I baked(Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip) last week and this time tried this recipe. I asked my family which recipe they thought was better and by far this recipe won. I know I'm not the best baker in the world, a far better cook than baker, but perhaps I did something wrong with the Best Big, Fat recipe as they came out too hard for our liking. Perhaps the brown sugar I used for this recipe was the difference as for this recipe I purchased the brown sugar this morning. It also could have been the pudding in this recipe allowing the cookies to be softer (?? the secret ingredient). I did follow the suggestions of SVROSS by adding baking powder, salt, and extra vanilla. As I had one large egg and the rest extra large, I did leave out some of the egg white as whites have a drying tendency. I left out about 1 1/2 egg whites from the extra large eggs. I made the cookies large (3 TBSP of dough) and was able to yield 4 dz cookies. I used parchment paper in a convection oven at 325 F baking two cookie sheets at a time. I rotated the cookie sheets half-way. It took 10 min. for golden edges to appear and I let them rest on the hot cookie sheet on top of a cooling rack for ten minutes before removing the cookies to a cooling rack. I chilled the dough prior to baking for about 45 minutes. I also put the dough back in the fridge and in between batches. The whole family tried one warm out of the oven, and I paused in writing this review to try one myself; absolutely delicious !!

Reviewed On: Aug. 7, 2009

I made this cake twice in one night. The first time it came out dry, even after cooking it for only 40 minutes. I thought, well, I have a convection oven, perhaps its my doing as convections cook faster and I frequently lower the recommended cooking temp by about 25 degrees and reduce the time by at least five minutes when baking. I also didn't care for the butter sauce, as it seemed too grainy for me, although I cooked it on low and stirred and stirred, as I didn't want it to boil, just too grainy. I should have used my fine baker's sugar or just go with 10X sugar. Well, it turns out, my cake failure was due because I can't read (joke). For some reason, I only put in half the butter. So, after laughing at myself, I baked the cake again. I watched the cake like a hawk, and after about 30/35 minutes, the cake was of course still not quite done. After 40 minutes, it was completely done. I did bake at 325 in a cast aluminum bundt pan. Perhaps waiting for the cake to cool (10 minutes before taking it out) it "cooked" more causing some dryness. I know heavy bundt pans hold heat, so again, perhaps my fault again. I did use a different sauce on the second cake from Cook's Illustrated, a lemon sauce that I enjoyed much better. I will try this cake again and make baking adjustments accordingly.

Reviewed On: Jul. 27, 2009

As I was only frosting a bundt cake ("One Bowl Chocolate Cake III"; which is really Hershey's Deep Dark Chocolate Cake recipe that I've been making for years), I halved this cream cheese frosting recipe. I didn't add vanilla, per the suggestion of one reviewer, besides, I didn't have clear vanilla and really wanted the frosting to come out strikingly white. This recipe does not seem to taste "overly cream cheesey." And it is not overly sweet. I find that this is a happy balance between rich and subtle. If you like strong cream cheese flavor, add more, if you like sweet, add more powdered sugar. This recipe does make a lot and I'm glad I halved the recipe. I also added some milk to thin the frosting down a little, as I wanted the frosting to be a little thin to slide down the edges of the bundt cake a bit. This frosting recipe as written will yield a thick enough product to beautifully frost just as in the picture submitted my Janni. Love this recipe and will definately be using it in the future. Thanks for the submission.

Reviewed On: Jun. 18, 2009