What did I do wrong, Christopher Kimball?

Ultimately, it was nothing a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder couldn’t fix. But imagine my dismay when today’s attempt at the chocolate pound cake recipe from Cook’s Country magazine, the know-it-all source for sure-fire recipes that have been tested and re-tested in the “America’s Test Kitchen” right here in New England, oozed over the top of my loaf pan, and then promptly deflated while cooling!

As you can see in the “before” shot below, it was an overflow of volcanic proportions. The cake hadn’t been in the oven for five minutes before I smelled something burning. When I opened the oven door, I saw my delicious, buttery batter running down all four sides of the loaf pan and dripping onto the oven floor. After a quick clean-up, I put the loaf pan on a foil-lined baking sheet and it went back into the oven. Here’s what it looked like:

After it cooled and I removed the big hunks of bubbled-over cake (actually crunchy and delicious) from the edges of the pan, I turned the cake onto a cutting board and began carving. After a few strategic slices and the aforementioned sugar dusting, here’s what we ended up with:

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I usually post recipes for dishes I’ve tried. And although this chocolate pound cake is moist and delicious (it does, after all, contain two sticks of butter), I won’t be reprinting this recipe. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even hear from Christopher Kimball or his staff, telling what my mis-step might have been. I’ve re-read the recipe twice and it seems I followed it to the letter.

In any case, my carved and sugared chocolate pound cake will on the menu tonight as we’re hosting some friends for dinner. Here’s hoping the meatloaf and baked potatoes come out OK. I can only handle one kitchen disaster a day.