Quick Black Forest Cake

I've never been a big cake fan--except when it comes to Black Forest Cake! YUM! This recipe is super easy and super delicious. It's one of the best birthday presents I've ever given myself :)

Quick Black Forest Cake

INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix with pudding
3 eggs
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
1/2 to 1 cup frozen cherries, chopped (add more or less depending on your preference)
1 1/2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Mix together: cake mix, beaten eggs, almond extract, cherry pie filling, frozen cherries, and 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into a greased angel food cake pan or bundt pan.
Bake in a 350 degree F (175 degree C) oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let cool.

To Make Glaze: Heat 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, butter or margarine, and milk in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once semisweet chocolate chips are melted and mixture is combined stir in confectioners' sugar.
Drizzle glaze over cooled cake. Serve cake as is or with whipped cream and a cherry.

German Chocolate Cake

I found this wonderful recipe and used it for Josh's birthday cake. The recipe is AMAZING! It is well written, detailed, and the cake cooks perfectly (or maybe it was a fluke thing). Not only was the cake batter perfect but the frosting is really good too.

German Chocolate Cake from Let Joy Resound

I topped my cake with toasted coconut.

Update:

I've now made the cake a total of three times (soon to be four). It has turned out perfectly each time and is absolutely heavenly! This recipe is a KEEPER. I've been having nightmares that the above link for some reason won't work and I will not be able to find the recipe so I decided to go ahead and copy the entire recipe over.

Filling:

4 egg yolks

1 can evaporated milk (12 ounces)

1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces

1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut (7 ounces)

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (6 1/2 ounces), toasted on baking sheet in 350-degree oven until fragrant and browned, about 8 minutes

1. FOR THE FILLING: Whisk yolks in medium saucepan; gradually whisk in evaporated milk. Add sugars, butter, and salt and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is boiling, frothy, and slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Transfer mixture to bowl, whisk in vanilla, then stir in coconut. Cool until just warm, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cool or cold, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. (Pecans are stirred in just before cake assembly.) ***I have never over cooked the frosting but I have slightly undercooked it. Still tastes good but is not as thick and drizzles down the sides.***



Cake:

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate , chopped fine

1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa , sifted

1/2 cup boiling water

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces), plus additional for dusting cake pans

3/4 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened

1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar (about 4 3/4 ounces)

3/4 teaspoon table salt

4 large eggs , room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup sour cream , room temperature

2. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine chocolate and cocoa in small bowl; pour boiling water over and let stand to melt chocolate, about 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth; set aside until cooled to room temperature.

3. Meanwhile, spray two 9-inch-round by 2-inch-high straight-sided cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray paper rounds, dust pans with flour, and knock out excess. Sift flour and baking soda into medium bowl or onto sheet of parchment or waxed paper.

4. In bowl of standing mixer, beat butter, sugars, and salt at medium-low speed until sugar is moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula halfway through. With mixer running at medium speed, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down bowl halfway through. Beat in vanilla; increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 45 seconds. With mixer running at low speed, add chocolate, then increase speed to medium and beat until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl once (batter may appear broken). With mixer running at low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream (in 2 additions), beginning and ending with dry ingredients, and beating in each addition until barely combined. After final flour addition, beat on low until just combined, then stir batter by hand with rubber spatula, scraping bottom and sides of bowl, to ensure that batter is homogenous (batter will be thick). Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; spread batter to edges of pans with rubber spatula and smooth surfaces.

5. Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then invert cakes onto greased wire rack; peel off and discard paper rounds. Cool cakes to room temperature before filling, about 1 hour. (Cooled cakes can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.) ***I freeze the cakes in the cake pan after they have cooled for 10 minutes in the pan and about 15 minutes on the wire rack. Freezing them makes cutting them very easy when assembling.***

6. TO ASSEMBLE: Stir toasted pecans into chilled filling. Set one cake on serving platter or cardboard round cut slightly smaller than cake, and second cake on work surface (or leave on wire rack). With serrated knife held so that blade is parallel with work surface, use sawing motion to cut each cake into two even layers. Starting with first cake, carefully lift off top layer and set aside. Using icing spatula, distribute about 1 cup filling evenly on cake, spreading filling to very edge of cake and leveling surface. Carefully place upper cake layer on top of filling; repeat using remaining filling and cake layers. If necessary, dust crumbs off platter; serve or refrigerate cake, covered loosely with foil, up to 4 hours (if refrigerated longer than 2 hours, let cake stand at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes before serving).

Heartland Freezer Brownies

These brownies stay soft so you can eat them straight from the freezer without waiting for them to thaw! This is another one from my freezer cookbook.

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup nuts (opt)
Powdered sugar

Combine butter, sugar and cocoa. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. Mix together well. Beat in flour, salt, and nuts. Spread in greased 9x13 pan. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 20-25 min. Test for doneness; do not overbake. Sprinkle powdered sugar over warm brownies. Cool brownies completely. Freeze by wrapping in plastic wrap and then placing in plastic bag.

Chocolate Cherry Mice

A cute little treat whenever you're in the mood.

For each mouse:

Almond bark (chocolate coating)
1 Chocolate Hershey Kiss
2 chocolate chip morsels
1 drained maraschino cherry with stem

Melt almond bark in microwave on high until melted, stirring every 30 seconds.

Dip cherry in chocolate by stem and coat evenly. Place on aluminum foil or wax paper to cool.

Dip one more time. Before it cools, press Hershey kiss into side of cherry point side out and place chocolate chips as ears, point side toward cherry. Let cool completely.

Eat and enjoy. Store at room temp in air tight container.

Upside-Down Chocolate Chip Coconut Cake

This cake never comes out as pretty as the picture in the cookbook, but it always tastes pretty good!

3 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 tsp water
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or not)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the 3 tbs butter in a 9x1 1/2 inch round baking pan. Stir in the 1/2 cup brown sugar and the water. Sprinkle coconut and pecans into pan. Set pan aside.
In a med mixing bowl, stir together flour, gran sugar, cocoa powder, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and baking powder. Ad milk, 1/4 cup butter, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined. Beat on med speed for 1 minutes. By hand stir in 1/2 cup of the chocolate chipos. Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake feels firm when lightly touched. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes. Loosen side; invert onto a serving plate. Immediately sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate pieces; let stand for 30 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bundt Cake

You've heard of death by chocolate, well this cake covers it all! Make sure you have extra people around becuase it is a dangerous thing to have leftovers of.

1 Chocolate cake mix (any kind)
8 oz pkg. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg (beaten)
6 oz pkg. mini semi-sweet chips
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla

Mix cake mix up as directed on box and pour into well greased-flowered bundt cake pan. In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients together. Plop by spoonfuls onto the top of the chocolate cake batter until you have formed a ring on the top of the chocolate cake batter. Do not stir in the cream cheese mixture into the choc. cake batter. Bake as directed on the cake mix box (usually 40 min). After removing from oven, let cake cool 5-7 minutes and then turn out onto your cake platter. After cake is cooled somewhat, drizzle chocolate topping all over.


Chocolate Toping:

In small saucepan, mix 6 Tablespoons of Hershey’s Cocoa, 2 Tablespoons of oil, and 2 Tablespoons margarine on low. Remove from heat and add ¼ cup hot water, dash of salt, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla. Stir together and then add 2 cups of powdered sugar to thicken chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Sauce

Watchout, this recipe is dangerous! If you love chocolate this one is for you. It's easy, out of your pantry, fast, and good on everything!

1 stick butter
Melt in sauce pan then add:

6 oz Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (1 cup)

Remove from heat and allow chocolate to melt.

Add:
1 Can Evaporated milk
2 ½ cups powdered sugar

Return to heat. Bring to boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for about 6 minutes while stirring. Makes a large batch; store extra in refrigerator and warm in microwave as needed. Serve warm as fondue for dipping, sundae sauce, or by the spoonful.
Mmmm, this stuff is dangerous!