A little about my sister-in-law and CAKE!

Okay, so I love my husband's family dearly! I hang out with them even when my hubby is not around which I think says a lot :0) My hubby has just one sister and we have a lot of interests in common. One thing my sister-in-law loves to do is throw parties (in particular her children's birthday parties) and she sets the bar pretty high. Each party is centered around a theme including food and even an adult beverage. It's so much fun and she always shares ideas which is nice. I don't even remember what kind of party it was where she first introduced us to this absolutely marvelous creation...The Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake. I'm not 100% sure on the origin of this cake, I just know she got it out of a cook book that doctors up store bought cake mixes. Be sure to try this one...you won't regret it!  

Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake 

Cake:
1 box Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Chocolate Cake Mix
1/3 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate milk 
1 small box instant chocolate fudge pudding (dry)
1 16oz container sour cream 
1 bag chocolate chips (I use milk choc., original recipe calls for semi sweet) 


Glaze: 
1 1/2 teaspoons water 
3/4 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi sweet) 
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup 


Mix all cake ingredients together. It will be extremely thick! Spoon into a greased and floured 12-cup (make sure it's 12 cups!) bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn out on a cookie sheet to cool. When the cake is cooled, make and top with glaze. Store at room temp loosely covered or in fridge. 


I can't just leave you with one cake so I am going to share another doctored up cake mix for you that I discovered from a very talented coworker of mine. You can check out her blog post and others by visiting Basilmomma. This recipe originally comes from one of my favorite ladies...Mrs. Paula Deen. I've made these a few times now and I'm pretty sure I could eat the entire cake in one sitting! I turned this into cupcakes for birthday parties and it works beautifully (the icing even works fairly well being piped onto the cupcakes). 

 Pink Lemonade Cake 

Adapted from a Paula Deen recipe 

Cake: 
1 box of Duncan Hines white cake mix 
1 tsp lemon zest (I used 2 tsp) 
2 tsp pure vanilla extract 
3 TB of Country Time Pink Lemonade Powdered drink mix 


Frosting: 
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened (I used 1 stick, your preference)
1 pound of confectioners sugar 
5 TB frozen pink lemonade concentrate (use just a bit more if it is thick, to taste) 
1 tsp pure vanilla 
1 tsp lemon zest (I used 2 tsp) 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pans (Basilmomma used 2 - 8 inch round cake pans). Prepare the cake batter according to the box directions using the ingredients listed.  To the batter add the lemon zest, vanilla and pink lemonade powder.  Stir to combine.  Pour the batter evenly to the pans.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Remove the cakes and allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes.  Then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool. While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting by beating together the confectioners sugar and the softened butter until fluffy.  Beat in the remaining frosting ingredients until combined. Ice your cake/cupcakes. 


My youngest angel just celebrated her first birthday with a luau and my next blog post will feature these amazingly yummy ham and swiss sandwiches. Until then, here is a picture of my girls in their tutus from my last posting...enjoy!