Cloud swift, I'm short too, under 5 feet by a bit and I don't like the idea of pouring the sugar water either and it is sticky. Not sure about changing the chocolates or the sugar, but hubby was just looking over my shoulder, read what you said and his comment was "don't you dare change a thing in this recipe." Wonder though, if he would notice any changes as long as it was rich enough and tasted chocolate enough. I'll let someone else here on the board attempt the changes. I had enough trouble figuring out the recipe. As for the 9x13 inch roasting pan and the 9 inch cake pan didn't like each other very much. Roasting pan had the last laugh, as the cake pan wouldn't fit in it. So took out my oval deeper roasting pan that is very sturdy but light weight and that worked fine. Only thing is that it is 4 inches deep. So if baking time is affected by how deep the roasting pan is, that explains that the cake was still not done in 25 minutes, just like the first time I made the cake. It took about 45-50 minutes, but that was fine and it was easy to take in and out of the oven. I posted the recipe on the what's for dessert thread and on the recipe exchange forum as well. Loves, here are some pics. 8 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate 4oz chopped semisweet chocloate 1 cup margarine and 5 eggs 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper ready to use oval roasting pan ready for the cake to go in sugar water waiting to boil "cake batter" ready to pour into pan cake pan in roasting pan ready for the oven cake done and cooling on rack cake done and on plate piece of cake before hubby attacked it. Here is a link that might be useful: what's for desert thread, recipe for

The best coffee cake ever. I can get my husband to do anything if I make him this cake :-). The best thing is it freezes extremely well. In fact, DH says it's even better after being frozen. Vanilla Steusel Coffee Cake 3 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups softened butter 1 1/2 cups sugar 3 eggs 1 1/2 cups sour cream 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 3/4 cups chopped nuts (I prefer walnuts in this) 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 2 tablespoons vanilla mixed with 2 tablespoons water Preheat oven to 325. Butter 10 inch bundt cake pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set aside. Combine butter and sugar in large bowl and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Gradually add sifted dry ingredients and beat well. Combine brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Turn 1/3 of batter into the bundt cake pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the nut mixture. Repeat Add remaining batter and spoon diluted vanilla over top. Bake 60-70 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan. Sometimes some of the cake sticks to the pan. Use flexible spatula and put back on cake. It's not noticable, and once you taste it you won't care.

Hmmm.. There are good and bad disasters. I made a crumb cake where I made some disastrous butter calculation. Dinner was almost ready when I peeked at my cake mid-bake. There was a blobby something swimming in a sea of butter. I shut off the oven and went to serve dinner my guests - embarrassed by my mistake. My grammy who loved her crumb cake turned the oven back on behind me. Mid-dinner acrid butter smoke started drifting from the kitchen. OTOH - my first pie at maybe 12. Cousins were visiting. We picked Raspberries and Blueberries. And one cousin and I decided we would make a pie. My mom and aunt watched with increasing concern as every bowl in the house were filled and emptied of a variety of ingredients - some very much less traditional. (I still tend to be a mad scientist cook.) And I am sure a fair amount got on the table floor etc... The adults finally left the house to avoid taking over and at some point a homely but delicious pie came out of the oven. Never exactly recreated.

It was not my intention to highjack the OP’s thread, but am learning so much – I hope others are as well. wekick, thank you for the links and additional explanations, you’ve been so helpful. plllog, thank you for offering up so much information on the use of convection ovens, as well as… The trick is to mark out some time that you can use learning your new oven, rather than freezing up because it's different and foregoing some of the features. Thank you for that statement. I’d downloaded the instruction manual and read about the induction and convection uses/features and have been quite excited, but this thread caused some trepidation for me. I want to try and use these features, not be fearful of them. I hope with time I can make use of the convection in areas it will be beneficial, and now understand time, experimentation, and patience will be my friends. I used a dial thermometer in my current ‘regular bake’ oven, so will use it in the convection to help adjust for time (although I admit, my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, and will now have to open the darned thing to see the thermometer, loosing heat!) – I feel sure I’d not have thought of that as it’s not been used in some time and sits in a cupboard! plllog, I am embarrassed about the pâte à choux – I think it rude to correct people’s pronunciation or spelling and that was not my intention! I sincerely apologize. Trust me, words escape me all the time! For the past year I had forgotten the word ‘joconde’ (which I always spell jaconde) and in attempting to describe it have had to be creative. For the life of me I still can’t remember the name for ‘that thing’ I spread the batter with, making the indentations… not that anyone asks. I rarely say mise en place except to myself and where it’s written in my recipes, and never say maillard reaction now… I am met with the dreaded “oh, so you’re a snob’ look, and quite frankly, can’t blame my friends! “Get things ready” and “gonna brown that” just works better around these parts! Still, I like using correct terminology to myself, at least when I can remember it!