I just make my own - buttercream, glaze, etc., whatever I feel like.

I know this was all probably of no help to you but I had to pop in and defend my heavenly cake!

Oh no! I am sorry about your cake misfortune. I have only made this recipe once and I do remember the batter being very thin.
I did have a minor "incident" in that my bundt pan overflowed a little and I did have some stinky burnt cake batter stuck to the bottom of my oven. Though, it may have been because I used an ancient bundt pan (borrowed from my parents) and I didn't check to see if it actually had a 12-cup capacity!
Anyway, aside from that the cake was DEE-LISH!!! Very moist and chocolatey...I served it to may parents after an evening of Christmas shopping and everyone loved it
Maybe you could break up the cake and serve it in bowls with ice cream? (I'm assuming that your in-laws are still coming!)
Amy

LOL
 

I like the new name you gave it though. Heh. Died and Went To Hell Cake. That's funny.

Lisa, I am wondering- did you use a springform pan, like the kind that "buckles" around the sides and the bottom actually drops out? or did you use a Bundt- which is actually a pan with a tube up the middle, and ordinarily it is in one piece, and doesn't come apart? Or I have also seen the occasional tube pan which does come apart-bottom and sides that is.

If you used either the springform or the two-piece tube pan, that was probably a mistake with this really runny batter. Better to use a true Bundt-type pan that is all one piece or just a 9X13 as Peeps mentions above.

I made this with the Bundt pan, and it came out just fine.

It was pretty good- I personally don't eat cake often, so it didn't blow me away, but that's another story. It's just my personal thing about cake, not a cake fan unless it's really, really unusual, or has summer fruit in it or something.

Your story was really funny, though, I appreciate it anyhow.... :D

You poor girl!! I just about had to stifle my laughter (at work) while reading your post! Don't know what went wrong with your cake, but I have made it in 2 8-inch round cake pans and it was really good. Sorry you had such a bad experience!

Oh boy, not a good thing to happen. I've baked the cake in a regular bundt pan, and it comes out good. I can see where it would leak from the 2 piece bundt, as it is very runny. Don't give up on the cake for future baking. It is very good.

I haven't made this recipe, but in the past I've made a chocolate cake/torte type thing (non-CL, nonlight) in a spring-form pan. The recipe said to line the pan with wax paper, I believe (sorry, I'm at work and can't look up the recipe now). I only lined the bottom of the pan, and batter oozed out onto my oven. Luckily, the batter wasn't super thin, so I didn't lose too much and the cake was fine. Next time, I lined the entire pan, and had no trouble.

When I get home, I'll check on that recipe. You should probably make this cake in a solid pan. If you don't have one, maybe lining the pan will help.

I think it was my lame pan...
 

This is it:
[img]http://www.pamperedchef.com/graphics/products_200/1540_200.jpg[/img]

That's the little bundt insert off to the left.

I think the pan was too small, but I'm not sure why it stuck so badly. I wish I could show you my Ugly Cake, it's pure comedy!

The magma that I scraped off the cookie sheet was very yummy though. I'll try it again in a 9 x 13.

Oh, Lisa, I am sorry to hear about your cake disaster. At least your guests backed out so you didn't have to rush to the store at the last minute for an alternate dessert! Please do give this cake another try. I made it for the first time last week in a Bundt pan and it was great. :)

MMMM......magma
 

:D

Re: MMMM......magma
 

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BlueMoose [/i]
[B]:D [/B][/QUOTE]

You have to say it like Dr. Evil: Mag- MAH. :p

I made the cake too, and it was completely liquid! Even well in excess of the baking time, it wouldn't cook! I recall having a similar, but not so wet, experience with CL's Texas Sheet Cake.

Obviously, it did stick a little but dried out just enough to handle and remove most of it. It tasted like sugar and water. All the chocolate and other flavors seemed diluted. I thought it was terrible in appearance, texture and taste.

We're taking my folks out for dinner tomorrow for my dad's birthday and DH's birthday. I was thinking about making this cake for after dinner. Now I will have volcanic visions as I bake it! :D

I'm with Susan. Your post really tickled my funny bone! I'm very sorry for the baking disaster but you have such a cute way of describing it. I was LOL while I read it.:p

I have made this cake and it IS very runny, however, mine came out just fine in a regular bundt pan. How nice that you can maintain a healthy sense of humor no matter what happens in your oven.

Hope the rest of your cooking is spectacular this week!

Peggy

Lisa....you need this after what your family did to you. How awful!

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