Dark Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling

Dark Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling

I am learning to bake. Part of my process is starting with boxed cake mixes and then adding ingredients. Eventually. I will bake from scratch, but until then….

This is DELICIOUS. Trust me about the coffee. Even if you don’t like coffee, use it. You cannot taste the coffee, but it does enhance the flavor of the cake. You will have leftover frosting if you follow these directions. I dressed up the frosting, so that it would taste homemade.

A problem many people have when baking a cake is that they do not allow the cake to cool completely. I make my cakes the night before, cool them, wrap them in plastic wrap and then freeze them. I frost them frozen. It keeps them moist and stops the crumbs from smearing into the frosting.

Serves: This makes 2 -eight-inch cake layers

Time:   Active time for cake 10 minutes; Cook: 30-35 Minutes: Cooling time: varies

Active time for making frosting 5 minutes; frosting cake 20 minutes-cake in a few hours

Hardware: Measuring spoons and cups, 2 mixing bowls, a small bowl, hand mixer, rubber spatulas, a large spoon, 2- 8-inch cake pans, 1 small sauce pan, 2 plastic storage bags (Ziploc), a cake round or plate, a cooling rack, an offset spatula

Ingredients:

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix (15.25 ounces) I used Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate
• 1 package INSTANT pudding (3.6 ounces) I used Godiva Dark Chocolate
• 2 tablespoons freeze dried coffee
• 1 stick melted butter (½ cup)
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• ⅓ cup sour cream
• 4 eggs
• Flour/butter for the pans

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• 1 cup no seed, all fruit raspberry preserves -I used Bonne Maman
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ cup very cold water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

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• 2 sticks softened butter (1 cup)
• 2.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 16 ounces of your favorite chocolate frosting
• Fresh raspberries (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°. Butter and flour the cake pans. Set aside. Put 2 sticks of butter into one of the mixing bowls to soften. Set that aside. Place the other stick of butter into the second mixing bowl and melt in the microwave.
2. Mix the milk, sour cream, and eggs into the melted butter until combined.
3. Mix in the pudding and coffee. Beat on medium for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Mix in the cake mix on low speed for about 30 second and high speed for about 2 minutes, pausing to scrape down the bowl.
5. Pour the batter the into prepared pans and bake it, on the middle rack, for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool the cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes then cool them completely on the rack before frosting.
7. Mix the preserves and sugar together in the sauce pan over low heat. Allow it to come to a low boil. Mix the very cold water and cornstarch together and stir until the cornstarch dissolves. Stir the cornstarch-y water into the preserves. Stir. Boil for a minute or two remove from the heat and allow to cool. Set aside.
8. Mix the frosting, softened butter, vanilla and milk together. Mix on low until blended. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Chocolate Fence

9.   To frost the cake, place the raspberry filling into one of the plastic bags. Place about ⅓ cup of the frosting into the other. Snip a small corner from the chocolate filled bag. Place one of the cake layers onto the cake round. Then use the plastic bag to make a ½ inch tall ‘fence’ around the edge of the cake (see the picture.)   Then snip the edge of one corner of the bag holding the preserves. Fill in the ‘fenced in area.’ This holds in the filling and stops the top layer from sliding around. Spread around evenly, without going over the ‘fence.’ Carefully place the other layer on top. Then use the offset spatula to frost as usual. Garnish each slice with raspberries before serving.

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Every year, I try to make food gifts for my friends. Last year I made Cheese and Bacon Crackers and Beef Jerky. Both very well received. In fact, someone stole my friend’s Beef Jerky from his job!

This year has been very busy, and I wanted to do something thoughtful, but easy. Hot Cocoa mix is always popular and how hard can that be? Right? Wrong! I have mixed and remixed and mixed again. Getting a mix that is creamy, chocolatey, sweet (but not too sweet) and that also dissolves was no easy task.

You are lucky I have taken all the work out of making this great gift. I purchased ½ pint mason jars for gifting. This is inexpensive and very easy.

Servings: 9 (ish) cups (That is actual measuring cups. It makes almost 70 cups of chocolate)

Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, a gallon storage bag, a food processor, a funnel (optional) 9-½ pint mason jars

Time: Active time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Dutch processed Cocoa
• 3 cups powdered milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 1-5.9-ounce box of instant chocolate pudding
• 6 ounces of chocolate chips
• ½ tablespoon corn starch
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

1. Using the food processor, grind the chocolate chips as small as you can get them.
2. Mix the ground chips and all the other ingredients together in the bag.
3. Shake like crazy to mix.
4. Place ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons into each mason jar. Each jar makes about 5 cups of cocoa.

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You can personalize each jar by mixing in ONE of these:

• 2 tablespoons instant coffee
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper 

You can include a gift bag with each jar that includes any or all of these: a tiny bag of mini marshmallows, a mini bottle of peppermint schnapps or Kahlua, miniature candy canes, a tiny bag of crushed butterscotch or a tiny bag of crushed peppermints. Go all out and add in a mug and you have a great gift for anyone on your list.

To make the hot cocoa, shake the jar like crazy before each use. Add 2-3 tablespoons of boiling water to a mug. Then stir in 2 heaping tablespoons  of Hot Cocoa Mix. Stir until all the mix is dissolved. Top the dissolved mix with 6 ounces of hot water or steaming milk. Stir again. Then add in any of the mix-ins or top with mini marshmallows or whipped cream. Then relax and enjoy

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

I realized that I don’t make many desserts.  I don’t have a very sweet tooth.  Also, my husband and I are a little round so the last thing we need is sugary treats.  But my summer is over.  And to celebrate (mourn?) the beginning of the school year, I wanted a little something.

So cheesecake.  I also realized that this would be my 3^rd cheesecake so I changed the shape and made cheesecake bars.  That’s different? Right?  I used raspberry preserves because that is what I had.  You could use any preserves or even marmalade. I think this would especially  taste great with orange marmalade. I was also thinking of using peanut butter cookies in the crust, and calling this peanut butter and jelly cheesecake.  If you are an adventurous cook, try one of them and let us know.  But we’re getting away from ourselves.

This, the way I made it, turned out well.  Enjoy the end of summer and the beginning of school.

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

Servings:  9 squares

Time:  Prep: 15 minutes, bake time 1 hour
Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, a food processor, a mixer, a large mixing bowl, a rubber spatula, a 8x8x2 inch glass pan, parchment paper, a knife or skewer

Crust

• 1½ cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (1 sleeve crackers)
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

Filling

• 2-8 oz. blocks cream cheese (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 room temperature eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
• ⅓ cup seedless raspberry preserves
• Cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt the butter.  Set out the cream cheese and the eggs. Spray the bottom and sides of the pan.  Cut two pieces of parchment paper wide enough to fit into the bottom of the pan and long enough to stick out over the edges. Place one piece of paper in the bottom of the pan in one direction and the other piece in the opposite direction
2. Crush the graham cracker in the processor.  Add the sugar and then the butter.  Blend until the mixture is a fine crumb.  Press the crust mixture firmly into bottom of the pan. Bake 8 minutes.
3. Place the cream cheese and sugar into the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and zest. Continue to mix on low speed until smooth. Pour ¾ of the cream cheese mixture evenly over the hot crust. Add the raspberry jam to the remaining cream cheese and mix until smooth. Dollop the raspberry filling over the cream cheese layer randomly. Use a knife or skewer to gently swirl the two layers.
4. Bake 45-50 minutes or until center does not wiggle when shaken.
5. Cool completely.  Use the bottom piece of the parchment paper to carefully lift the whole thing out of the pan.  Cut it into 9 squares. Store covered in the refrigerator. Serve cold or at room temperature topped with fresh raspberries.





Milky Way Cheesecake

We have a ton of leftover Halloween candy. I took a bag of it with me to give to my students.  I have also been trying to cook with it. I made chocolate chip cookies and Twix ice cream. I sprinkled chopped up Snickers onto pancakes.

I was doing all this while trying to get together Thanksgiving recipes for this blog.  So I am killing 2 birds as they say.  I love cheesecake.  Love it.  I have a million fun size Milky Ways laying around. (Okay that is an exaggeration, but not a big one.)  So I did this.  It turned out really well.

You could change this up by using other candy bars.  You could also use hazelnut spread rather than chocolate.  People will give you all kinds of advice for keeping your cheesecake from cracking. (Don’t over mix the batter, allow it to cool in the oven, etc.) I have none.  Mostly, because I don’t care.  Just cover your cheesecake in sauce or whipped cream.  Or let it go.  It’s just dessert.

Milky Way Cheesecake

Servings:  8

Time:  Prep: 30 minutes, bake time 1 ½ hours, refrigerating overnight
Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, a knife and a cutting board, a food processor, a mixer, a rubber spatula, a 9 inch springform pan, foil, space in the fridge

Ingredients:

• 26 chocolate cream cookies (I used Oreos)
• ¼ cup frosted flakes
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5-8oz packages cream cheese
• 1¼   cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 5 fun size Milky Way candy bars
• ½ cup chocolate spread (I used Heresy’s)
• Butter flavored cooking spray
• Milky Ways and caramel sauce for garnish

1.  Preheat oven the oven to 325°. Place the cream cheese on the counter to allow it to soften.  Melt the butter. Roughly chop the candy bars and set them aside.  Spray the pan with cooking spray.
2. Put the cookies, cereal, and sugar in the food processor.  Pulse until the cookies are crumbs.  With the processor on, drizzle in the melted butter.  Press the cookie mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Lower the temperature to 300˚.
3. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla on medium speed just until blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed until blended. Don’t over mix.
4. Fold in the sour cream.
5. Sprinkle the chopped candy bars in the bottom of the pan and top with ½ the batter.
6. Mix the chocolate spread into the remaining batter. Spread the chocolate evenly over the vanilla batter.
7. Bake 1-1½ hours or until the center is soft set. Open the oven door and allow the cake to cool in the oven for 2 hours.  Allow the cake to sit out on the counter, still in the pan, until cool.  Cover the cake in foil and refrigerate overnight or for at least for 3 hours. 
8. Carefully remove the cake from the pan.  Place a slice of cheesecake on a plate and top with caramel sauce and half a Fun size or a whole bite-size Milky Way bar. Store any leftovers in the fridge.