The Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake

Okay, so first off,I have to say that this is NOT my original recipe. It came to me via email from Betty Crocker as a suggestion for dessert. Seeing the title of this dessert, I was naturally curious, and upon seeing how easy it was to make, I decided to go for it. (I can follow a recipe pretty well!) 

I had to post this for all of you (Especially you Adri) who have been asking for the recipe ever since I posted the cake pictures on Instagram!

And heeeere we go:

Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake

INGREDIENTS

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® chocolate fudge cake mix

3/4 cup chocolate milk

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

3 eggs

1 container (8 oz) sour cream

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

1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Ganache Glaze

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

2/3 cup whipping cream

Caramel-Toffee Topping

11/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 oz)

1/2 cup caramel topping*

1/2 cup toffee bits

1 bar (2.07 oz) milk chocolate-covered peanut, caramel and nougat candy, unwrapped, chopped

*Now for the caramel topping I used a recipe from another dessert as I felt it was going to be much tastier than store bought:

Caramel Topping

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 bag (14 oz) caramels, approximately 35 caramels
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

The Process

Step 1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Generously grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan ( I used my new Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt Pan for this here!) with shortening and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour.

Step 2 In large bowl, mix cake mix, chocolate milk, butter, eggs, sour cream and dry pudding mix with spoon until well blended (batter will be very thick). Stir in 2 cups chocolate chips. Spoon into pan.

All up in the mix!

Step 3 Bake 56 to 64 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool 10 minutes. Turn pan upside down onto cooling rack or heatproof serving plate; remove pan. Cool completely, about 2 hours. 

Naked Cake...Woo! 

Step 4 Place 1 cup chocolate chips in small heatproof bowl. In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream to simmering; pour over chips. Let stand 5 minutes; stir until smooth. 

Chocolate Ganache

Almost finished...

That Caramel SAWSE!

[At this point, you can go ahead and make the caramel sauce, then proceed]

Drizzle glaze over cake. Sprinkle with 11/2 cups chocolate chips. Drizzle caramel topping over cake. Sprinkle with toffee bits and chopped candy. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Finished cake with all the toppings

This is the final version, but I did do some tweaks to the recipe itself. Since I'm a bit concerned that I may be developing a nut allergy and didn't want to take any chances, I substituted the "Snickers" candy bar for a Milky Way Midnight and searched high and low to find some toffee without nuts. Turns out they were as close as the local Fresh and Easy! Fresh and Easy brand Milk Chocolate Toffee Pieces. I chopped these up and strategically placed them on the cake and then proceeded to photograph this thing of beauty.

This is definitely one of my favorite cakes to bake and everyone loves eating it...I should start charging for this! Haha! Enjoy this Taste of Tatumology!

Donut Men

So to continue in our tradition of Food Adventures, Josh, Grant and I decided to take a break from our Ramen House expeditions and go for some dessert. The choice this time around was pretty easy as we had been talking about visiting The Donut Man for sometime now.

The Donut Man

My personal experience prior to this one was mostly word of mouth and a little internet research. What I kept hearing and seeing were the words "Fresh Fruit" and "Tiger Tails", so for this run, I already had in mind what I was going to get...it was now just a matter of getting there. For this run we were facing rain, hail and the dreaded LA traffic...No Problem!

Customers out in the rain

So on to the proverbial 'meat' of the story...

Strawberry Donut

Again, since I already knew what to expect, my eyes went straight to the window that housed these delicious treats. I was really hoping that there would be some left since these are seasonal and in high demand, and Oh Glory! there were some available and they were super fresh! I wish I had started the video earlier so you all could see the looks on the faces of Josh & Grant when they saw the strawberry donuts! (I can imagine the looks on YOUR faces now! Haha!)

Donut Man Donut racks WITH
chocolate covered strawberries!

Strawberry Donut Rack

The great part about what I saw was that every donut on the rack looked like they had just been placed out there for us to consume just a few minutes before our arrival. (Mind you we started this Food Adventure at about 7pm.) There were cake donuts with various flavors and colors, stately and pristine looking french crullers deliciously decorated in flavorful frostings. Old fashioned donuts dressed in their traditional garb of glazed and chocolate coats (and a few 'naked' ones too!) sat on display with rows of luscious chocolate strawberries, and possibly the most interesting of the menagerie, were the inside out creme donuts with raspberry swirl designs! I could have purchased them all, but I had to stay focused. Strawberry Donuts and Tiger Tails on this run!

Grant completing his order with a chocolate milk
"I guess that's a dollar..." Lol

 This was a really nice run. The three of us hadn't been together in quite some time, especially on a food run, so this was quite fun! I do enjoy giving the fellas "The Business" as we say.

Josh grabbing a couple of napkins...I think one of
them had the associate's number on it!

Josh was being all camera shy tonite, so unfortunately ladies, you don't get to see his handsome face...which may be a good thing, cuz you might fall in love! Hahaha!

One of the cool things we got to do was watch as the next batch of donuts were being made. There are two picture windows that flank either side of the building, and it's through these that we got to see several batches of dough go through the process of becoming various different donuts. It's like watching an episode of Discovery's "How It's Made" live! Enjoy the video...and us being silly! 

Making Tiger Tails

Now as stated earlier, the other donut that the Donut Man is famous for are the Tiger Tails. Admittedly, I had not had a Tiger Tail before this run. (Shame, I know!) For those who were like I was, A Tiger Tail basically is a twist donut with a streak of chocolate in it. They're long and have a bulbous end, which mimics the tail of a tiger. 

The Finished Tiger Tail

These were quite tasty! Soft, flaky, soft and sweet with just a touch of chocolate in every bite! No being the notoriously slow eater that I am, I was able to savor every bite. It felt like I was eating about a mile's length of donut because these are longer than your average twist donut!

Crumb, Cruller, and Cake donuts
in various stages of completion.

 The Donut Man really had it poppin on this night, and since they're a 24/7 kind of place, I'm sure they have it poppin every night! We all agreed that we would be back since there were so many other donuts to try, and we would DEFINITELY come back in the summer time when Peach will be the featured seasonal fruit! Imagine that donut filled with sweet juicy peaches....Mmmmm!

Through rain, hail, cold, darkness, and dreaded LA Traffic, we will press on towards the next Food Adventure. Until then,

Happy Eating!