Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Birthday baking

Choosing an occasion for which to bake was easy this week! We have two sweet-aholic birthdays. Hubby turns 32 in Thursday, and my father-in-law, affectionately known as Boppa, turns 21 again the following Thursday.

Originally I wanted to do an elaborate 7+ layer cake, but because we are celebrating in the middle of the week, I caved and went with a recipe that was much simpler, but no less fattening. Both boys are not only sweet lovers, but majorly love chocolate. I chose Paula Dean's recipe for "volcano cake". Very easy, but it looks delicious!


Preheat oven to 350*. Place 1 cup of shredded, sweetened coconut and 1 cup of pecans in the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.
Prepare a box of German Chocolate cake mix according to package directions, and stir in 10 chopped up mini Almond Joy bars.  Pour mixture over the coconut and pecans.
Next, combine 8 oz of cream cheese (room temperature) with 1 stick of butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 2 cups of powdered sugar.  Place in randomly distributed dollops over the cake mix.  Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Remove cake from oven, and hope that yours turns out prettier than mine!  My cake mix rose well above the cream cheese dollops making my cake look like a crater-filled moon.  In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 stick of butter, 2 T cocoa powder, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/4 cup milk.  Heat until butter is melted, remove from heat, and add 11/2 to 2 cups of powdered sugar (depending on your desired consistency), stir until smooth, then add 1 cup of chopped pecans.  Pour over the baked cake, and enjoy?  I ask that, as we have not yet consumed the cake.  I will report back tomorrow with an "enjoy!" or "wa wa wa."

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