The Chocolate Lady Dishes

I can’t believe it is Buddy’s 9th birthday already! When did my baby turn nine? It seems like yesterday I was watching him take his first steps and now he’s reading Redwall books, writing in cursive and begging to drive the 4 wheeler by himself.

At least he is still young enough to enjoy a traditional birthday cake – chocolate cake with Cool Whip frosting and decorated with M & M’s and his own Lego creations.

This year I tried a new chocolate cake recipe – Feathery Chocolate Fudge Cake – from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

Although it had great flavor, it didn’t quite live up to it’s “feathery” name. It seemed a little dense and heavy to me – but Buddy didn’t seem to mind – he loved it as did the rest of the birthday party guests!

Feathery Fudge Cake

2/3 cup soft butter of margarine
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (melted and cooled)
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup cold water

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla till fluffy (beat 5 minutes at high speed on mixer, scraping bowl occasionally to guide batter into beaters, or beat 5 minutes by hand).

Blend in chocolate.

Sift flour with soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with cold water; beat after each addition.

Bake in 2 paper-lined  9 X1-1/2 inch round pans in moderate oven (350 degrees) 30 to 35 minutes or till done. (We used a 9 x 13 pan, would have made a difference in the texture of the cake.)

Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Frost with your favorite frosting. (I use extra creamy Cool Whip – it’s fast, easy, and no-fail!)

Enjoy!

A fellowship dinner at church was the perfect excuse to make a chocolate dessert.  (But then you know me- ANY excuse is good enough to make something chocolate!)

Dagmar had checked out a Pillsbury Bake-Off Desserts Cookbook from the library, and after drooling through all the amazing pictures, decided to try the Caramel In- Between Cake.

I really don’t want to confess how many pieces I ate! The chocolate- caramel combination is one of my favorites.

Caramel In-Between Fudge Cake

Best of the Pillsbury Bake-Off  Desserts

Filling:

28 caramels (half of 14-oz. bag) up wrapped
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 can (14-oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

Cake:

1 box (19.5 oz.) dark chocolate cake mix with pudding
1 cup water
1 tablespoon shortening, if desired
3 eggs

Frosting and Garnish:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 envelopes (1 oz. each) premelted unsweetened baking chocolate or 2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate melted
3 tablespoons half-and-half or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease bottom only of 13X9-inch pan with shortening; lightly flour. In 2-quart saucepan, place all filling ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat about 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted.

2. In large bowl, beat all cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Spread half of batter (about 2 cups) evenly in pan. Bake 20 minutes.

3. Spread filling evenly over partially baked cake; cover with remaining batter. Bake 20-25 minutes longer or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

4. In small bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter, the chocolate, half-and-half and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beat 2 or 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Frost cooked cake. Sprinkle almonds over top.

Enjoy!

Two lonely over ripe bananas sitting on my counter were the inspiration for this yummy cake.

The original recipe came from my sister. She had brought one of these freshly baked cakes over after the birth of one of my children, and my husband loved it!

Over the years I have served it with either a burnt sugar frosting or a cream cheese frosting – both were very good. But since I had some left-over chocolate frosting, I decided this recipe needed a little Chocolate Lady make-over!

Some mini chocolate chips and a layer of rich chocolate frosting made this yummy cake a hit for both my banana loving husband and his chocolate loving wife!

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2-1/3 c. flour
1-2/3 c. sugar
1-1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening (I used margarine)
2/3 cup mashed bananas
2 eggs
2/3 cup chopped nuts (optional – I used walnuts)
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Put 2 tsp. lemon juice in measuring cup. Add milk to make 2/3 c. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt.

Add the shortening,  mashed banana and sour milk. Beat 2 minutes.

Add 2 eggs. Beat another 2 minutes. Add the chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Bake in 2 greased and floured 9 inch round pans or a 9 X 13 pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

If baking in two round pans, cool 10 minutes and remove.  Cool completely before frost with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter (softened)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the butter and cocoa until smooth, then add the sugar 1 cup at a time beating with each addition. Add milk and vanilla and beat for 3 minutes. Spread on cooled cake.

Enjoy!

Having four summer birthdays  has forced me to be creative when it comes to birthday cakes.

All year I’m on the look-out for amazing – but easy – ice cream cake recipes. My criteria is simply – something I don’t have to bake but the kids will love.

Pedro has been quite happy with his ice cream sandwich cake for several years now – but Dagmar has yet to find the perfect cake.

This year I discovered a recipe I had torn out of an old issue of Family Circle magazine. I don’t even know the year or the month of the issue!

Using ice cream sandwiches cut and stacked around the edge and filled with ice cream, the recipe was fancy enough to be pretty, but super easy!  Dagmar loved it!

Layered Ice Cream Cake

15 oreo cookies
1 tablespoon milk
8-9 ice cream sandwiches
3 pints ice cream (we used all chocolate mint – but you could do layers of whatever flavors you wish – such as vanilla and strawberry)
1 – 8 ounce container of Cool Whip

Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray and line the edges with waxed paper.

Finely crush 12 of the Oreo cookies ina food processor. Add the milk and pulse again. Set aside.

Unwrap the ice cream sandwiches and cut into quarters. Stack strips of sandwiches on end around the edge of the springform pan.  (It is helpful to have someone helping you on this step – the ice cream gets soft fast. I unwrapped and Dagmar cut and placed.) This creates the cool strips around the edge of the cake!

Spoon the cookie crumbs into the bottom of the pan and press firmly over the bottom. Freeze on hour.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer and let it soften for 15 minutes. Carefully spread the ice cream in the crust – using layers if you choose. We just filled the crust with chocolate mint ice cream.

Frost the entire cake with thawed Cool Whip

The recipe called for crushing the remaining 3 Oreos and sprinkling them on top of the Cool Whip – but we wanted more of topping, so we crushed the remaining 3 Oreos with a large Butterfinger bar and sprinkled it over the top.

Return to the freezer – overnight if possible.

Before serving, carefully remove the side of the pan and pull off the waxed paper. Cut into wedges to serve.

Then just sit back and bask in the compliments!

Enjoy!

Once again Nana shares a yummy and quick recipe from her kitchen – which she shared with my younger sister for a few days…

Our youngest daughter and her 6 children were spending a couple of days with us to make the time go faster while hubby/daddy was in Australia on a business trip.

It was unseasonably cool, in fact almost cold! It just felt like baking weather.

She looked in the pantry and found this recipe taped to the back of a box of chocolate cake mix. (Papa Jim wanted to be sure & make it the next time he got urge to bake!)

It was indeed luscious and a hit with all of us.  It was especially good with the Wiggy’s ice cream that they had brought along!

Luscious Chocolate Cake
(Recipe Papa found on back of cake mix!)

• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

• 1 cup applesauce

• l cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 2 eggs

• 1 package super-moist chocolate cake mix

• ½ cup chopped pecans

• ½ cup vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350°. Grease bottom of 13”x9” pan; lightly flour. Microwave milk and ½ cup of the chocolate chips in small microwavable bowl uncovered on medium about l minute or until chocolate is softened; stir until smooth and set aside.

Beat cake mix & oil on low speed 30 seconds (mixture will be crumbly); reserve 1 cup. Beat applesauce and eggs into remaining cake mixture on low speed 30 seconds (batter will be thick & grainy); beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Spread in pan. Drop melted chocolate mixture by teaspoonfuls over batter, dropping more around edge than in center. Stir remaining ½ cup chocolate chips and the pecans into reserved cake mixture; sprinkle over batter.

Bake 35-45 minutes or until center is set. Run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Store covered at room temperature. (It does freeze well if you have enough left over!)

Until next time!

Nana Shirley