Red Velvet Waffles

Remember the time I was obsessed with all things Red Velvet? It couldn't last forever, but I do remember it fondly. And I still love Red Velvet. (I might need some cake balls soon.)

So the other day, after spending the better part of the day cleaning, vacuuming, and washing cars, nothing sounded better than some Red Velvet. Oh, and a shower. Since we got a new waffle iron a month ago, it's been like a game at our house to see how many different things we can make in it. I've even menu planned "Waffle Iron Night". I blame Pinterest. But it seemed like a perfect way to whip up some quick Red Velvet goodness.

I might've even sent a photo of them to Husband on his way home from work. (He wasn't driving, so there was nothing illegal or dangerous about checking his phone and drooling over the red waffly goodness.) They were requested for Mancation 5: The Reckoning before anyone besides me even tasted them. (Of course I tasted them before I sent Husband a photo. I couldn't send him a picture of a sub-par product. And I was about to get hangry from all the cleaning. I needed some sugar and red dye.)

Let me break it down for you. Are you ready? It's super complicated.

1. Buy a Red Velvet Cake Mix (Duncan Hines is my go-to brand for this flavor)
2. Take your waffle iron out of the cabinet and turn it on. I used medium heat.
3. Follow the directions on the cake mix box as you would for a cake.
4. Pour the batter on the hot waffle iron and cook until done in the middle and still soft on the outside.
5. Repeat until all the batter is gone!

I "frosted" mine with some cream cheese stuff I had left from making a strawberry pie. It was basically a block of softened cream cheese and a cup of sugar mixed on high in the mixer. For a better consistency, use powdered sugar and add milk to thin to your desired thickness.

Now, go make some. You know you want to.

Chocolate Fudge Cake? Yes, Please.

I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for a while, and finally got the occasion not long ago. It was a huge hit, and I’ll definitely be making it again.

You know why I didn’t make it in 2008 when I found the recipe? It has ganache.

Say it. It’s fun. Ganache. (Pronounced guh-NAHsh, for those who don’t spend all their free time watching the Food Network.) Fun to say, kind of scary to make. But as I found out, this isn’t “real” ganache. It’s more like a “lazy girl’s ganache.” I’m fine with that. Especially since it turned out great!

I did a horrible job with remembering to take pictures of the process, though.

First, make the cake. It comes from a boxed mix (shhhhh!), so it mixes up really quickly, even with a few extra ingredients thrown in.

Then, you add more chocolate. More chocolate is always good. Even if it is Special Dark Chocolate Chips instead of Baker’s Chocolate like the recipe says. I’m such a rebel.

And then you bake. Due to the aforementioned terrible memory for the photos, there are no pictures of that part. Use your imagination: chocolate cake batter poured into two 9” round pans, baked and all pretty.

Let the cake cool completely, then make the lazy ganache. You just need more chocolate…

and a tub of Cool Whip.

Seriously, it’s that easy. Microwave, stir, let it cool.

Place your cake on a serving plate and frost that baby. It will be all drippy, gooey, and so yummy.

So go, make yourself a chocolate cake! With ganache!

Best-Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake (Kraft Food & Family, Winter 2008)

1 pkg (8 squares) Baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate, divided (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Chips)

1 pkg chocolate cake mix (I used Devil’s Food)

1 pkg (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

½ cup oil

½ cup water (I added an extra 1/4 cup of water because Devil’s Food cake is thicker than regular chocolate cake. Strange, but true.)

1 tub Cool Whip, frozen

2 Tbsp sliced almonds (I left these off.)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9-inch round pans. Chop 2 of the chocolate squares (or 2 ounces of chocolate chips); set aside.

Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil, and water in large bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in chopped chocolate. Spoon into prepared pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pans, invert, and gently remove. Cool completely.

Place frozen Cool Whip and remaining 6 chocolate squares (or 6 ounces of chocolate chips) in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high 1 ½ minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth, stirring after 1 minute. Let stand 15 minutes to cool and thicken. You’ll stir it and think it’s too runny. If it’s just a tiny bit thick, it’s fine. Just pour/spread it slowly so it doesn’t run all over the place. When you refrigerate the cake, it’ll thicken up just fine.

Place bottom cake layer on serving plate; top with ¼ of the chocolate mixture. Spread over the top of the layer, then place the second layer on top. Slowly pour ganache on the top and sides. It helps if you pour a little at a time and use an offset spatula or butter knife to make sure the sides are completely covered. Garnish with almonds. Store in refrigerator.

Why I Don’t Have a Cooking Show (Cake Mix Cookies)

Y’all know I like to bake. And I take things to our LifeGroup, share stuff with friends, and post recipes here from time to time. But that’s usually the extent of my baking influence. (And I use the term “influence” extremely loosely.)

But a few weeks ago, one of the ladies with our Women’s Ministry called and asked me to do something completely out of my comfort zone and a little (ok, maybe a lot) scary for me.

She asked me to do a baking demo. For about 100 women.

Public speaking and/or teaching are nowhere in my area of giftedness. Excel spreadsheets? I’m in. Editing something with my favorite red pen? Love it. Administrating…stuff? I’m down. Standing in front of people and talking? Not so much.

But still, I was determined to share a fun, inexpensive, easy recipe with these ladies. And I did. I shared it, I mean. Which is to say, I got through the entire presentation, I didn’t spill anything, trip on the stage, blow anything up, or make a complete idiot of myself. And the guy who ran sound for us told one of our Women’s Ministry ladies that he thought he could make my recipe. I think that means it was a success.

My friend Kendy took this picture for me. I’m thankful she didn’t video.

I know you’re dying to know what I made. Cake Mix Cookies. I’ve shared the recipe before here, but I’ll put it below, too, since I’ve tweaked it a tiny bit. I love making Cake Mix Cookies. They’re fast, they’re easy, and they’re like a good pair of jeans – you can dress them up or down and be completely comfortable either way.

For the ladies to sample, I made: Plain vanilla (white cake mix), Vanilla with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Devil’s Food with Peppermint (almost a substitute for Thin Mints, but not quite), and Dark Chocolate with Cranberries, Pecans, and White Chocolate Chips.

As with my Chocolate Chip Cookies, I often freeze this dough instead of baking the whole batch right away. It not only hits the spot when you need a cookie dough fix during desperate times, but you can take them from freezer to oven and have warm cookies in the time it takes to preheat the oven and bake!

The ladies were all very sweet and said they enjoyed my demo – and the cookies. But there’s a reason I don’t have a cooking show, and I’m happy to continue cooking in my own kitchen. Go make some of these cookies in yours!

Cake Mix Cookies

1 boxed cake mix, any flavor

1 stick butter, softened

1 egg

3-4 tsp water, as needed

1/2 tsp – 1 tsp flavoring (like Almond Extract, Peppermint Extract, etc. if desired)

Up to 2 cups of mix-ins (if desired)

Soften the butter, and add the egg. Beat 3 minutes or until the egg and butter are fluffy and light yellow. (You don’t have to do this step, but if you do, the cookies will be fluffier.)

Add the cake mix and mix until just combined.

Add flavoring (if desired), and water 1 tsp at a time until the dough reaches the consistency you’d like.* It should be stiff but not dry.

If you want to add anything special (nuts, chocolate chips, etc.), do it now and mix until combined.

Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes. DO NOT BE FOOLED – the cookies will not look done, and they will be pretty squishy. (If you are using a light-colored cake mix like white or yellow, watch for browning. Once you see the slightest bit of brown on the cookies, take them out of the oven immediately.) Let them sit on the hot pan for several minutes before carefully moving to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

The above cooking time is for a soft, chewy cookie. If you prefer more crispy cookies, bake a little longer.

These are great alone, frosted, or made into double doosies. The possibilities are endless!

*Every cake mix is different, depending on brand and flavor. No two mix up the same! Chocolate seems to need more water than a white cake mix for some reason. Also, white cookies seem to spread more and come out thinner, the chocolate spreads less and is a little more puffy. If you have refrigerated your chocolate dough, it spreads a little more if you let it set out a few minutes before baking.

Mac and Cheese Pizza

Yes, you read that right. Mac & cheese. Pizza. I’ll admit, it’s not a combination I ever thought I’d like. And then I went to a little place back home called MAD Pizza, owned by some friends from our church. They introduced me to Mac & Cheese Pizza and my life will never be the same. I decided to see if I could make it. I knew I couldn’t get the exact thing since Mark probably wasn’t going to be willing to share the actual recipe with me, but something close would be better than nothing.

(And since I’ve been watching the chiseled bodies of Olympic athletes non-stop for the past few days, I thought maybe some carbs and cheese would be appropriate. Because, you know, I’m sure they eat stuff like this all the time.)

I started out with pizza crust dough. I use The Pioneer Woman’s recipe and had some 1/2 white 1/2 wheat dough in the freezer. So I pulled that out and got it ready, then pre-baked it.

While that was in the oven, I made our mac & cheese of choice. You can use whatever kind you like, I suppose – blue box, yellow box, homemade, etc. The creamier, the larger the noodle, the better.

Then, I made a Bechamel Sauce. I’ve never made Bechamel sauce before, but it was easy and quick. I got the recipe here. The quantity was perfect, too. (And saying “Bechamel” is fun.)

To the sauce, I added about 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella and stirred it until it was all melty and yummy.

I spread the sauce on the pre-baked crust using a measuring cup. It took almost all the sauce. And I could’ve used it all, but didn’t want to press my luck.

After the sauce was spread like I wanted it, sprinkled about 1/4 cup cheese on top. Then, I loaded that baby up with mac & cheese and sprinkled another 1/4 cup of cheese over it. (I had a lot of mac & cheese left over, so don’t feel like you have to use it all. You mustn't disrupt the crust/sauce/cheese balance.)

Since the crust was pre-baked, It didn’t take long at 500 degrees to get hot, melty, and golden.

I let it cool a little and gave it a try. It was good. Not MAD Pizza good, but a really, really good homemade version.

So go ahead and try it. You know you can’t eat healthy all the time!

Mac & Cheese Pizza

The Pioneer Woman’s Pizza Crust – you can find it here or in her cookbook.

Macaroni & Cheese of your choice. I use the big-noodle, cheese-squeezed-from-a-foil-package kind. (Judge away!)

Bechamel Sauce (Super easy recipe here!) (Butter, flour, milk, salt & pepper)

1 cup (or more) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Prepare pizza dough and pre-bake crust.

Prepare Mac & Cheese.

Make Bechamel Sauce. When it’s finished, stir in 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.

Spread Bechamel sauce on the pre-baked crust. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup mozzarella.

Spread prepared mac & cheese on sauce, sprinkle with 1/4 cup mozzarella.

Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes or until hot, melty, and starting to brown.

Chow down and enjoy!

Coconut Lime Ice Cream

I like ice cream. But it’s not something I feel like I have to eat all the time. Unless it’s summer. And then, I want real, homemade ice cream all the time. It’s silly and cliché, but I’ve learned to accept it, and even better, to make some pretty good ice cream.

But even ice cream gets boring sometimes. So I decided to try something new. I’d seen a recipe variation for my regular vanilla ice cream to make coconut ice cream. Which, of course, could only be made better by adding lime. Right? Right. So I decided to give it a shot.

I served it with some pie crust pieces I had reserved in the freezer for just such an occasion.

And I liked it. Husband, meh. He didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. Which left more for me. So if you are like me and love all things lime and don’t care who knows it, give this recipe a try!

Coconut Lime Ice Cream  (Adapted from Southern Living No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream recipe, Aug 2004)

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk

1/2 cup whole milk

1 can (13.5 ounce) coconut milk

Juice from 2 limes (about 1/4 cup), zest from one lime

1/4 tsp salt

Whisk condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla, and whole milk together. In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut milk, lime juice, zest, and salt. Incorporate into milks. Refrigerate until cold (overnight is fine). (I keep all my ingredients in the fridge so I don’t have to refrigerate. I’m impatient like that.) Whisk again before pouring into ice cream maker.

*This is not a very sweet ice cream. If you taste the mix and decide you want it a bit sweeter, add 2 Tbsp sugar and see if that makes it sweet enough for you. Be sure to let the sugar dissolve well in the mix before putting it in the ice cream maker.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Cake balls are not exactly a new thing, but with their introduction to Starbucks and regular bakeries in the past year or so, they’ve become pretty mainstream. And pretty pricey.

But there’s no need for you to pay an arm and a leg for them. You can make them yourself! The concept is simple. The process is time consuming. But oh, so worth it!

You can make just about any flavor combination you like. But the most popular around here is Red Velvet.

First, make a Red Velvet cake. I didn’t get any photos of the cake being made, but I did get a shot of these two watching with bated breath as it baked.

If you’ve read my baking tutorials before, you know I have an irrational fear of overbaking things. It’s actually ok if you overbake this just a teensy bit. Not that you should try to. But if it happens, it’s ok.

Next, cool the cake completely. And I do mean completely.

Then comes the fun part. Or not, depending on how you look at it.

Get yourself a big bowl. Crumble the cake into the finest crumbs possible. (I cut it into pieces first so it’s easier to handle.)

I sometimes discard (aka eat) the outside edges of the cake because they just don’t crumble well.

Honor and Caedmon were willing to help me with that task.

This is what your cake should look like when you’re finished crumbling.

Then, pop your can o’ store bought cream cheese frosting (a sacrilege, I know) into the microwave for about 30 seconds. (I will just pause here to say that while I am not a brand loyalist, there are definite differences in the flavor of the different brands of frosting. I always use Betty Crocker for cream cheese flavor. Always.)

(Also? I choose to use the canned frosting for this because this process is already long and involved enough. If I tried to make real frosting for this too, I might never, ever, make cake balls. And that would make some people around here very sad. So we deal with the canned frosting.)

After your frosting comes out of the microwave, give it a good stir. And pour it over the cake crumbs.

Using big spoon, mix the frosting and crumbs together until they resemble a red, sticky, delicious mess, with no streaks of white frosting visible.

Choose a scoop. I use a small scoop – it’s just small enough for a big bite or big enough for two small bites. The size you choose is completely up to you. Obviously, the larger the scoop, the fewer cake balls you’ll get out of a batch. With my small scoop, I usually get about six dozen.

Scoop all of your cake mixture into what are slowly becoming magical little pieces of goodness and set them on a piece of parchment or wax paper on a baking sheet or other pan that fits in your fridge/freezer.

Next, wet your hands and roll the balls so there are no crumbs sticking out. You can skip this step if you want, but I find it makes things so much nicer and prettier. And you don’t end up with as many crumbs in your dipping chocolate. You do, however, end up with red hands. It’s a sacrifice.

I don’t actually make them completely round – I like to leave the flat bottom. But that’s just me.

Place the cake balls into the fridge or freezer. Whether you want them refrigerated or frozen is up to you, really. It doesn’t change the flavor or texture of the final product, but I think they dip better if they’re slightly frozen.

This is where you could also call it “done” and freeze some for a later time. You may not need all six dozen right now. Just make sure they aren’t touching each other when you freeze them. They’re like siblings in the back seat of a car – they need their own space.

When you’re ready to dip the cake balls, melt your coating of choice in a double boiler. You can use almond bark, candy melts, chocolate chips, or Baker’s chocolate. For Red Velvet cake balls, I use vanilla almond bark coating. You can also melt your coating in the microwave, but unless you are super fast, you’ll end up having to re-heat and worry about overheating the coating. A double boiler is much easier. I also only melt about 1/3 of the coating at a time. That way the quantity isn’t unmanageable and if I end up with crumbs in it, they’re easier to fish out. Just be careful not to get any steam/water in your chocolate – it will cause it to seize up.

There are as many ways to dip things as there are coatings. I’ve done a little bit of everything. But my favorite (and possibly the easiest) way is to dip the bottom and let them set up in the fridge for a little while, then dip the tops.

I was making these around Independence Day, so I added some red, white, and blue sprinkles.

Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect – no one will notice, I promise!

The best part about cake balls is that you can make any flavor combination you like! And if you want cake pops? Just poke a stick in them before freezing/refrigerating, and you’re good to go.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

1 Red Velvet cake mix, made and baked according to package directions.

1 can Cream Cheese frosting.

1 1/2 packages Almond Bark coating.

Bake cake according to package directions and cool completely.

Crumble cake into fine crumbs.

Microwave frosting for 30 seconds, stir, and pour over crumbs. Incorporate into cake crumbs completely.

Scoop into balls, place on parchment-lined pan. If desired, roll with your hands to reduce crumbs.

Refrigerate or freeze to desired firmness.

Melt 1/3-1/2 of Almond Bark coating at a time in a double boiler.

Dip cake balls in Almond Bark, place on parchment-lined pan, and refrigerate to harden.

Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Italian Beans and Rice

I love fast, easy meals. And if they’re healthy, I love them even more.

Husband and I used to eat Red Beans & Rice all the time. We were poor. It was cheap. A package of Mahatma and a box of Jiffy cornbread mix was a quick, cheap dinner. We haven’t eaten red beans and rice much lately (It’s a bit spicy for the kids.), and I was glad to find a substitute for that inexpensive, homey meal.

I found this recipe in the oddest of places – the back of a can of beans. Not a place I’ve ever found a recipe before, but I saw it and knew I had to give it a shot. I’ve now made it a few times and it’s been well received by everybody at our house.

The ingredients are simple. Rice. Cannellini Beans. Italian diced tomatoes. Seasoning. And for good measure, (and to make it “substantial,”) I usually add some smoked sausage. Dinner. Done.

It’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever made, but it’s good.

Enjoy!

Italian Beans & Rice (from a can of Bush’s Cannellini Beans)

1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs

1 can (15.5oz) Cannellini Beans or Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed

2/3 cup instant rice

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning or 1/2 tsp dry basil

Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in medium saucepan. Cook 3-4 minutes, covered over medium-high heat. Uncover pan and continue cooking 2-3 minutes, or until rice is tender. Dish is slightly saucy when completely cooked.

My variations: I typically use regular brown rice, so I pre-cook it. I dump the cooked rice into a skillet with a little bit of oil on medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, beans, and seasoning. And I never measure, but I probably add more than 1/4 tsp of Italian seasoning. Add salt and pepper. And if I’m adding sausage, I throw that in and cover it, turn down the heat to low and let it simmer for a few minutes. Done!

Apple Pie Crockpot Oatmeal

I’ve been seeing recipes all over the place for crockpot oatmeal. I am not a huge fan of oatmeal. I mean, I like it ok, but it’s not my favorite thing. And I never make it “right” (the instant packages, I just add hot water until I get the consistency I want. I never cook it.). I don’t like mushy, sloppy stuff. I am not a Big Brother contestant, for crying out loud. But after hearing about steel cut oats, I had to give it a try.

I talked to Husband and he said he’d be up for trying Apple Pie Crockpot Oatmeal. So I gave it a shot. I started with the recipe I found here and altered it a little bit.

(Taking pictures of oatmeal isn’t all that appealing. But here it is anyway.)

I put it in the crockpot after lunch and let it cook all afternoon. It smelled divine.

So divine, in fact, that I decided to make some pie crust pieces to go with it. Because that’s healthy, right?

(Yes, The Pioneer Woman’s pie crust. It’s awesome.)

And maybe I sprinkled some cinnamon and sugar on some of the pieces.

The guys added some brown sugar to their oatmeal. Honor and I ate ours without extra sugar. If you want your oatmeal to stay super healthy, I’d suggest not adding sugar when you cook it. Or making pie crust to sprinkle on top. But if you want it to be good and kinda healthy, you might want to add that stuff.

C’mon. You know you want some!

Apple Pie Crockpot Oatmeal

1 cup steel cut oats

3 diced apples (I used Gala this time, but next time I’ll try Granny Smith)

1 cup apple juice

3 cups water

1/2 tsp cinnamon (next time I’ll add more)

dash of nutmeg

2 Tbsp butter

If you want your oatmeal to be sweeter, add 1/4-1/2 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you want it. Or you can sweeten each serving individually to taste.

Combine all ingredients in crockpot and cook for 2-4 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low until it reaches the preferred consistency. Stir every hour.

Add an extra cup of water if you’d like to cook 7-8 hours overnight.

You’ll have to make sure you use steel cut oats if you want to use the crockpot. If you want to use regular oatmeal, you’ll have to use the stovetop method.

Recipe: French Toast Soufflé

French Toast is one of those things I love, but rarely make. I can go into all kinds of reasons, but it really boils down to not being able to figure out how all of us can sit down and eat together. When the food is still hot.

A few years back, my friend Kathy (the kids call her Sass) gave me a recipe for French Toast Soufflé. It’s a great solution to the hot food problem. And every time I’ve made it, it’s been a hit. When I made it again this week, it didn’t disappoint.

Remember that not-so-fabulous bread I made? I knew when it turned out kind of “meh” that it would be perfect for this recipe. (I’m trying that bread recipe again today, FYI.)

But you don’t have to make some not-so-fabulous bread to have French Toast Soufflé. You don’t even have to have French bread. A loaf of Texas Toast works great!

Whatever kind of bread you use, cut it into cubes,

and spread it evenly in a pan.

Here’s quite possibly the yummiest part: beat a softened bar of cream cheese until smooth.

Add eight (yes, eight) eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each one. It’ll look all happy and bubbly like this.

Then you add half and half, milk, vanilla, and…maple syrup and mix some more.

Pour the maple-flavored-cream-cheese goodness over the bread cubes, doing your best to soak all of the bread.

The bread will be swimming in this maple-flavored-cream-cheese-goodness for a while. Cover and set in the fridge overnight (or several hours) to let everything get all happy.

 

Set the soufflé on the counter for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven. Bake. Brown.

Serve with powdered sugar and more syrup.

Try not to eat it all at once!

French Toast Soufflé

10 cups (usually a whole loaf) one-inch cubed sturdy white bread (Texas Toast, French bread, etc.)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 large eggs

1 1/2 cup milk

2/3 cup half & half

1/2 cup maple syrup, plus more for topping

1/2 tsp vanilla

powdered sugar

Place bread cubes in 13 x 9 baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add milk, half & half, 1/2 c. maple syrup & vanilla, mix until smooth. Pour cream mixture over bread. Cover & refrigerate overnight (or several hours).

To bake, remove bread mixture from refrigerator, let stand on counter for 30 min before baking. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 50 min or until set. Remove foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with hot maple syrup.

*I have split into two pans and served one, frozen the other (before baking). Another way to add to your freezer meal stash!

Chocolate Wasted

A little while back, I saw a recipe for Chocolate Wasted Cake on Pinterest from Art of Dessert. (And if you don’t know where “Chocolate Wasted” comes from, here’s a video clip.) I knew I wanted to try my own version, but I was waiting for just the right time. A game night with our Life Group seemed to be the right occasion. And apparently this cake has caused quite a ruckus. So I thought I’d share the “recipe,” as it were.

First, I made a chocolate cake. And while many of you might prefer to use a scratch-recipe, I will confess that I usually don’t.

While the cake was cooling, I made Fluffy Chocolate Frosting.

(I didn’t want to use Chocolate Buttercream. I’m not a huge fan of Chocolate Buttercream unless it’s on a cake by itself. I also didn’t want the cake to be too heavy or rich. I know it sounds ridiculous, knowing the amount of chocolate I was going to be putting on this cake, but I wanted to be able to eat it and enjoy the chocolate, not choke on it. Does that make sense?)

I frosted the cake and set it in the fridge for a bit for the frosting to firm up a bit.

Then, came the fun part. I smashed semi-sweet chocolate chips around the sides. And used bite-size Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Crunch bars on the top (I cut them into pieces first). Then, I used the last 1/3 cup or so of chocolate chips to melt and drizzle chocolate over the top.

I made the cake a day ahead, for two reasons. First, and most importantly, I prefer to let the frosting sit overnight. I think it tastes better that way. Second, I didn’t want to have to worry about getting it done on Friday afternoon while I had other things on my To-Do list. Just being honest.

I will admit that cutting into this monstrosity is a challenge. You can’t exactly cut through the giant chunks of chocolate on the top. So it’s not necessarily a “pretty” cake once it’s cut and on the plate. But that doesn’t keep it from tasting oh, so good.

 

You know you want some!

Chocolate Wasted Cake

1 Betty Crocker Devil’s Food cake mix, made with chocolate milk using Hershey’s Special Dark syrup instead of water; Baked in two layers.

Fluffy Chocolate Frosting:

2 sticks salted butter, room temperature

Scant 1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp milk

1 8oz tub Cool Whip (refrigerated, not frozen)

Beat room temperature butter until smooth and fluffy. Add cocoa and mix well. Mix in vanilla. 1 cup at a time, mix in powdered sugar. Frosting may be a bit dry and chunky. Add milk 1 tsp at a time until a smooth consistency is reached. Fold in Cool Whip.

Frost cooled cake, and refrigerate a little while to allow the frosting to set.

Semi-sweet chocolate chips – press onto the sides of the cake, reserving 1/3 cup for chocolate drizzle, if desired.

Candy bar pieces for top, cut into bite-size pieces: I used Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Crunch. Use your favorite! Pile them on the top of the cake.

Melt remaining chocolate chips and drizzle chocolate over the top of the cake.

Refrigerate leftovers – if there are any!