Shawn's Darn Good Chocolate Cake

Today was Shawn's 30th birthday so I wanted to do something extra special for him. When I asked him what he wanted he just said something chocolaty and cake-like. It didn't take me long to pick one of my favorite, tried and trusted recipes. I almost feel as though I'm cheating because there is cake mix involved, but it has never let me down. The Cake Doctor deserves all the credit for this basic recipe, however I've "Julia-ized" it just a bit to make it more chocolaty:

Darn Good Four Chocolate Chocolate Cake

1 box devil's food cake mix (without pudding added!)
1 box chocolate pudding
1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1-2 tablespoons of dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1 cup dark chocolate (I used a bar and cut it into chunks)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Put everything except the chips in a bowl and mix on low speed for 1 minute. The batter will be VERY thick. Scrape the bowl down (look for dry pockets -- they are in there) and mix on medium speed for another 3 minutes. Put chocolate chunks and 1 tablespoon of the cocoa powder in a separate bowl and mix, coating the chips with the cocoa. Add chips to the exceedingly thick batter. Pour the batter into the pan, bang it on the counter a few times to release trapped bubbles, and bake for 50-60 minutes, turning once halfway during baking. It's done when a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes and invert to on a cooling rack.

I frosted Shawn's cake with a dark chocolate butter cream while the cake was still warm. It melted and left a beautiful sheen to the cake. I also added a few multicolored sprinkles just for some fun.

Chris's Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

One of my mom's favorite desserts when I was growing up was cheesecake, and time after time she would attempt to make one and well, let's just say she was really good at adding a distinctive carbon flavor to them. When Chris told me he wanted cheesecake, I immediately thought of my mom and panicked.
I was so nervous while making this cake! I measured everything I needed ahead of time and placed it into little bowls, Martha Stewart style. Luckily the cake was a success. So Mom, this one was for you!

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

• 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups vanilla wafer, pulverized in a food processor
• 1 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
• 3 T sugar
• 4 T melted, unsalted butter (not margarine)
• 3 blocks full-fat room temperature cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 T hazelnut liqueur (I use Frangelico)
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (mini chips or regular size)
• 4 T full-fat sour cream
• 1 T hazelnut liqueur
• 1 square white chocolate

Crust: Preheat oven to 300F. Toast the hazelnuts in a warm, dry frying pan for about 7 minutes. Transfer nuts to a food processor and pulverize. Add sugar and pulse a few times. Pour into a bowl and add vanilla wafer crumbs, chocolate chips, and butter. Mix together thoroughly. Press evenly onto the bottom of a 9 or 9 1/2 inch spring-form pan. Bake for 15 minutes and then cool. Increase the oven temperature to 350F.

Filling: While the crust is cooling, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and fluffy, stopping from time to time to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mixers. Keep the mixer running and add the sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and liqueur, stopping every now and then to scrape down the sides. Mix until well blended. Fold the mini chocolate chips into the batter. Pour batter into the cooled crust. Gently drop the cheesecake on the counter 3-6 times to release trapped air-bubbles. Bake in the center of 350F oven for 1 hour, slowly turning it one-quarter turn every 15 minutes.

After an hour, remove it from the oven and set it on the counter to cool. Run a knife around the pan's edge. Slowly remove the outer ring and let cool completely. Note: The cake will fall while it is cooling!

Meanwhile, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips in a double boiler. Once the chocolate is completely melted, add sour cream and mix well. Then add liqueur. Spread glaze on the top and sides top of the cooled cheesecake. In a small bowl, microwave the white chocolate for one minute on high heat, stir, then microwave again for 30 seconds. Transfer white chocolate to a zip lock bag and push contents to the corner. Snip a the corner of the bag with scissors. Slowly pipe 7-8 concentric circles until you reach the center of the cake. Using a toothpick and medium pressure, starting from the center of the cake, slowly drag the toothpick through the lines of the circles, dragging the chocolate along the way. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Jake's Pizza Cake

Tonight is my son's 11th birthday party and because I am the Birthday Fairy, last weekend I offered to make him any dessert he wanted. He originally asked for a cat cake, but the idea of cutting and eating a cake shaped like his favorite animal quickly caused him to change his mind. A few years ago I made him a kitty litter cake (I will never look at Tootsie Rolls quite the same way ever again!) and he asked me to make it again, but I refused. It didn't take long for him to run out of ideas. "Just make something cool," he said.

So later on in the week we discussed what would be served for dinner at his party and he decided on pizza (total shocker!) and that was when the idea came to me, "Pizza Cake". I searched the web briefly and didn't find anything other than dessert pizzas so I decided to make my own.

I'll do my best to describe how I made the cake but it was an experiment so please bear with me.

Pizza Cake

• 1 cake mix - any light colored favor prepared as the package recommends


• 1 container any flavor homemade or store bought icing


• 2 cups strawberry preserves (raspberry will do too but I would recommend buying seedless)


• Wilton Candy Melts 14 oz package in white, red, and light-brown


• 8-10 larger-sized malt balls ( I found these in the bulk food isle)


• Green icing


• 1/8 cup dried blueberries

1. Prepare the cake mix as directed making on a a time. Pour half the batter into a greased/floured 12" round cake pan (or smaller, depending on how large you want the cake to be) and bake it for about 20 min or until a toothpick comes out clear from the center. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Cool.

2. Cover a large oven proof cutting board or the bottom of a large cookiesheet with tinfoil or wax paper. Place one layer of the cake on top of the tin-foil. Frost the top of the bottom layer and place the top layer on top.

3. Over medium heat, simmer the preserves until runny. Add several drops of red food coloring (if desired) to make the color closer to that of tomato sauce. .

4. Spread the warm preserves over the cake, covering the top thoroughly but not so much that the cake is saturated. Chill the cake again for at least an hour so that the preserves re-congeal.

5. Now for the fun part - decorating!

- Sausage/Meatballs - with a very sharp knife, cut the malt balls in half, set aside

- Green Peppers - I am sure there's lots of great ways to do this but I bought Wilton's green icing and piped it onto a greased plate into small squares and rectangles. I then placed it into the freezer to firm-up.

- Pepperoni - Grease a small muffin tin and put one red candy-melt into each cup. Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of grated brown candy-melts into each well. (I used a handheld cheese-grater to grate the candy-melts. See "cheese below for more details). Put the muffin tin under the broiler to melt the candies (only takes a minute or two). Once they are melted, mix the red and brown candy-melts together using a toothpick. Place into the freezer for about 10 minutes or until set. Once they are hard, flip the muffin pan over to release the "pepperoni" (I ended up hitting the back of the tin with knife to free the candy).

- Olives - get the dried blueberries ready, set aside.

- Cheese - I used a handheld cheese grater like this one to grate the white candy-melts over the top of the pizza. I worked my way over the top of the pizza until it had a good coating of cheese, but not so much that the "tomato sauce" didn't peek through. Then I used the brown candy melts around the perimeter the the "crust" -- I thought it looked more crust and slightly burnt, like a real pizza would. Finally I put the entire pizza in the oven under the broiler and watched it very closely. It only took 3 minutes for the "cheese" to melt - it even browned slightly!

After you take it out of the oven and while it is still warm, put your toppings on the pizza. I started with the sausage/meatballs, then the green pepper, followed by the olives and the pepperoni and then a little more cheese. Put it into the fridge to set again. For fun, put the pizza cake in a pizza box for a cute visual effect. Use a pizza cutter to slice it!