Announcement Cupcakes

I wanted a fun way to announce to my coworkers which gender of baby I am expecting. So, I decided on cupcakes. After all, who doesn't love cupcakes? My plan of attack was to bring in cupcakes that were either frosted in pink or blue. I have to be honest, I am glad they will be blue because I am not a fan of pink.

These cupcakes were delicious! I know because not only did I lick the batter bowl, I also ate one after dinner tonight. Any time I want to make an easy but yummy cake or cupcake recipe, I resort to the Cake Doctor. If you haven't checked out her cookbooks, you are missing out! The whole theme of the book is to take a regular boxed cake mix and add things to it. Honestly, every cake I have made you absolutely cannot tell it's from a box. And when I tell people, they don't believe me.

This recipe is very versatile. The title in the book says it all: Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Ten Different Buttercream Frostings. If you cannot find a frosting that you like, you must be the most picky person on the face of the planet!

Being pregnant around chocolate is sheer torture. Not only did I have to smell these puppies baking, but I had to wait several hours to eat one. Really, they were staring me in the face all afternoon. Stupid chocolate cravings.

I decided on the White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. I am usually not a fan of cream cheese frostings, but like I said before, it's the Cake Doctor. You really can't go wrong. Plus, I wasn't sure how picky my coworkers would be if I brought in Orange-Cocoa Cream Cheese or Crushed Peppermint Buttercream.

Try these cupcakes out. You won't be disappointed. And maybe you will bring them to work to announce something fun too!

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes
from: The Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor

22 to 24 paper liners for muffin pans
1 package (18.25 oz) devil's food cake mix
3/4 cup water
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, water, sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with the mixer on low speed for one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Spoon the batter into the lined muffin cups, filling each liner three quarters of the way full (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners if any). Place the pans in the oven.

3. Bake until they spring back when lightly pressed with your fingers and a toothpcik comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottom of the pan using the end of the knife and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting of your choice.

5. Spread the tops of the cupcakes with frosting and serve.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups confectioner's sugar

1. Place the white chocolate in a small glass bowl in the microwave oven on high power for 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the oven and stir with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until it is smooth. Set the chocolate aside to cool.

2. Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the melted white chocolate and blend on low speed until just combined, 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and 2 1/2 cups of the confectioner's sugar, and blend on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 30 seconds more. Add more sugar as needed to make the frosting spreadable. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 1 minute more.

3. Use to frost the top and sides of the cake of your choice.

It's All About Balance

Yesterday, I blogged about a cake that I made several months ago but couldn't eat currently because of my quest to lose weight. Well, I figure now's a good time to post a cake that I can eat.

Tada! Introducing.......A Lighter Chocolate Pound Cake! This is another Cake Doctor recipe, and honest to goodness, you cannot tell it's light. This cake is so incredibly moist and rich! As you can see by the pictures, it's very dark. The flash on my camera can't handle its awesomeness.

Don't be fooled by the ingredients. It seems very simple, yet, it's perfect. Serve it alone, or maybe with a touch of powdered sugar dusting, or like we did: with fresh whipped cream. It is a cake that stands alone on taste, so truly, you don't need a topper.

I have both of the Cake Doctor cookbooks and I haven't made an item in either one that doesn't taste great. I believe the same author makes a cupcake cookbook as well as a cookbook using boxed meals. It's probably a good thing that I don't have either of those. I would be holed up in my kitchen for days.

I have to admit that I haven't counted the WW points for this, but I am sure it's fairly reasonable for a serving. That being said, maybe I shouldn't. I might just be tempted to make it again. Which would be bad. Along with peanut butter, anything chocolate is a "danger" food. You could even make this cake lightly by substituting the oil for unsweetened applesauce, and using egg substitute rather than the whole eggs. I am sure it would still be delicious.

I can at least stare at the pictures and allow you to make it by proxy for me.

A Lighter Chocolate Pound Cake

from: Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor

1 package (18.25 oz) plain devil's food cake mix

1 package (3.9 oz) chocolate instant pudding mix

1 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, pudding, yogurt, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 48 to 52 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack to cool completely, 20 minutes more.

Because I Can't Have It

To torture myself, I have decided to drool helplessly over this delicious chocolate cake. No, I didn't give up cake for Lent. I didn't give up anything for Lent actually (bad Pachey). Since I am trying to lose weight.....I am down 17 pounds so far........I am trying to eat healthy. This cake does not constitute healthy. In fact, it is making my arteries clog up just thinking about it.

Food that tastes good is bad for you. At least generally that's the case. Food that tastes good can also be healthy (see the last few entries for proof). This is not one of the healthy recipes. It contains the following fatty (aka TASTY) ingredients:

* devil's food cake

* buttermilk

* oil

* peanut butter

* butter

* confectioner's sugar

So you be asking yourself "If she can't eat it, why in the world is she making it?". Maybe you aren't asking yourself that, but I will confess. I didn't make it. I made this cake several months ago. I just haven't blogged about it until now. A girl can dream right?

I can't even keep peanut butter in the house. It's one of my "danger" foods. Meaning, I will eat it. All of it. So, until I can be safe around peanut butter, I will just drool at this cake.

Notice I don't have any after pictures of the cake assembled. See above about peanut butter being a danger food. I probably was too busy scarfing down a giant piece of cake and a glass of milk that I didn't have time to take a picture.

Needless to say, this cake is delicious. For all you food purists that turn your noses up at using a cake mix, I say: Tough. Have you ever tried a recipe from the Cake Doctor? Don't knock it til you try it. Her cakes are amazing and you can't tell they came from a mix.

This sheet cake would make an awesome addition to a potluck, or if you want to bribe someone, this cake is the way to do it. It's portable since you don't remove it from the pan. It's almost like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in cake form. Now if it were only Weight Watchers friendly. It actually is, but with a little alteration. Yes, I have calculated it.

Chocolate Sheet Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

from: The Cake Mix Doctor

1 package (18.25 oz) plain devil's food cake mix

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil, or canola oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 13x9 inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look thick and combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.

Time for a new 13x9 inch pan. Errr, maybe it's just well seasoned.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Place the peanut butter and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well combined, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting lightens and is fluffy, 1 minute more. Blend in up to 1 tablespoon milk is the frosting seems too stiff.

2. Use at once to frost the cake.

I really could eat this by the spoonful.

Healthy Cake

Two words you don't usually hear together. That's okay though. Just because something is healthy, it doesn't mean that it has to taste bad.

I have an over abundance of pears in the house, so instead of letting them go bad (I can only eat so many pears for lunch), I thought I would make good use out of them. I looked everywhere for a good pear upside-down cake, but stumbled onto this recipe instead. I was intrigued. Pears, poppyseeds, ginger and stiff egg whites. It sounds like a strange combination, but it really works!

This cake sounds like it's a lot of steps and labor intensive, but it's really not. I just happen to have one mixing bowl for my Kitchenaid, so it took me a little longer than it would take most people. I had fun putting it all together, and it makes me happy to know that it's healthy. I don't have to feel horribly guilty if I have an extra piece. I was able to brush up on my skills for folding in egg whites, which I don't do often.

I didn't have almond extract so I substitued with vanilla and the cake was still very good. The end result is a moist cake that's airy because of the egg whites.

My oven runs really hot, so even with reducing the heat in the oven and cooking this for way less time than the recipe called for, the top still got overly brown. That's okay, it still tasted yummy.

Now, let's hope I don't have to take a drug test anytime soon. How in the world would I explain that it's poppyseeds in my system?

Pear Poppyseed Cake
from: Weight Watchers

2 large pears, peeled and cored
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
6 tbsp butter, softened
3 medium egg whites
1/2 cup sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray; dust with flour.

In microwavable bowl, heat pears until tender, about 2 minutes on high.

Strain 1/4 cup pear juice into measuring cup. Add buttermilk and stir in almond extract.

Mash pears with fork until they're about the texture of applesauce.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, poppy seeds, ginger, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter with a mixer on medium speed until light; add pear purée and mix to combine. Alternately add dry ingredients and pear juice mixture in three additions, starting with dry mixture.

In another bowl, whip egg whites with mixer until almost stiff. Add sugar slowly and whip until stiff. In three additions, fold whites into pear mixture. Pour into pan.

Bake until cake springs back in middle when lightly touched, about 45 minutes. Cool on rack and serve.

Let There be Leftovers

A few days ago, I was working from home, and wanted something sweet. It took me all day to figure out what to make, and as soon as I logged off from work, I got busy in the kitchen. I had leftover applesauce and some sour cream that I needed to use up, so....enter the cake.

I found this recipe in my box and I had never made it before. It contained applesauce, sour cream and regular, standard baking staples. It sounded easy enough, and tasty (obviously a requirement), so I went to work.

In the end, this made a moist, sweet cake. I am not sure why it's titled a coffee cake, because it didn't seem very coffee cake-like. Oh well. It was still good. I cut it into 16 small pieces right when it cooled out of the oven. That way, I wouldn't eat too big of a serving size. If I hadn't cut the cake this way, I would have ended up eating half of the pan at once! So, portion control people!

The only thing I did differently to this recipe was add a tiny bit of nutmeg. I always think cinnamon and nutmeg go well together, so I put some in there. Guess what? It was good. ::Pat on the back for Pachey::

This cake gets an A in my grading criteria. It used up leftover ingredients from my refrigerator, it was easy to make, tasted good and healthy. Yes, a cake can be healthy. It really is possible.

So, next time you have leftovers in your pantry or fridge, don't throw them out. Put them to good use! You just may end up with a tasty treat like the one below.

Applesauce Sour Cream Coffee Cake

from: Weight Watchers

1.5 cups flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fat-free sour cream
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

2. Stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Stir together sour cream, oil, and applesauce in a small bowl. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture just to mix (do not beat).

3. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake about 40 to 45 minutes. Allow cake to cool to warm or room temperature before slicing into 16 pieces.

Ode to the Cupcake

I got a new cake pan. I have wanted it for months and months, and finally broke down and spent the $34.95 to buy it. In my defense, I used a gift card.

What's so special about this cake pan? It's a cupcake! No, not a cupcake pan with individual cakes, but one single giant cupcake. It's super cool and I can think of a million uses for it (baby showers, birthdays, potlucks, molding ice cream). The pan is divided into two sections: The frosting top part, and the paper wrapper bottom.

Follow this link and you will understand: http://tinyurl.com/5qrn2b

This week, there will be no recipe. This is because I used a boxed cake mix. Hey, I needed to test it out and didn't want to spend a lot of money or time on something that could have been a disaster. Plus, the husband likes boxed cakes (I know, right?).

So, here goes the giant cupcake. I greased and floured the pan. Now, normally I would use all flour, but I wanted my bottom part of the cupcake not to have white dust. So, I used cocoa powder. I believe I learned to use cocoa from Martha Stewart.

Exhibit A:

The instructions on the pan say that for a boxed cake, you need more than one box to fill it. Each side of the pan needs to be two-thirds full. So, here is what it looks like. I think I filled them too much. Oh well, live and learn.

Batter in:

Bake! I had no idea how long they would need to bake for, so I kept checking after ten minutes. I think total, it took about 40 minutes to bake.

Yep, I filled them too much:

I ended up having to cut off some cake on each side, otherwise, the two pieces wouldn't have gone together right.

They are starting to look like a cupcake! On goes the frosting and the sprinkles. Yes, I bought sprinkles. What can I say? I was looking for presentation.

Now THAT'S a cupcake! I really don't want to cut into it. I have a feeling it's going to fall apart. But, at least it looked pretty for a little while.

From the Archives

I haven't cooked or baked much lately, due to school, work, and our latest vacation to Lake Tahoe. I wanted to update my blog, and I have some photos and recipes in the archives, so there you have it!

My best friend is currently attending culinary school at Western Culinary Institute. Her ultimate goal is to become a pastry chef and open her own bakery. For the first few weeks, I was able to reap the benefits of her efforts. She did a cake class, and for an entire week, it was focused on different types of cakes, frostings, ganaches, etc. Lucky me!

Below are some photos of the amazing cakes she made. Hopefully, I don't butcher the names of them.

Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Genoise Cake with Buttercream Filling

Peach Upside-Down Cake

I personally tried all three cakes, but my favorite was the Upside-Down cake. It was just sweet enough without being overpowering. Of course, my friend happened to come over after class that night, and it was close to 10:00pm. I couldn't resist and had to have a piece of the Upside-Down cake. The other kinds sat in my fridge until the next day.

Of course, I don't have recipes for these beautiful cakes, because I am sure they are trade secrets. However, I do have a recipe for a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake that I can vouch for. I have substituted peaches as well as pears in this particular recipe because my husband does not like pineapple. All three fruits are delicious!

It isn't nearly as good as my culinary friend's cake, but it's pretty darn tasty!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

from: Glamour Magazine

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 can (20 oz) pineapple slices, preferably in juice, drained

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch oven proof skillet, cake pan or pie plate. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until butter is melted. Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter. Arrange 6 pineapple slices on bottom of skillet. Cut remaining slices in half and place them, cut side up, around the edges of the skillet (like smiles). Set skillet aside while mixing cake batter.

3. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the remaining butter until almost melted. Remove from heat and let sit until completely melted. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Then add egg, milk and vanilla and stir ingredients until no visible lumps are seen. Scrape batter into the skillet over pineapple slices and spread evenly to cover them.

4. Bake 40 minutes or until cake is golden and firm to the touch. Let cool 10 minutes. To unmold cake, place a large plate over skillet and flip (If any pineapple slices stick, gently pry them off with a spatula and place them firmly back on cake).

Oh.My.Gosh.

This cake is called Holy Cow Cake. I have decided I shall rename it to the OMG Cake. It is decadent, rich, and terribly bad for you.

I don't know what possessed me to make this cake. I think it sounded good and the picture in the cookbook was really pretty. I just made a cake on Thursday evening for a potluck at work. I thought I was all baked out, but I guess not.

This cake was fun to make. It had a lot of steps, but in the end, it was completely worth it. Enjoy the masterpiece below.

By the way, if rich, sweet cakes aren't for you, steer clear of this recipe. I want to kiss the author of the Cake Doctor Cookbook. She is the bestest.

Holy Cow Cake

from: The Cake Mix Doctor Cookbook

Cake

1 package (18.25 oz) plain devil's food cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean or sunflower

3 large eggs

Topping

1 jar (8 oz) caramel topping

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

4 Butterfinger candy bars (2.1 oz each), crushed

1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 13x9 inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing out the top with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 38 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Immediately poke holes in the top of the cake with a drinking straw or chopstick.

4. Prepare the topping. Place the caramel topping and sweetened condensed milk in a small bowl and stir to combine. Spoon this mixture over the warm cake so that it can seep down into the holes. Measure out half the crushed candy bars and sprinkle the pieces over the cake.

5. Place the whipped topping and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth and combined, 1 minute. Spread the mixture over the top of the candy. Sprinkle the remaining candy pieces on top.

6. Place the pan, uncovered, in the refrigerator to chill the cake for about 20 minutes before cutting it into squares and serving.

This is what the Holy Cow Cake looks like when it's completey assembled and before you cut it. Pretty isn't it? This would be fun to take to a Halloween party.

Cookies + Cake = Delicious

Now, this cake was pretty to look at and pleasant to eat. I needed an excuse to use my new mixer yet again. Have I mentioned just how much I love my new mixer? Best Christmas gift my husband has bought me thus far.

I wanted a cake, but not an overly chocolate cake. Wait, check my temperature! I said I DIDN'T want something overly chocolate. I must be ill. Call the paramedics! Considering how much I love chocolate, this is a shocker. I settled on the cake below. It has a little chocolate, using the addition of sandwich cookies. Those would be Oreos for those brand-name people. I actually didn't use Oreos. I used the Fred Meyer brand called Kid-O's, which my husband and I thought was funny.

This was a fun cake to bake. The recipe called to cut the layers in half to make a four layer cake. It was so pretty with all the whipped cream in between the layers. The only change I would have made to this recipe would be to add a little bit of sugar into the whipped cream. It would give it a touch more sweetness. I couldn't find a cake mix with pudding at the grocery store, so I just used a regular boxed mix, and it turned out just fine! And of course, I used my new mixer for both the cake and to make the whipped cream.

Have I mentioned just how much I love my new mixer?

Cookies and Cream Cake
from: Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor

18 sandwich cookies, plus additional if needed
solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
flour for dusting the pans
1 package (18.25 oz) white cake mix with pudding
1 cup water
1/2 vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

1. Place the sandwich cookies, in batches, in a food processor and process until you have crumbs. You should have 2.25 cups crumbs. If not, process more cookies until you have the correct amount. Or, crumble the cookies using a large ziploc bag (this is what I did). Set aside.

2. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.

3. Place the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Fold in 1 cup of the cookie crumbs until well distributed. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

4. Place a clean, large mixing bowl and clean electric mixer beaters in the refrigerator (or freezer) while the cake bakes. You will use them to prepare the whipped cream.

5. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

6. Prepare the whipped cream: Remove the chilled bowl and beaters from the refrigerator. Pour the cream into the bowl and beat with the electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks, 2.5 to 3.5 minutes. Gently fold in 1 cup of the remaining cookie crumbs, distributing them well. Chill the whipped cream until the cake has cooled completely.

7. Carfully slice the cake layers in half horizontally, using a large, sharp serrated bread knife or a long piece of unflavored dental floss. You will have four layers. Place the bottom half of a cake layer on a serving platter, cut side up. Spread with some of the whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread with whipped cream. Next, add the bottom half of the second layer, cut side up, and spread with whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread the top and sides fo the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream using clean, smooth strokes.

8. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cookie crumbs on top of the cake. Place the cake in a cake server or under a glass dome and chill until time to serve.

Not for the Faint of Heart

I grew up with this cake. I love this cake like it was my own child. Every birthday, I had my choice of what kind of cake I wanted, and I always chose this. My mom would put food coloring in the frosting to make it special (ahhh, nostalgia) and we would eat.

According to my mother, and Bill Cosby, this is an appopriate breakfast food. It's got eggs, milk and flour, therefore, it must be suitable for breakfast. I am not going to lie; I will be enjoying a slice tomorrow morning, tee hee.

This is a very dense, dark chocolate cake. If you don't have sour milk on hand, which most people probably don't, you can make sour milk by adding a teaspoon of vinegar. The sour milk gives the cake an extra special flavor. I didn't have any shortening on hand, so I substituted with butter. Watch the cooking time, because the use of butter seemed to speed up the baking. The frosting may be the best part. Real butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. There isn't anything like homeade frosting. None of the store made, fake, Crisco frosting. Ew.

Here is a picture before the cake is frosted. See what I mean about dense? This cake is not for the chocolate faint of heart, or chocolate newbie.

You all have to feel very special, because this is a family recipe. I honestly don't know how old it is, or where it originated from, but here you go. Printed with permission from my mom.

Family Chocolate Cake

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup shortening (or butter, softened)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour milk

1/2 cup boiling water

1. Put ingredients in order given. Beat together. Put in ungreased square 8-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Frost with the buttercream frosting below.

Buttercream Frosting

1 pound confectioners (powdered) sugar

5 tablespoons butter, softened

dash salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

milk (amount depends on consistency)

1. Blend in mixer and add milk slowly to desired consistency. Frost cooled cake.