I stumbled across this video of the award-winning Chocolate California Goldrush Cake while searching for something else, and I was immediately hooked.
The award competition was sponsored by Ghirardelli, so you know some good chocolate was going into these creations!
The method for the cake is actually pretty simple and looks amazingly delicious: two melted bars of Ghirardelli 100% cacao bars, butter, flour, salt, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Once everything is mixed into a batter, she puts about half of it into a bundt pan, and then layers Ghirardelli caramel squares, toasted pecans, and then the rest of the batter on …read more

While browsing through flickr this morning, I came across a truly inspired piece of chocolate amazingness:

Bobby Flay’s Chocolate Blackout Cake. He created it for an episode of his Food Network show Throwdown, wherein he had to create a wedding cake to compete against someone who made wedding cakes for a living.
It uses chocolate, ancho chile powder, buttermilk and coffee for the cake, two different kinds of chocolate for the whipped ganache filling, and coconut for the frosting.
I would love to give this a try — and I give props to flickr user kimberlykv who did make it! — but I …read more

It is once again German Chocolate Cake Day! German chocolate cake is traditionally a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a gooey coconut-pecan frosting.

Oddly enough, the cake didn’t originate in Germany. The name actually comes from Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate, the brand used by a Texas homemaker in 1957 who used the chocolate to make her “German’s Chocolate Cake.”
The possessive “s” was dropped by General Foods, who subsequently distributed the recipe, and became the German Chocolate Cake we all know and love today.
Check out David Lebovitz’s amazing German Chocolate Cake Recipe, where the flickr picture up top …read more

If you’ve ever been to a Chili’s restaurant then you’ve probably heard of the Chocolate Molten Cake.
The dessert is described as “Warm chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling. Topped with vanilla ice cream under a crunchy chocolate shell.” Sounds delicious, right?
In the video above, Todd Wilbur from topsecretrecipes.com shows you how to clone the decadent treat at home with just a few changes: instead of a fluted tart pan, he uses a giant muffin tin and just a basic boxed chocolate cake mix, and Hershey’s hot fudge for the filling.
I have to admit, Todd’s looks much more appetizing than …read more

My twins’ birthday was this past weekend, and one of them absolutely loves monkeys. I was going to surprise her with the cake I found for her this year, but realized it would probably be more special and fun for her if she got to help me with it!

My friend Sherry sent me the link to this decorated cake several months ago, and I printed it out immediately and have had it stashed in my recipe folder since. I’ve been so excited to try it out but couldn’t really do a test run because that obviously would have given it …read more

It’s National Picnic Day, and what better way to celebrate than with a chocolate cake that doesn’t need to be kept cold and travels easily?
Chocolate Picnic Cake
1 (5 ounce) package non-instant chocolate pudding mix
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
…
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
In a large saucepan, prepare the pudding according to the instructions on the box. Remove from heat. Mix cake mix into the hot pudding and stir until blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle with the chocolate chips …read more

I loooove German chocolate cake, and I couldn’t pass up this picture for this week’s Chocolate Zen!
What’s your favorite kind of chocolate cake? Plain? Molten? Zucchini?
[image: flickr]

Today’s a chocolate cake kind of day!
[image: flickr]

This week’s Chocolate Zen is a simple chocolate birthday cake I found on flickr. It was made with a ganache frosting and looks delicious!
[image: flickr]

This week’s chocolate zen is a chocolate cake from flickr user david nikonvscanon. It looks amazing!