Who wants chocolate cake?

Earlier this month, a friend posted about making a chocolate cake and how simple it was. Someone asked for the recipe and she replied it was on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa can. Curious, I picked up a can of said cocoa and the necessary ingredients to bake it. I have to say this is the most decadent chocolate cake I've ever tasted and not just because I baked it! I spread the middle layer of the cake with caramel sauce to make this my own. See what strikes you as a good middle layer topping.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1- 1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour two 9-in round  baking pans. Alternatively, you can line the bottom of the baking pans with parchment paper. (I will likely try this next time I make a cake as I had a bit of an issue when I removed the cakes after they had cooled.)
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add egg, milk, oil and vanilla.
Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin) till completely incorporated.
Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes.
Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Frost with "Perfectly Chocolate" frosting.


"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

This is a super creamy frosting with a whipped consistency. Not sure if that was because I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer instead of a hand blender. Note: I had about 1-1/2 cups frosting left over. This recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter.
Stir in cocoa.
Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk, on medium speed until it reaches spreading consistency.
Add more milk, if needed.
Stir in vanilla.
Frost your cake.
I only used 2 cups of powdered sugar and it was plenty. This will be up to your discretion and how sweet you want your frosting.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Welcome to my first post as "CMart Cooks." As I was pondering what recipe I should share first, I thought, why not the cake that I'm still eating?

Earlier this week I had a "baking don't." It was a shame as it involved apples from our tree. (Sorry, David!) To redeem myself, I baked a banana chocolate chip cake the easy peasy way-using cake mix. I know, please don't judge. I got the idea for this experiment when a friend of mine posted she was looking for an easy pumpkin bread recipe and a friend of hers replied she should try spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin. Genius! As I looked at the 2 ripe, lonely bananas on my kitchen counter, it came to me: 








BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP BUNDT CAKE

2-3 medium sized very ripe bananas
1 box of your choice brand of a yellow cake mix (I used a Super Moist version.)
1/4 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1/2 cup of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chips (or more if you desire)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a Bundt cake pan.
Mash bananas and set aside.
Mix cake mix, eggs and applesauce together with an electric mixer.
Add in the mashed bananas until incorporated into the batter.
Right before you're ready to pour batter into the pan, add the chocolate chips and mix by hand. 
Pour into the cake pan.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted towards the middle comes out clean. Let cool before removing from pan. If you want to use a cooling rack, feel free. I just left it in the pan until it was completely cooled and then I removed it.

It looked very rustic and I debated whether to glaze it or leave as is. I glazed.

Glaze Recipe:

1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Whisk together. Drizzle over cake.