Since I live in good sized city with a Wal-Mart Super Center and Costcos within five minutes of my house, I knew that any ingredient needed could be easily found. But for this recipe, I decided to try the local market.

When I make a recipe for the first time, I usually follow the directions to the letter. The next time I'll get even more creative. The local market didn't have the specific kinds of chocolate the recipe called for'a combination of milk chocolate and bittersweet chocolate. I could have wasted a hour or so driving to the chain stores to get the ingredients, but I decided against it. I trusted my intuition and chose two different kinds of chocolate.

Not long after I put the cake in the oven, some friends stopped by to say hello. As luck would have it, I got caught up in the conversations and left the cake in a little too long. We were at very high altitude, surrounded by snow-capped volcanoes in the city of Puebla, Mexico. Since the oven was 15 years old the oven was never as hot as the thermostat indicated. Due to all of these factors the cake needed to stay in the oven longer that the recipe indicated.

The milk chocolate that I bought did not have the right consistency. I couldn't get the icing to stay on the cake. It tasted great, but it slid off the sides of the cake faster than I could spread it on again. Of course it was one of those nights were I was running way behind schedule. The guests were arriving. I didn't know what to do, so I just shoved the cake in the freezer and hoped for the best.

I couldn't believe my eyes. The cake was perfect. I could not have planned a better tasting cake. My wife and her family will always remember that very special Christmas Eve. I am always asked to make that cake again, but I haven't done it yet. It would be tough to pull it off again. As long as I leave it that way, none of us will ever forget the German Chocolate Cake that almost wasn't.