CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CAKE

We do love crab parties. That's me at the end of the table with apron on, picking crabs. It's so much fun, and makes for good conversation. Except it was too close to the election. One person was for Obama, the rest of us for McCain. Whew. Almost went into fisticuffs. Hope we can all stay friends now that it's over.

Guy loves setting the table for crabs with his special crab paper and his homemade crab plates. We'll have to wait till next year to do this again. And luckily, it's a non-election year.

We had a crab party Sunday night, to eat up the last of our crabs. It's not that the crabs are done, it's just that Guy's tired of setting and emptying the traps. And we've eaten our fill of crabs this year. Apple pie was the main dessert, and this was just a side experiment. Our neighbor/friend drinks Saranac Black & Tan and we always have some in our fridge for him. So instead of buying Guinness, which no one here drinks, I subbed the Saranac. I was all set to not not like this cake, because I'm not a beer drinker and could never quite adapt to the flavor. I decided to just try a bite so I could say I tasted it. And I ate the whole thing. It was absolutely delicious. Tender, moist, flavorful and delicious, not too sweet, just enough of everything. And there's no heavy beer taste. In fact, I couldn't taste the beer much at all. Just this wonderful chocolate flavor. The recipe I followed called for a cream cheese icing with heavy cream added. I added just a touch of melted chocolate to it, and it was yummy. Instead of making the batter in a springform pan, I decided to use my little ramekins, but there was still batter left over. So I used my 6-cup bundt pans and two of my 4-1/2" springform pans. End result: I got one 4-1/2" "layer cake," made with the two springform pan cakes; 2 little bundt cakes, and 4 individual cakes from the ramekins. These sizes are much more usable for me. The 4 ramekin cakes are gone and the others are in my freezer, all frosted and waiting to be thawed. This is definitely a cake I will make again. My thanks to grouprecipes.com for this wonderful recipe. I'm printing it below in its original form, because I followed it to a "T", except for the little bit of chocolate added to the frosting and except for the Saranac in place of the Guinness.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Rating: 10 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:

CAKE: 1 cup Guinness (or other Stout)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. butter

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups superfine sugar (I used regular)

3/4 cup sour cream (I used lite)

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 tsp. baking soda

FROSTING: 8 oz. cream cheese

1-1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease and line with parchment paper a 9" springform pan.

2. Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan and add the sliced butter. Heat until the butter is melted and remove from the heat. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla. Add the sour cream mixture to the Guinness mixture in the saucepan. Finally, beat in the flour and baking soda.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, checking with a toothpick for doneness. (My little pans took 20 minutes.) Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

4. For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until well combined and creamy. Add the cream and beat again until it's a spreadable consistency. (Slowly add the cream and beat well afterwards.) At first there seems like a lot of frosting for just the top of a 9" cake, but don't skimp! The idea is to frost the top of the cake until it resembles the frothy head of a pint of Guinness. It's quite dramatic and lovely. (Note: I admit I skimped by cutting the frosting recipe in half, and drama aside, it was enough frosting for me.)

THE CAKE DOCTOR'S DOUBLE CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE, ADAPTED

One of the neighborhoods in our development had a pig pickin', and we were invited. I was asked to bring a dessert and decided to use the Cake Doctor's website to find a recipe for a box of Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix. I first tasted this cake at the party, when it was room temperature, and didn't care for it much, although everyone who tried it raved over it. There was a little left over and I put in the fridge overnight. I tasted it after lunch today, cold, and was surprised to note that the texture and flavor had improved greatly. I think this would be a great make-ahead recipe -- something to make the day before a party, rather than the day of, so the flavors can mellow out in the fridge. Serve it cold for best flavor. It doesn't need ice cream or any enhancements, and the frosting (my recipe, not the Cake Doctor's) is perfect with it -- not too sweet.

The Cake Doctor's Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake, Adapted
Rating: 8 out of 10
1 package (18.25 oz.) plain devil's food cake mix
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey's)
1/2 cup Kahlua (or generic coffee liqueur)
1/2 Tbsp. instant coffee powder (decaf is ok)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9x12 pan; set aside.

Place the cake mix, cocoa, Kahlua, buttermilk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl; blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Pour the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven and bake till cake is barely done (when a toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs), about 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and place pan on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of pan and invert onto a cooling rack; then invert again onto another rack so that the cake is right side up. Allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes - 1 hour. Return cake to baking pan and frost top with Mocha Cinnamon Frosting (see recipe below). Refrigerate overnight and serve cold for best flavor. Garnish top with chocolate shavings or broken cinnamon bark.

Mocha Cinnamon Frosting
4 oz. Neufchatel cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. coffee essence (see recipe below)
1 tsp. Mexican or regular vanilla
1/2 cup fat-free half and half
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) chocolate instant pudding
1-1/2 cups frozen and thawed non-fat whipped topping

In medium bowl, beat cheese till soft and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cinnamon, coffee essence, vanilla and half and half and beat til well combined and smooth. Add pudding and beat on medium speed 2 minutes, till smooth and well combined. Fold in whipped topping carefully. Refrigerate till cake is thoroughly cooled.

Coffee Essence
1/4 cup Kahlua or generic coffee liqueur
3 Tbsp. instant coffee powder

Combine ingredients in a small jar. Refrigerate and use as needed. A teaspoon added to chocolate chip cookie batter is a wonderful enhancement.

ROCKY ROAD SQUARES

This is a recipe I've been saving, for 3 years actually. Karin Calloway, the originator, wrote about these in such a persuasive way, I was sure they would be outrageously good. You can find the original recipe, and others, at http://www.vikingrange.com/. Frankly, I was underwhelmed when I first tasted these, still warm, about 2 hours after baking. I didn't like the cake part because I wanted to bite into a dense brownie; the cheesecake part tasted spongy and I thought it was because of the baking temperature and the ingredients. I was resigned to giving them all away and forgetting about this recipe. And then I chilled them overnight. What a difference! These are amazing, really, really good. Everyone who has tasted them has raved. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Rocky Road Squares
Cake Layer: 18.25-oz. Devil's Food Cake Mix (Pillsbury, pudding in the mix)
1 cup cola beverage
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1 Tbsp. oil)
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup toasted pecans

Cream Cheese Layer: 16 oz. cream cheese (I used Neufchatel)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup sugar (I used a scant 1/2 cup sugar + a scant Tbsp. of Stevia)
4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Topping: 1 cup chocolate morsels
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
10.5 oz. bag miniature marshmallows
16-oz. tub chocolate frosting (Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 10x15" glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. In the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine the cake mix, cola, oil, eggs and whole pecans. Beat until well combined (the mixer will chop the pecans), and then fold in the applesauce. Pour into the prepared baking dish and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese and butter together in the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer or large bowl with a hand mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the flour and sugar. Fold in the vanilla. Spread over the chocolate cake base. Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 40 minutes. (The cheesecake had puffed up almost to the center, so I took it out at 38 minutes.) Remove from oven and sprinkle with the chocolate morsels, nuts and marshmallows. Return to oven and bake 8 minutes more.

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Heat the chocolate frosting in a saucepan over low heat, until softened, or heat in a microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute. Drizzle over the cake and let cool for 1 hour before serving. (Note: Cool for at least 2 hours before cutting.) Store in the refrigerator. (Note: These will slice more easily if you first wet a serrated edge knife. After each slice, rinse off the knife. This will keep the marshmallows from sticking to the knife, even though it is somewhat of a pain to keep rinsing off the knife.)

Here's the cake in the oven with the morsels, nuts and marshmallows on the top-- it fills up the whole pan and I wondered how I could ever pour frosting over this; but somehow it worked, and none spilled over the sides.

CHOCOLATE CHAI LATTE CAKE WITH AMARETTO CREAM

Since I'm not baking desserts until my hips recover from chocolate onslaught, here's a recipe that I submitted to betterrecipes.com for their 2007 annual best recipe contest. It didn't win, but it was given 5 stars, their highest rating, and here's the comment they have posted on their website: "Chai latte and chocolate chips give this moist chocolate cake a distinctive flavor -- serve with a marscapone[sic] and amaretto cream sauce."

Chocolate Chai Latte Cake with Amaretto Cream

INGREDIENTS: Cake: 1 18.25 oz. pkg. devil's food cake mix
1 small pkg. chocolate instant pudding mix
1 cup lite sour cream
1/2 cup brewed black tea, steeped for about 10 minutes
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1/3 cup chai latte mix
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Topping:
8 oz. mascarpone or cream cheese, room temperature
1-1/4 cups cold fat-free half and half
1/4 cup amaretto liqueur
1 small pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix
1/4 cup confectioner's (10X) sugar
8 oz. very cold heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS: Cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Have all ingredients at room temperature. Grease and flour a bundt pan, or spray with flour-added nonstick cooking spray. Combine all cake ingredients except chocolate chips in large mixing bowl. Mix according to package instructions. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into bundt pan and bake for 36-40 minutes, or till toothpick inserted in center of cake returns almost clean. Cool cake in pan for 10-15 minutes,, then invert onto wire rack to completely cool.
Topping: Place room temperature mascarpone in medium chilled bowl and beat till creamy. Add half and half and amaretto and beat till well combined. Sprinkle pudding mix and 10X sugar on top and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes; refrigerate. In separate small chilled bowl, beat heavy cream until stiff. Fold into pudding mixture on slow speed with mixer or by hand with spatula or wire whip. Serve slices of cake with topping.

DARK CHOCOLATE DREAMS CAKE AND FROSTING

INGREDIENTS: 1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. instant coffee granules (decaf ok)
1 box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Fudge cakemix
1/2 cup coffee brandy (Kahlua or generic) or strong coffee
2 Tbsp. Smart Balance buttery spread (or butter or margarine)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup Dark Chocolate Dreams
1 little tub (4 oz.) applesauce, unsweetened

FROSTING: 1 tub any chocolate frosting
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Dreams
2-3 Tbsp. coffee brandy or strong coffee

DIRECTIONS: Have all ingredients at room temperature before starting. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 for dark or coated pans). Grease sides and bottom of each pan with shortening and flour lightly or use baking cups for cupcakes. First, dissolve instant coffee granules in water. Blend all cake ingredients except applesauce at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Add applesauce. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter in pans and bake immediately. See back of DH cake mix box for sizes and times.

(Tip for getting all the coffee brandy out of the measuring cup: Empty the coffee then crack the eggs in the measuring cup. The eggs will "clean out" the cup.)

For frosting, mix all ingredients by hand or with electric mixer till smooth and fluffy. Frost cakes.