The Great Wall of Chocolate Cake! (P.F. Chang's Copycat Version)



Alex is getting excited about his Uncle Ben's cake!



It was my husband's birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday Ben, wooh!), so what better way to honor his advancement in age than an amazing chocolate cake!

I love straight up chocolate cake, but I like to mix it up with some other flavors so that the chocolate's not too overwhelming (for others, that is. You all know I can take on any amount of chocolate any day of the week. But I try to think of others, I really do try). 

So, I chose to go along the lines of the famous "Great Wall of Chocolate" from P.F. Chang's. Basically it's a towering cake packed with chocolately goodness inside and out, with berry touches.

I've dabbled around with this in the past with different chocolate cake recipes. And really, my suggestion is find one that suits your cake tastes and make it. The beauty is, if you don't want to spend a lot of time making the actual cake, go pick up a cake mix. Here's some links to a couple of different recipes that I have liked for the cake: Devil's Food Cake from Food Network, Chocolate Cake from Epicurious. If you're going full on traditional layer cake, bake in two 9" rounds (line bottom with wax paper, butter, and flour). If you truly want to have a WALL of chocolate, you can double the recipe, and do a four layer! I wasn't that adventurous yesterday, but that would be cool..... I've also done a cupcake variation which turned out quite nicely.

PS - I almost never follow a recipe to the exactness. I just can't. It's just me. So seriously, with your chocolate cake, be creative! Throw in some melted chocolate, chocolate chips, or chopped choco chunks to the batter. You can also mix in some sort of extra flavor just depending on how you're complimenting it (in this case, fruity raspberry undertones would be delish!)

For the Frosting:

Being in the berry spirit, I found a great chocolate raspberry ganache to frost this baby, and it really turned out great! 

I only did about 2/3rds of this recipe, and it was still plenty for my cake. Just depends how thick you like to smear it on.

18 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (or if you prefer sweeter, that's fine, too)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam (you will definitely want seedless to keep the smooth texture)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut in small cubes

pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the chopped chocolate in a large mixing bowl. In a saucepan, whisk together the heavy cream and raspberry jam. Put in the cubed butter and salt, and bring just to a boil (stirring often to make sure nothing sticks).

So, this is the most random thing, but when I started making this raspberry cream mixture, it totally reminded me of a Schwann's raspberry push-up pop. That was like the coveted treat at my friend's house back in the day. Yum.

Ok back to the recipe. Bring just to a boil. Then pour mixture over the chopped chocolate in the bowl and let it stand for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth then mix in the vanilla extract.

You'll want to cover this with plastic wrap so that it will not get a weird film on top. If you actually plan ahead you can make this in advance and let the frosting thicken overnight. If you're like me, you will make it two hours ahead of when you need and put it in the fridge to set (you'll only want to leave it in there 1 to 1 1/2 hours so that it is still easy to spread).

Simple Raspberry Sauce:

Seriously, I play this one by ear. Get some fresh raspberries (I did a 6 oz container yesterday) and blend in a food processor. Thin out with a little water. Put in a small saucepan. Add sugar to sweeten to your preference. Bring just to a boil. Let boil for about one minute. If you want a little thicker, whisk in a little bit of cornstarch.

If you don't have fresh raspberries, I bet you could take some  seedless raspberry jam and thin it out a bit.  Just probably don't add any sugar.

Lastly, get your berries ready. Fresh strawberries - wash, core, and slice. Fresh raspberries - wash. Fresh blueberries - wash. Wash them all, okay? I just want to make sure we're being sanitary :) Anyway, I just throw 'em all together in a bowl and garnish one piece at a time as I serve. If you really want to impress, you could probably throw some fruit ensemble on top of the cake and on the platter before you serve so it's picture perfect.

Okay, time to put this baby together! It's really quite simple.

Get the two rounds. Layer with ganache in-between. Stack, and frost outside with remainder.



Oops, someone snuck an early piece :)



Decorate edges with chocolate chips, mini chips, chocolate shavings, chocolate chunks, however you want!  I was a little lazy yesterday and in a rush, so I just did a ring of choco chips along the top, but you can seriously go all out with this to make it simply beautiful! Throw on any other deco such as fresh fruit. 

That's it! It turned out simply delicious. And even the non-chocolate lovers at the party tried it, which made me happy :) The only warning: the second piece may just do you in. I learned that firsthand. And here I am, always bragging that I can handle my chocolate.....

If this cake is a little too much to handle, just make a chocolate cake, and serve with the simple raspberry sauce. That's also quite excellent.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! YOU ARE THE BEST!

Frosting.....and Cupcakes to Go With It!





Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting



I don't know about all of you, but I remember the good ole' days when my sis would make a batch of homemade chocolate frosting when my parents were away and then we would get some big spoons and go to town! I imagine my parents probably didn't appreciate the after-effects of such occasions.

Anyway, despite the bellyaches, I am still a huge advocate of enjoying delicious frosting. Yes, all by itself. Especially chocolate frosting! Luckily, my husband is quite an awesome frosting maker, and basically can whip up any kind of flavor that you can imagine!

So, given that this is a chocolate blog, I definitely wanted to share two of my chocolately favorites with you: chocolate coconut frosting, and chocolate peanut butter frosting. (He also makes an awesome strawberry frosting and cinnamon sugar frosting, so if you would like these let me know and I'd be happy to share them, too!)

Oh, and if by chance you do want something to put them on, I'm including a delicious cupcake recipe that we've been working on for you to try out!

Chocolate Coconut Frosting

1/2 stick butter (softened)

1/2 box (4oz) cream cheese (softened)

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

4 Tbsp sifted flour

Cocoa powder to taste (2 Tbsp ish)

Beat together butter, cream cheese, salt and extracts on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add powdered sugar (measure, then sift), flour and cocoa. Beat until well combined. Frosting should be smooth and creamy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

I don't have exact proportions on this one, as my husband and I often like to bake using the "taste" test method. Anyway, you'll get the idea.

1 part creamy peanut butter

1 part butter (softened)
(so basically 50/50 split on these)

Mix together peanut butter and butter.  Add a "decent" amount of vanilla. Then mix in cocoa powder to taste (Ben warns not to put in too much - it won't look dark, but then when you add the powdered sugar, the darkness comes out.) Finally add powdered sugar to your desired sweetness. Texture of the frosting should be thick, almost like play-dough. This one basically tastes like a Reeses PB cup.



Vanilla mini-cupcake with cinnamon-sugar frosting

 Ben's Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup whipping cream
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Make sure all the ingredients are at room temp. Preheat over to 350 for cupcakes, or 340 for miniature cupcakes. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer on high, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Separate two of the eggs. Add the remaining egg and the two egg yolks to your butter mixture and beat on high until light and fluffy. Beat the separated egg whites on high speed until firm peaks form and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour (sift, then measure) and baking powder. In a measuring cup, combine the whipping cream and the vanilla extract. Add 1/2 flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Slowly beat in the cream mixture on medium speed. Add the reamining flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined. Don't overbeat. Mixture should be very thick. Fold in the egg whites with a scraper. Fill the cupcake cups about 3/4 of the way. Cook cupcakes at 350 for 23-25 minutes and mini-cupcakes at 340 for 16-18 minutes until the cake springs back when pressed lightly and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Tops should be white, not browned. Let cool in muffin pan. Makes approx 12 cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes.

Variations: Chocolate of course! (take out some flour and subs cocoa powder); Pureed strawberries (subs for a portion of the whipping cream); Coconut (add coconut extract to basic recipe). Have Fun!



Chocolate Mini-Cupcakes



Boston Cream Cupcakes

Lovers of chocolate and cheesecake, may I present the perfect and easy combination of deliciousness in this Boston Cream Cupcake recipe!

This is an alteration of Boston Cream Pie (pictured to the right)- two layers of sponge cake with vanilla custard filling in the middle and topped of with a chocolate glaze.

You can also make mini versions of the pie, cupcake style......

However, this recipe that I'm posting, at least in my opinion, is a step above all the others I have tried, because instead of vanilla custard, it has more of a cheesecake filling. And believe me, if there is one thing that tops the list with chocolate in my book, it's a good baked cheesecake!

This recipe is very easy! It comes from the kitchen of good ole' Betty Crocker.

Cake Cookie Crust

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Sugar Cookie Mix

1/2 cup butter/margarine, softened

1 egg

2 tablespoons sugar

Note: This above recipe is for a cake-like cookie crust on the bottom.  I usually don't add all of the egg and butter, because at least in my high altitude, it tends to add too much stickiness to the dough and I end up adding a lot of flour to get the right consistency again. I've found that you can just use the sugar cookie mix without adding the egg and butter if you'd like. The crust will come out flat, but still good.  If you have a great sugar cookie recipe that you like, you can substitute it for all of this.

Filling

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 box (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix

Topping

1 container (1 lb) Chocolate Frosting

***or use this Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) Butter softened
4 oz (1/2 package) Cream Cheese, softened
8 oz Confectioner's Sugar (or to taste)
1 Tsp Vanilla (or to taste)

Cocoa Powder to taste

With a mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese. Mix in vanilla. Mix in cocoa powder.
Gradually add sugar - mix until smooth. ***

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 regular size muffin cups with paper baking cups. Lightly spray baking cups with cooking spray.

2. In large stir cookie mix, butter and egg, until dough forms. Shape dough into 24 (1 1/2 in) balls. Place 1 ball in each baking cup. Moisten bottom of flat-bottomed glass with drop of water, then dip into 2 tablespoons sugar. Press glass on dough balls to flatten, dipping glass in sugar after each dough ball.

Note: I've varied on the size of the cookie bottom. I personally like more cheesecake to cookie ratio. I like the cake-like crust, but I tend to use less dough so it does not take over.

3. In another large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, and milk with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in sour cream. On low speed, beat in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Stir in dry pudding mix until well blended. Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling over dough in each cup.

4. Bake 25-30 minutes or until set. Cool 30 minutes; remove from pan.

5. Open container of frosting; remove foil lid. Microwave uncovered on High 30 seconds to soften frosting; stir until smooth. Spoon about 1 tablespoon frosting onto center of each cookie cup. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set. Store covered in refrigerator.

Note: Heating up the frosting before putting on cupcakes and then refrigerating afterward will give it more of a glaze feeling rather than just straight frosting. You can just put the frosting on straight as well. If you are using a homemade frosting, you will probably want to heat for a lesser time, depending on the consistency of the frosting. Canned frosting from the store tends to be a little thicker than homemade.

6. Enjoy! These are always a hit wherever we take them, and especially in my home!

Molten Chocolate Volcano Cake

My friend and I used to reward ourselves with a "Chili's Molten Chocolate Cake" on our birthdays, after a hard test, and whatever other occasion we could justify during our first year of college.

The next year, my friend moved away, but she came to visit for her birthday. I threw her a party, and I decided why not make my own giant version of the cake so that everyone could share. It has now become a trademark cake of mine. Best part - super easy to make!

If you want to make the whole thing from scratch, that is great! I've done portions of it like that before. But I find that there is little difference in quality if you use the right pre-made stuff (and it's faster!).

Need:

Chocolate Cake Mix - follow instructions on box

Hot fudge sauce

Chocolate sauce

Chocolate Magic Shell Topping

Extras - nuts, coconut, strawberry or other fruit topping, sparklers

First - bake a cake! I just use a box mix - get a supermoist and chocolately one - german chocolate, devil's food, or triple fudge are great! You can either bake in a bundt cake pan for one large cake, or I've also discovered a really cool mini bundt cupcake tin if you want to make personal size cakes.

When the cake is done, let it cool down just enough to get out of the pan. You want to serve this baby warm. Or, if you need to make in advance, you can warm up in an oven before the final prep as well.

Poke holes with a fork all over in the cake.

Get some delicious hot fudge (Hershey's or Mrs. Richardson's are good, or make your own). Pour all over the cake until it seeps in. Some will run off. That's ok.

Next, repeat with caramel and/or butterscotch sauce.

Now you are ready for the ice cream! Fill in the bundt hole with icecream and heap up over the top.

Last, get Hershey's Magic Shell Topping and smother icecream with it, until it creates a hard shell all over. Put on additional caramel and fudge if you'd like!

You're done!

If you want to try some variations, you can add other toppings. I've put on different types of nuts, coconut, and even strawberry topping, and they are all delicious and look really cool.

And if you really want a show, don't forget the sparklers!

P.S. If you have mini bundt cupcake tin, you can make personal-sized volcano cakes! They are really fun too!