Happy Father's Day!

 



Happy Father's Day to a "whopping" good dad!

 

My baking skills come from my mother- along with of my other talents.  But luckily I am a great blend of both my parents- and I received a lot of wonderful characteristics from my dad also.  My dad is an amazing person- supportive, loving, talented, and just all around awesome.  Him and my mother together are a dynamic duo that I love more than anything.  One thing my dad and I share is our love of chocolate- and one of his all time favorite candies are chocolate malt balls.. aka.. WHOPPERS!  These lil balls of chocolatey goodness were the main attraction for my dad's Father's Day dessert and this was one heck of a cake.  I used a receive from The Country Cook but changed it up a little to make it look like a picture I had seen on Pintrest.  I think either way you bake it, stack it, and decorate it, it is going to be a delicious cake.  I follow the cake recipe per the Country Cook's directions but make it into 2- 9 inch rounds and used what should have been the topping (whipped cream mixed with the malted chocolate milk powder) to make a creamy layer between the two cakes.  Then I took your good ol' chocolate frosting and mixed some of the malted chocolate milk powered in that and covered the cake with that mixture.  Before the frosting had time to get too warm (it's summer here and my house was a tad warm) or too firm I placed the malt balls all over the top of the cake and then started stacking them on the sides.  I immediately placed the cake in the fridge so the malt balls would stay in place and they did. And all that made for one happy dad!  He loved it, the family loved it and it's a definite repeat with our group!

 

Happy Father's Day to my dad and all the dads out there!  Enjoy!

 

 

Whopper Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Milk Chocolate Cake Mix

1 1/2 cups chocolate malted milk powder, divided

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping (like Cool Whip)

1 cup Whoppers malted milk balls

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees

Spray 13x9 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour

In a medium bowl, combine cake mix with 3/4 cups malted milk powder.

Add in eggs, oil and water and stir until combined.

Pour batter in baking pan.

Bake for about 38-40 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean)

Allow cake to cool completely before making topping.

For the topping

In a medium bowl, combine whipped topping with 3/4 cup malted milk powder.

Stir until completely incorporated and no longer grainy.

Spread topping on top of cooled cake.

Put one cup of malted milk balls into a ziploc bag and zip it up.

Pound with a rolling pin (or other hard object) to crush Whoppers.

Sprinkle finished cake with crushed malted milk balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Brownie Cake

If you haven't already been able to figure out, I am a chocoholic.  I admit it and I do nothing to break myself of the addiction.  Therefore any mouth watering chocolate recipe I find is bound to be on my TO DO... SOON list.  And this one was a delicious adventure.  As you can see from the picture the outside is covered in chocolate chips and chocolate frosting... but wait.. it gets better! Wedged between two moist chocolate cake layers is a chewy, fudgy brownie layer! 

Best piece of advice- bake the brownie layer with some wax paper or foil in the pan and you can lift it out in one piece as opposed to trying to flip it out of the pan.  The brownie is harder to keep together than the cake.  But then again if you do have some cracks or spaces- fill it in with frosting!  Everyone- well most people- love frosting so you can't go wrong and they will be too far on their way to chocolate coma to notice a few fill in areas!

This is a repeat in my book!  Enjoy


Ultimate Death by Chocolate Brownie Cake

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The "CHERPUMPLE"

About a year ago I stumbled upon an article about a hybrid dessert that brings together even the most devote Pie or Cake Lovers.  The "Cherpumple" or "Piecaken"  is a crazy combination of, you guessed it, pie and cake- but of course this cant just be one layer- oh no- it must be three different layers of pie and cake to be a true "Cherpumple".  Traditionally (if you can even use this word to describe it) this dessert consists of  cherry pie in chocolate cake, pumpkin pie in spice cake, and apple pie in vanilla cake all coated in a heavy layer of vanilla frosting!  This is the true "TURDUCKEN" of the dessert world!

Of course this challenge is one I could not pass up!  Found the recipe, bought the ingredients and set my oven to bake! The process seems relatively easy- until the step of actually putting the pie into the cake.  You bake the pies (simple enough), then you are suppose to remove them from their pans without breaking them- mission failed.  So to avoid any further issues, I took the easy road and just flipped them over upside down into the cake pans- it seemed to all work pretty well.  And note- if you add too much cake batter make sure to bake with a sheet pan under your cake pans- the batter may spill over the edge!  With the pies baked into the cake- then came the art of stacking.  I do not pride myself on my cake building or decorating technique so these next two steps were nail biters.  Cakes all stacked I placed them in the fridge and went to sleep. I thought for sure I would see a crumbled pie/cake mess when I awoke in the morning to frost this beast.  To my surprise- the cake layers were still intact and I proceeded to frost.. and frost.. and frost some more. The end result was a mile high marshmallow looking dessert that is one big conversation starter. 

I made this for a holiday party at work- it was the gift that just kept giving!  Pie lovers and Cake lovers alike loved the sweet and salty, and unexpected delight they received from this dessert.  I can't even begin to explain the look I got when explaining this to people- make one and you'll know what I'm talking about.  But it was a hit!  Managed to slice some very presentable pieces for a while until I cut through about 2/3 of it, then- TIMBER- I lost the top half of this dessert!  But it was pretty while it lasted- and still tasted delicious!

If you ever want a fun challenge, and an attention grabber- bake this treat up!  See the link for photos of other Cherpumples, the recipe and a how to video!

Enjoy!

Charles Phoenix- Cherpumple