Great Coffee Cake Flop of '10

I fancy myself to be quite accomplished in the kitchen, rarely turning out something that is not beautiful to look at and tasty to eat. (Thanks Mom for letting me make messes in your kitchen all those years growing up!)

The last true culinary disaster was the Flaming Roll Incident of '97 (not counting the Curry Catastrophe of '05 - that one wasn't my fault!). I had been broiling some chicken and needed to pop the rolls in the oven. I forgot to turn the oven down. Ten minutes later, there was smoke billowing from my oven, smoke detectors screaming at me, and rolls that were literally flaming on top and gooey on the bottom.

It was hilarious once I got the flames put out. Not too funny until then.

Tonight I tried a new recipe from The Pioneer Woman's website, "The Best Coffee Cake. Ever." Every single recipe I have tried from her site has been a huge hit with the men in my family and I was fully expecting to have the same level achievement with this recipe. 

Let's just say my 13 year string of success has been broken.

In the recipe, Rhee says you can use a smaller pan to make "thicker slices." I used the 8 x 11 pan and this is what I ended up with.  (Trust me, it was even more comical in real life! Tasty, but comical)

Don't get me wrong - it still tasted incredible (as evidenced by the fact the men around here inhaled half of it before it had the chance to even cool down - I am sure they will polish off the rest of it tomorrow).  Let's face it - anything with that much butter and sugar in it is going to be tasty!!! Fortunately, my super-spidey baking sense told me that there might be "some" overflow and so I put the coffee cake on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat mat. Ha. Some overflow, eh?

I am so glad I did. And so is my oven.

Smooches and happy eats to all of you -

M.