Day #9 of Thanksgiving Posts: Mississippi Mud Cake

This just looks so good, I had to add it!! I've only had this type of pie once, and it was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!!

Ingredients:

1pkg. chocolate fudge or Devil's Food cake mix
1C chopped pecans
3C miniature marshmallows
1C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat 13x9in baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Prepare cake according to package directions. Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle with chopped pecans.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-40min. Take cake out of oven and sprinkle with marshmallows. Return pan to oven and bake 5 minutes longer; place on wire rack.
4. Place chocolate chips in resealable bag. Microwave on high at 30 second intervals until chocolate is melted. Snip off a small corner of the bag with scissors. Drizzle chocolate over cake.

A Halloween Treat! Ghost cakes/cupcakes

Mine didn't turn out how it was supposed to... but you get the idea! Here's where I got my inspiration.

You can follow the recipe from Parenting, or do what I did. I just made up a box of Halloween Funfetti Cake Mix(I didn't have black Writing Icing, so I improvised with Orange glittery stuff!). My cupcake pan only holds 6, so rather than doing 4 batches separately, I do a pan of mini cakes (24), and 2 pans of cupcakes.
I gotta say one thing, I give big Kudos to those who bake cakes and use fondant icing on a normal basis. I've seen some AMAZING creations, and it seems like an easy enough task. But man, it's not. That stuff is thick and hard to work with. It takes a lot of talent to come up with those amazing cakes and other creations. I'll stick to dinner.
Anyway, back to the recipe.

Spooky Ghost Cakes

A popover mold is ideal for baking these spooky little cakes but you could use cut up pound cake instead under the white icing.

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
Half cup plus 1 tablespoon Superfine sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
One cup self-rising flour
Cornstarch for dusting
Non stick baking spray

1 x 24 oz box white rolled fondant icing
1 tube of black Writing Icing

Instructions:

1. Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time adding a tablespoon of flour with each egg. Beat well and fold in the remaining flour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spoon the batter into a popover pan that has been sprayed with non stick baking spray and fill each molds till just over half full. Place on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Allow to cool, cut off the top of the cakes to form a flat surface , then turn out onto a board or plate. Allow to cool completely.

Dust your work surface with cornstarch and roll out the icing . Cut out circles to drape over the cakes. You can use a saucer as a guide. Drape these over the sponge cakes to form ghosts. From the trimmings either use a mini cutter to cut out some tiny white oval shapes or roll out some tiny balls of white icing into oval shapes . Dampen them with a little water and stick them onto the front of the ghost. Use a blob of black Writing Icing for the pupils of the eyes.

MAKES 6 GHOULISH GHOST CAKES

A Birthday cake made just for...

ME!

Yup, today is my birthday. Nothing special. Just another day.
Now, don't get me wrong... it was a GREAT day. Exactly what I wanted.

And here's the cake I made for myself:

Chocolate Blackout Cake.
Recipe comes from CooksCountrytv.com -- well DANG! I'm glad I printed it off and saved it earlier! I just now found out you can't get recipes for free from them anymore! No fear, I'll post any that I have! lol.

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Ingredients:

Pudding-
1 1/4C sugar
1/4C cornstarch
1/2tsp. table salt
2 C half and half
1C whole milk
6oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2tsp. vanilla extract

Cake-
8TBS unsalted butter (1stick), plus extra for greasing pans
1 1/2C all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
2tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2tsp. salt
3/4C Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1C brewed coffee (yes, I am LDS... I traded this ingredient for 1C Nestle Chocolate Milk -- yum!)
1C buttermilk
1C packed light brown sugar
1C sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Instructions:
1. For the pudding: Whisk sugar, cornstarch, salt, half and half, and milk in large saucepan. Set pan over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk constantly until it melts and mixture begins to bubble, 2-4 minutes. Stir in vanilla and transfer to large bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.

2. For the cake layers: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-in pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl.
3. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off heat, whisk in coffee (milk chocolate), buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in flour mixture.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool layers in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool to room temp. at least 1 hour.
** after greasing/dusting pans, cut a piece of parchment/wax paper and place in bottom of pan and then grease and dust it also. Helps the bottom of your cake not stick!! **

5. To assemble the cake: Cut each cake in half horizontally. Crumble one cake layer into medium crumbs and set aside. Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 C pudding over cake layer and top with another layer. Repeat with 1 C pudding and last layer. Spread remaining pudding evenly over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle crumbs evenly over top and sides of cake, pressing lightly to adhere crumbs. Serve. Cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.



Side Note:
For some reason, both times I've made this cake my pudding DID NOT set right. The first time, I had time I was able to fix it. But this last time I didn't have time to do so. I used 8 Snack Pak Chocolate Pudding cups instead - 2 cups for each layer, and 4 cups (probably could've used 5) for the top and sides. It tasted close to the same and worked out just as well! This is why I don't like to bake... unless it's from a box! lol.