The Best Homemade All American Chocolate Cake

The Best All American Homemade Chocolate Cake is soft and full of chocolate flavor. This was a trial for me being that most of my chocolate cakes have had some issues, (not realizing how important baking soda is when using cocoa other than Dutch-proccessed cocoa) but this came out perfect.

1/2 cup + 3 tbsp (lightly spooned into cup) unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-processed)
1 cup boiling water
3 large eggs
2 1/4 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups + 2 tblps sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

2. In another bowl lightly combine the eggs, 1/4 of the cocoa mixture and vanilla. In a large mixing bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add butter and remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low until the dry ingredients are moistened.

3. Increase to medium or high if using a hand mixer. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes to develop the cake's structure. Scrape down sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to strengthen the cake's structure.

4. Scrape the batter into prepare pans and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 to 45 minutes depending on your oven and the type of pan you use, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then loosen and invert onto greased wire racks.

Simple Syrup (keeps cake moist)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
flavoring of your choice

1. Bring water to a boil and add sugar, whisk constantly until completely dissolved and add flavoring. Let cool and brush onto warm cake.

Valentines Day Carrot Cake!

Baking couldn't get any easier then this. I wanted to make a cake but something quick and easy, where I can hype the mixture up with my own flavor; so I bought Betty Crocker's Super Moist Carrot Mix and Pillsbury Cream Cheese frosting. I don't think there is any other icing better then cream cheese icing when making carrot cake. Plus, if you can get a guy to eat carrot cake then you know its good, cause my guy friend loved it and that was a surprise because most guys I know hate carrot cake. So lets begin creating this super moist and slightly crumbly cake.

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist carrot cake mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineaaple in juice, undrained
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup shredded or flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped cherries (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven 350F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans or 13x9-inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat water, oil, eggs, vanilla and pineapple. Sift together cinnamon and cake mix, then add to the mixture beating on medium speed. Stir in nuts, coconut and carrots. Pour into pans.
3. Bake for about 50-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely then frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 (8 0z) pkgs of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup of butter, softened
2 cups of confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Cream together cream cheese and butter until creamy.
2.Mix in vanilla, then gradually stir in sugar until well blended.

My Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8 0z) pk of cream cheese
1/2 container of Pillsbury or Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting
1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Mix all ingredients together. Enough for two layers, sides and top.

*Recipe can be found on the back of the Betty Crocker carrot cake mix.

JIFFY Pineapple Yellow Cake!

Yesterday, it rained all day so I was home and looking for something to keep me busy, when I decided to bake. I love all JIFFY mix, from corn muffins to their lemon cake. I wanted to try something different with Jiffy's yellow cake mix, and first I was thinking maybe I should try to make cookies out of the mix, but then I found some crushed pineapple and a can of pineapple juice in my pantry, and left over cherry syrup from a bottle of cherries I had. However, I still wanted to stay away from making a cake, so I made the recipe into bars, more or less the same thing and topped it off with cherry buttercream. I do wish I had some cherries, and pecans to finish it off. There is two ways to make this recipe, one way is where I added flour to the jiffy yellow cake mix and another way where you can follow the jiffy recipe on the box and subsuite water for pineapple juice, mix in about 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, and stir in about 1/4 to 1/3 cups of crushed pineapple to your liking. If you use my recipe, the cake will be heavy.

My Recipe
1 box of JIFFY Yellow Cake mix
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 egg
3/4 cup of Pineapple Juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup crushed pineapple
2 tbsp cooking oil

Cherry Buttercream
1 stick of unsalted butter (room tempature)
3/4 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1 to 2 tbsp cherry syrup

1. In a large bowl, mix egg, cooking oil, and pineapple juice until combined. Add sugar, and beat well.
2. Add the jiffy yellow cake mix and all-purpose flour, to the wet mixture and mix until smooth. Then stir in the crushed pineapples.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 squared pan. If you have some extra pineapples you can also sprinkle them on top of the batter. Bake for about 30 minutes or until light brown. Let cool, cut into bars and enjoy!
1. For Cherry buttercream, beat all ingredients in a small bowl with electric beaters until smooth and creamy. Spread over the entire cake.

JIFFY Recipe
1 box of JIFFY Yellow cake mix
1/2 cup of Pineapple juice
1 egg
1/4-1/3 cup of crushed pineapples

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1. Follow the directions of the jiffy mix, subsituting water for pineapple juice, and mix in crushed pineapples. Pour batter in an 8x8 squared pan, bake as directed, let cool, frost with the cherry buttercream frosting and cut into bars. Enjoy!

Luxurious Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

2 Cream Cheese pkgs (8 oz.)
Sour Cream (16 oz.)
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
3/4 Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/3 Chopped Walnuts or Pecans (optional)
1 Cup of Cherries (dried)
1 Teaspoon of Mint Extract (optional)
2 Tbsps of Flour
3 Tbsps of Butter (melted)
3 Tbsps of Sugar
Chocolate Fudge cake mix (plus required ingredients)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two deep pans with foil or parchment paper, with ends extended over pans.
2. Mix graham crumbs, 3 tbsps of sugar, and 3 tbsps of butter well.
3. Pack firmly into the bottom of pans and bake for about 10 minutes.
4. Cream cream cheese and sour cream, then add 1 cup of sugar and eggs. Then add flour, mint extract, walnuts or pecans, cherries and blend well.
5. Mix together the chocolate cake mix and its ingredients, then pour half (or even less then half)of the cake mix into one of the pans, and the other half in the other pan, (which has the baked graham crumbs). Eye ball it, because the chocolate cake has a tendency to run over.
6. Pour the cheesecake batter over the chocolate fudge cake batter of both pans.
7. Bake for 1 to an hour and a half, until center is set. Cool completely, lift cheesecake out with foil or parchment handles and serve.

* Not recommended for people on diets!

This was a very rich chocolate-cheesecake I created for Christmas and it was wonderful. You get the best of both worlds, its like ice cream and cake. Prep time might be an hour, but give it a try and enjoy.