On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:27:42 -0700, Terryl Pulliam Burd
> wrote:

>On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:38:18 -0700 (PDT), Nancy2
> wrote:
>
>>I thought it was terrible, relatively speaking, and promptly threw out
>>the recipe. It was too dry; the batters couldn't hold the chips and
>>they all ended up on the bottom (top); and it was pretty tasteless,
>>even with my $20/bottle vanilla and good chocolate. I also thought
>>the chocolate "syrup" was too thin and there was too much of it.
>>Still, I followed the recipe and I'm a good baker.
>>
>>This is just my opinion, of course, but I won't be making it again.
>>Not your fault, Squeaks... ;-)
>
>Well, this is good to know - damn. Recipe "read" well, but I've been
>fooled before and I've obviously been fooled again.
>
>Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd


Ok...I think I solved this one.

1. I did not just "whisk" in the dry ingredients, I used a hand mixer
on medium. This helped with the texture.

2. I substituted (whole) buttermilk for the milk in the recipe. This
made the batter just a tad thicker that I thought it should be, so I
added an additional quarter cup of milk. It was still very thick.

3. I used extra-large eggs, not large.

4. I used dollops of batter when filling the pan, smoothing the bottom
layer with a rubber spatula to make it even. I then poured the
chocolate portion over the bottom layer.

It was much more liquid, obviously, so I just made sure the bundt pan
was level, then put the dollops for the top layer in, being very
careful when smoothing down this layer, and doing it in one motion,
never lifting the spatula from the batter until I had made a complete
circle around.

Then I ran a dinner knife though the batter, in a bull's eye movement,
from the inner part of the pan, around towards the outer part, turning
the pan three times. Not the usual marbling, but easier to do with a
molded pan.

5. I baked it using the convection setting, and kept it in maybe 10-15
minutes longer than called for.

6. I added about a cup of roughly chopped pecans, but that's because I
think everything short of sex is better with pecans.

It is moist, it is tasty, it got raves, it is almost gone.

Fear not to tweak the original a bit. Next time I will try sour
cream, instead of the milk. It's already death in a bundt pan, so what
the heck.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25648800@N04/

Boron