Good news! The chocolate cake was, in fact, magically delicious.
Bad news! I will need to repent at the altar of Jillian Michaels and her planks of torture to work off all the calories I consumed in the form of the aforementioned chocolate cake.
More bad news! It’s October 7th and the temperature is still in the 90’s with approximately 184% humidity.
Even more bad news! My new bangs are totally put out with the humidity and are revolting in the form of pure frizz. I tried to just pull them back with a clip yesterday and discovered so many gray hairs lurking underneath the surface that I may have shrieked in horror, grabbed the tweezers and started plucking them out.
Even worse news! I’m pretty sure I now have a receding hair line due to all the hair I pulled out.
At least the chocolate cake made me feel better, even if it was only for a little while. Note to self: Food is not love.
(But it’s pretty dang close)
Here’s the recipe:
Best and Easiest Chocolate Cake
1 box Butter Recipe Chocolate Cake mix
1 3 ounce instant chocolate pudding mix
16 ounces sour cream (I used light because I like to keep it healthy)
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brewed coffee (I used a half cup of my grande nonfat latte because it was right there and didn’t require me to actually brew a cup of coffee, which worked out since I have no idea how to make coffee. Why do I need to know how to make coffee when God invented Starbucks?)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli because it’s the best)
In a large bowl, mix chocolate cake mix, pudding mix, and sour cream. Add in eggs one at a time. Then add the oil and coffee. Once it’s all blended, add in the chocolate chips.
You can pour all the batter into one bundt pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour or use two 9-inch round pans and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. (I used the 9-inch round pans because I feel that a birthday celebration needs a round cake. It’s just my personal belief system and I will not condemn you if you feel differently.)
I totally planned to take pictures of the entire process but that would have required a skill that I don’t really possess known as multi-tasking. Here’s the one picture I took.
I know what you’re thinking. How is it possible that I don’t have my very own wildly successful food blog with this kind of attention to detail?
The only explanation is that some people are hung up on the need to see beautiful step-by-step food photography as opposed to a dirty mixing bowl in the sink.
After the cake cooled, I made chocolate frosting. You could always just finish it with a light dusting of powdered sugar, but I say go big or go home.
Chocolate Frosting
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Mix butter and cocoa together. Add milk and vanilla. Gradually add in powdered sugar until you achieve desired consistency. It should be thick, but spreadable.
But wait! There’s more.
I spread the frosting on the bottom layer and then sprinkled it with Heath bar toffee bits (I originally typed “chips”, but it’s English toffee so naturally they are not chips, they are bits). Then, I placed the other layer on top (thereby creating a delicious, crunchy toffee-filled center) and covered the rest of the cake with frosting followed by another sprinkling of the Heath bar toffee bits over the top of the cake.
And I took a picture!
I assure you that what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in lopsidedness and pure deliciousness!
Also, I’ve never used this many exclamation points in one post ever! Ever!
I think this is what’s known as a sugar rush!
Something tells me that detox with Jillian Michaels later today isn’t going to be nearly as enjoyable.
Y’all have a great day.