It’s National German Chocolate Cake Day (really!) so I dug out one of my favorite ways to play with German Chocolate Cake.

It’s called Better Than Sex Cake, and the first time I heard the name I did a double-take - did they really just say what I thought they said? Yep! And I’ll admit, this is some really darn good cake, and the first time I tried it I understood how it got its name. But you’ll have to decide for yourself how much you like it!

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Better Than Sex Cake

1 (18.25 oz) package devil’s food or German chocolate cake mix
1/2 (of a 14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz caramel ice cream topping
3 (1.4 oz each) bars chocolate covered toffee (Heath, Skor), roughly chopped chopped
1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Bake cake according to package directions for a 9×13 inch pan; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake or use the non-spoon end of a wooden spoon to make holes, making sure not to go through to the bottom.

In a saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping, stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour the warm topping mixture over the top of the warm cake, letting it sink into the slits or holes, then sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars liberally across the entire cake while still warm.

Let cake cool completely, then top with whipped topping. Decorate the top of the cake with some more chocolate toffee bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate and serve right from the pan!

[image: allrecipes]

Today is National Devil’s Food Cake Day! Yeah, I don’t know who comes up with these but I’m not going to complain!

Devil’s Food Cake is traditionally a rich chocolate layer cake paired with chocolate frosting and is thought of as the counterpart to Angel Food Cake. Makes sense, right?

The first known recipe for Devil’s Food Cake in the U.S. dates back to 1905, and it’s called Devil’s Food Cake not only because of the inclusion of real chocolate in the recipe, but because the baking soda causes the cocoa to redden when baked!

Devil’s Food Cake
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Sift in flour, cocoa and baking soda. Stir to combine. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap cakes separately in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.)

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with second cake layer. Spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. (Can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature.)

Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup (about) sour cream

Melt unsalted butter and chocolate in heavy small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Transfer to large bowl. Whisk in cocoa powder and vanilla. Whisk in 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup sour cream. Whisk in remaining 1 cup sugar. Gradually whisk in enough of remaining sour cream to form spreadable frosting.

[image: flickr]

I’ve been trying to find some more chocolate sites and blogs to add to my blogroll recently and in the process have come across some great sites. Below I’ve picked just a few noteworthy entries out of all the great links over in the sidebar:

- Chocolate Obsession reviews… bacon-flavored chocolate. For real.

- The Chocolate Nerd found Guayabitas: “sweet guava jelly drops rolled in sunkissed Costa Rican dark chocolate.”

- Chocablog has an amazingly huge slab of milk chocolate, caramel milk chocolate and white chocolate swirled together. A bit of perspective can be found here. Chocablog also reviews Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Turkish. I’ve always wondered about Turkish Delight, and though it’s not the same as the Cadbury I appreciated the explanation.

- David Lebovitz shares his recipe for Devil’s Food Cake. The pictures are amazing.

- Hot Chocolate has a post from a few weeks ago about Starbucks partnering up with Hershey to bring chocolate items to their stores. It’ll be interesting to see how well this is received after the apparent Hershey revolt.