Come to the Dark Side...of Chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Cake with Ganache

If you're not a fan of dark chocolate, then this cake is probably not for you.  It's deep, dark and chocolate!    I call these types of cakes "cheater cakes", because the base is a boxed mix.  I know!  Shudder the thought and my sweet, southern mama would be so disappointed in me, but that'll be our secret, right?

First off, you're going to need:

Cake:

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (or if you can find it, Swiss chocolate!)

1 box (3.9 oz) instant chocoloate pudding mix

1 cup water

4 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup (4 oz) semisweet chocolate morsels

Ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

1 pkg (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Cake:

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Spray bundt pan with Baker's Secret, or other type of oil and flour mixture.

Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, water, eggs and oil in a bowl and beat for 2 minutes, or until well blended.

Stir in the 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  Transfer batter to prepared Bundt pan. 
Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Cool cake in the pan on cooling rack for 15 minutes.

Invert cake onto cooling rack.  Place cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet.  Cool cake completely.

Ganache

Pour cream into saucepan, whisk the powdered sugar into the cream.  Heat until small bubbles appear.  Remove from heat and add the 12 oz. chocolate chips.  Stir until smooth.  Cool until just slightly warm.  Pour ganache over the cooled cake.  Transfer to serving platter.  (I used a couple of BBQ spatulas to do this - worked great!)

Note:  We're pretty much milk chocolate fans in this household, but this is a nice change.  It's not too sweet, but it feels dark and rich (huh?!)  I sent the cake to work with hubby, so we'll see what the consensus is when he comes home.   I'd love to hear your impression of it if you decide to bake this cake!

Fresh Apple Nut Cake

After seeing all the Fall inspired recipes around, I thought apples! I pulled out a recipe I havent made in 30 years! I remember the person who gave it to me and have no idea what they're doing today, but I have that recipe! Friends were coming over tonight for dessert and coffee so off to the grocery store I ran to get some fresh Gala apples. Right now I'm really bonkers for Braeburn (did I spell that right?!?) apples, but can't seem to get my hands on them at the grocery store lately, so Gala would have to do because personally, the McIntosh and others don't have much of a flavor these days.
There are so many apples in this cake, plus the sauce you pour over top soaks into the cake it is super-moist...and heavy! Ok, on to the recipe, right?

FRESH APPLE NUT CAKE
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups chopped apples
1 tsp salt
3 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups Wesson oil
1 tsp soda
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for one hour in ungreased 9 x 13 pan.

ICING
1/2 cup butter (one stick)
1 cup PET Milk (has to be Pet. Trust me, I've tried Carnation and others, has to be Pet!)
1 cup brown sugar

Bring to a boil and boil 3-4 minutes. Pour over WARM cake.

I try to time the icing part to when I take the cake out of the oven. With it fresh from the oven, the liquid soaks into the cake better.

Sorry, there are no pictures.