Crunchy Chocolate Birthday Cake

Crunchy Chocolate Birthday Cake by limegreenfrog.
We tried a new birthday cake tonight. The recipe is from my Aunt, I don't know the origins beyond that. She promised an easy recipe to add elegance to a simple box mix!

1 box cake mix- chocolate or devil food
1 Stick of butter
1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs
1 ½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Prepare cake mix as directed on the box and pour into two cake pans. Melt butter, add graham cracker crumbs let this mixture cool then add the nuts and chips. Pat this crunchy mixture into the top of each cake pan and bake as directed (i could have cooked mine less than the box recommended). Cool the cake, remove from the pan but do not turn upside down so that the crunchy portion will be on top and in the middle of the cake.

Frosting:
1 ½ cups Heavy Cream
1 ½ Tbsp instant coffee powder
1/3 cup powder sugar

Cool cake completely. Mix frosting ingredients together and beat on high until whipped consistency. Frost the middle and sides of cake only.

Since my daughter isn't big on nuts or coffee flavors, I only put nuts on half the cake & used plain whipped cream on half the cake as well. She loved crushing the graham crackers & helping make this cake.

Quadruple Chocolate Cake Recipe

Yesterday when I woke up, I had a big craving for a rich, chocolate cake. I didn't really feel like going out to buy one so I decided upon the next best thing and made one. This one came from Nigella Lawson's Feast, in her Chocolate Hall of Fame section.

Comprised of chocolates and cocoa in four different areas, this one is for all the chocolate lovers.

It's sweet, rich, and moist. Just right to satisfy anyone's chocolate cravings. Yum.
Quadruple Chocolate Cake

For all you chocolate lovers out there, this one is for you! Taken out of Nigella Lawson's Feast, this cake gets its name not from the bypass you'll need after eating it (this is what it actually says in her book!), but from the four chocolates that make up this sinful loaf cake: 1) cocoa for the cake, 2) chocolate chunks folded into it, 3) chocolate syrup poured onto it, and 4) the chocolate flakes sprinkled on top.

Ingredients

--FOR THE CAKE--
200g flour
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
50g cocoa
275g caster sugar
175 unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
80ml sour cream
125ml boiling water
175g chocolate chips

--FOR THE SYRUP--
1 teaspoon cocoa
125ml water
100g caster sugar

25g dark chocolate to sliver and sprinkle on top

Recipe

1) Prepare all ingredients to room temperature (1)
2) Line a loaf pan (about 900g's worth) with cling foil and leave a little overhang so you can easily take the cake out.
3) In a bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2). Then beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly mixed.
4) In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa (3).
5) Fold in the dry ingredients to the sugar, butter, egg mixture (4). Then add in the sour cream and vanilla (5). Mix together until a you have a light, satiny brown colour.
6) At this point, slowly add in the boiling water as you continue to mix (6).
7) Add in the chocolate chunks or chips (7).
8) Pour this into the loaf pan (8) and bake in oven for about 1 hour at 170C or 335F. Cake tester should come out relatively dry, although a little bit of stickiness is good as this is a moist cake.
9) At around the 45 min. mark, prepare the syrup by boiling in a sauce pan for about 5-10min. the sugar, water, and cocoa (11). You essentially want a reduced liquid, or syrup consistency so boil until you achieve this (12).
10) After you take the cake out of the oven, put on a cooling rack. Poke numerous holes in the cake. Pour the syrup evenly on the top surface of the cake so that the syrup soaks into the holes and sides of the cake (13).
11) Let cool completely before taking the cake out of the loaf pan. Use the cling wrap to take the cake out of the pan.
12) Sprinkle the chocolate slivers (10) generously on top of the loaf. Then serve.

Chocolate Potato Cake Recipe

I couldn't really get a good picture of it...it needs some warm tones (too yellow without the flash and too white with it...ah well). This is one of my family's favorite recipes (from the Eating Well cookbook). The potato put us off at first, but really just locks in the moisture. For the above, I've doubled the recipe and made it as a layer cake, the layer filling consisting of ginger preserves and some pomegranate seeds, and then the whole thing covered in chocolate frosting and more pomegranate (usually I make the layer and outside chocolate and the top I cover with raspberries, but it's not raspberry season...). Also, the recipe usually calls for half a tsp of cinnamon and a quarter tsp of nutmeg, but I prefer cardamom. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 cup cold, plain, mashed potatoes
* 1 cup flour
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 cup buttermilk
* Pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9-inch round spring-form pan and line the base with wax or parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, and eggs. Whisk in the (well-mashed) potatoes. In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt. Using a spoon or rubber spatula, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter into the cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched lightly. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a rack and let cool thoroughly. Once cool, do what you like.

Youtube.com video:Beyond Reality - Top Chef Chicago Recap - 5/06/08