Easy Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

My favorite Bundt cake occasions are half birthdays. What? You don't celebrate half birthdays??? Read more about them here and here.

(This is Nordic Ware's Blossom Bundt Pan...isn't it pretty?)


This cake was no exception. Although there's not a picture of it, we did cut it in half and give to a friend on her half birthday. Yes, I'm sure that this family thinks we are crazy.
THAT'S OK. We are.


The recipe comes from the Sample House cookbook. If you're from the Dallas area, you are surely familiar with the gift shop, Sample House. Well way back when, the (now moved) location on Walnut Hill had a soup shop. It was cute and quaint and you always, always saved room for dessert.


[note: PLEASE be sure to grease and flour every nook and cranny of your Bundt pan. Please.]


With sour cream and pudding in the mix, the cake bakes up super moist. The combination of the vanilla/yellow cake and the chocolate pudding packet makes for a nice mix of flavors and the pockets of melty chocolate chips are a bonus.


The recipe is straight from the cookbook, with a few little changes to the method from me. I love having simple recipes in my arsenal...this one is quick and no-fuss. It also makes a great half-birthday cake.


Easy Chocolate Chip Cake
{recipe from Sample House cookbook, method adapted}

1 box vanilla or yellow cake mix
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup water
1 (3-4 ounce) box instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 ounces sour cream
6 ounces chocolate chips

for the glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup milk
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease and flour a Bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325.

With an electric mixer, beat all of the cake ingredients except the chocolate chips on low until combined. Increase speed to medium, and continue beating until very few lumps remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until the cake bounces back when lightly pressed. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place a wire rack face-down on the exposed part of the cake. Flip the cake over onto the wire rack. Let sit for 1 minute, then remove the pan. Let the cake cool completely.

Make the glaze by combining the sugar, butter, milk, and chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until the chips are melted and smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from heat.

Place the cake on the wire rack onto a parchment or foil lined cookie sheet. Once the glaze has cooled for 10-15 minutes, pour over the cake. The longer the glaze sits, the thicker it will be, but you want it to be warm for pouring.

Sprinkles are optional. :)

Cookies and Cream Cake

Jack started off his summer at camp with our parish youth group. This was his first time on an airplane without one of us and the longest I'd ever gone without seeing him. Jack was more than ready to go...it was his mother who'd been dragging her feet about letting him fly off to this camp for years now.
Jack's mother needs help.


*This post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar.

Guess what? He had a FANTASTIC time. And I'm pretty sure he wasn't counting down the days until his return like someone else I know.


Mr. E and I managed to survive! Empty nesters...for a week. Good practice for next year when Jack will be heading off to college.
*Let's not talk about that right now. Please pass the tissues.*


I wanted to welcome Jack home with something a little special. A cake! There's really nothing more special than a layer cake, right?



This one is a cookies and cream layer cake with Oreos in both the cake...


...and the frosting.


(Even pressed into the sides of the frosting.)

It's a beauty. The cake is light and moist with a fine crumb. The frosting is creamy and luscious. *sigh*


Cookies and Cream Layer Cake. You're going to love it.

Don't wait until your kids comes back from camp to make it. Maybe make it while they're at camp and eat it all yourself. ;) Hey...why didn't I think of that?

I'm sharing my recipe over at Imperial Sugar. 
Go grab the recipe!

Chocolate Malt Texas Sheet Cake

You have important work to do this week. Yes, in the midst of end-of-the-school-year parties, making teacher gifts, planning summer vacation...you're going to make this cake. You are.
(Really though, make this cake.)


I was literally walking down the peanut butter aisle in the grocery store when the idea for this version of a Texas sheet cake came to me. Why? I have no idea. I do know that I'll be walking down that aisle more often, hoping for more divine cake intervention.


Texas sheet cake is traditionally a moist chocolate cake with a chocolate pecan icing. This one, however, is a CHOCOLATE MALT Texas sheet cake. Both the cake and the icing are flavored with malt powder.


Instead of pecans, the icing is topped with Whoppers.
[Note: do NOT open the Whoppers before making the cake...unless you want to have to run to the store for more Whoppers because you've inadvertently eaten the entire container. *ahem*]


There's something so nostalgic about malt. Whenever I have a chocolate malt or malt-flavored anything, I'm transported to the 1950's.

Copyright © 1978 Paramount Pictures Corp. Credit: © 1978 Paramount Pictures / Courtesy: Pyxurz.*

I blame the movie Grease for these malt associations... "to you from me, Pinky Lee!"  Can we please make malt shops a thing again?



The cake is super moist and the icing is silky and shiny. Cut it in big pieces. Have two. Maybe with a chocolate malt.


Chocolate Malt Texas Sheet Cake
{adapted from Ree's Chocolate Sheet Cake, make one 18"x12" cake}

for the cake:
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup malted milk powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup salted butter
4 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 cup boiling water

for the icing:
14 TBSP salted butter
1/3 cup malt ed milk powder
4 heaping TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
6 TBSP milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups roughly chopped Whoppers

Preheat oven to 350.


In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, malt powder, and salt together. Set aside.


In a large measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda together. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Once melted, stir in the cocoa powder. Pour in the boiling water and stir together for a minute. Remove from heat.

Stir the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture until incorporated. Stir in the buttermilk mixture. Continue stirring until smooth. Pour into an ungreased 18"x12" half sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the icing. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the malt and cocoa powder until smooth. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar, stirring over low heat until smooth and most of the lumps from the sugar have dissolved. Keep warm while the cake bakes.



Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, pour the icing over the cake as evenly as possible. Let the cake cool for about 20 minutes, then scatter the Whoppers over the top, pressing in slightly. Cool the cake in the pan, then cut into large pieces for serving.



Chocolate Malt Texas Sheet Cake..."to you from me, Pinky Lee!"

Cookbook Crush: March 2016 + Neiman Marcus CAKE!

We're new Costco members. That explains the 7 pounds of Nutella in my pantry. (That's what I'm telling myself anyway.)


Well, of course we must go up and down every aisle of Costco on each visit now...wouldn't want to miss a deal on something we didn't know we needed. That's when I spied The United Tastes of Texas by Jessica Dupuy. I stopped in my tracks...pretty much knowing it had to be mine. I didn't want to be hasty, though, so I opened to a random page. Yep. Sealed the deal. I needed it.


Texas is a BIG place. Did you know? We cook more than steak and tacos around here, and this book covers every corner of the state. I'm IN LOVE with this book. LOVE.

So far, I've made Amigo Pie (like a Tamale Pie, yum), Banana Pudding (hello, comfort food), King Ranch Chicken (and this recipe doesn't call for any condensed soup mixes...it's FABULOUS), and Neiman Marcus Cake.


(When Spike isn't napping, he likes to supervise what's happening in the kitchen.)

Now, I'd heard of the Neiman Marcus cookies, I've even made them on the blog, but cake?!? This, I needed to try.


The cake is two layers, chocolate and cream cheese. The chocolate layer rises up around the edges creating a crust of sorts that is perfection. The chocolate cake itself looks like a brownie, but it's not. It's lighter and fluffy. The cream cheese layer is rich, but not too thick, like Goldilocks would say, "just right."

In the book, the recipe is baked in a 9 x 13" pan. I decided to make them in 9" round pans, making 2 cakes. Since I was giving one away, I baked them in these foil take-away pans, which I love. They're high-sided, so make sure you bake them in a 9" pan with tall sides, at least 3 inches.




Neiman Marcus Cake
{adapted from The United Tastes of Texas, makes two 9" round cakes}

2 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs, divided
1/2 cup milk
3 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9" round cake pans with tall sides. Stir the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.

In a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and whisk in the granulated sugar. Whisk in 2 of the eggs, one at a time, until blended. Whisk in the milk and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Whisk the flour mixture into the chocolate in three additions.


Divide evenly between the two pans.

Beat the cream cheese and remaining vanilla until smooth. On low speed, beat in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until combined. Beat in the remaining 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.


Pour the mixture evenly over the chocolate batter, gently spreading with an offset spatula.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in the pans on a wire rack.

*this post contains affiliate links, thank you! 

The United Tastes of Texas and Neiman Marcus Cake...you can't go wrong with either!

17: Yellow Cake with Cookie Dough Filling and Fudge Frosting

Jack turned 17 last month. Let me pause to process that. 17. 17!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK. Thanks for giving me that moment. For his 17th birthday, Jack actually had two cakes. One was for his actual birthday and one when we went to dinner with a few friends.

{Note to self: I want two cakes on my next birthday.}


Every year, I ask Jack what kind of cake he wants. I remember when he was 3, he wanted "blue" cake. The next year, he wanted "green." This year, I think he was overwhelmed with choices. He couldn't decide, so I gave him a few cookbooks to look through and a handful of blogs to peruse. He finally came down to, "whatever you decide will be good."
Alrighty then.

My kid loves cookie dough. He loves chocolate. He loves cake. Done and done.

This cake did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, I cannot WAIT to make it again. Inspiration was pulled from three different cookbooks: Cake Ladies, The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook, and Hershey's Fabulous Desserts.


Don't make it for your second birthday cake....make it for your first. (And then, maybe your second.)



Yellow Cake with Cookie Dough Filling and Fudge Frosting
{makes 1 3-layer cake}

for the cake:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened +more for the pans
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated and room temperature
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup half and half, room temperature
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 TBSP vanilla extract

for the frosting:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup natural cocoa
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup hot milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

for the filling:
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Cut a circle of parchment to fit inside the bottom of each pan. Place in the pans; butter the parchment. Dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition. Once all yolks have been added, beat the mixture for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. In a large measuring cup, stir together the half and half, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix on low speed, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.

In another bowl, use a whisk attachment to whip the egg whites until the hold a stiff peak. In three additions, fold the whipped whites into the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 24-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto wire cooling racks.

[Note: if making the cake the day before, wrap the warm cakes in plastic wrap, then in foil. Freeze. Take out of the freezer an hour or so before frosting.]

make the frosting:
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add cocoa and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and milk until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and the vanilla, mixing on medium speed for 5-10 minutes, until thickened and smooth. Once mixed, set aside to thicken to spreading consistency, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

While the frosting is setting up, make the filling:
Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add in the milk and vanilla, mixing until combined. On low speed, mix in the flour and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Place a dab of frosting in the middle of the serving plate or cake stand. Place on cake layer on top. Spoon some frosting into a piping bag and snip off the end to make a large opening. Pipe an edge on the top of the cake layer (to hold in the filling). Spread half of the filling into the piped frosting. Repeat. Add the top layer and cover the cake with the remaining frosting.
(Eat several spoonfuls of frosting as you go.) ;)

Chill the cake  to set. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

*recipes adapted from Cake Ladies, The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook, and Hershey's Fabulous Desserts.

**post contains amazon affiliate links. thank you!

***MAKE THIS CAKE!

****The end.

Old-Fashioned Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Warm and comforting, simple and timeless, this old-fashioned spice cake just makes me so happy.


*this post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar.

I've mentioned before that my mom was a really good cook and baker. She was known in our neighborhood for her homemade cinnamon rolls (and would make them for our neighbors when they had out-of-town company) and Italian Cream Cake.


One thing I love about my mom, though, is that she was not a food snob. Yes, she rocked homemade cakes, cookies, and cinnamon rolls, but she was not above using a boxed cake mix.

There was one boxed mix in particular (I'm guessing in the late 70's, early 80's) called Stir 'n Frost. Inside the box was a cake mix, frosting packet, and even a PAN!

Spice cake is the only flavor I remember my mom buying...and I've thought fondly of that cake many times over the years.
(Anyone else remember this???)

FINALLY after all of these years, I decided to try making my own. I'm not sure what took me so long. I will say that there were many fails leading up to this recipes. I think because I had such fond memories of this cake, it was hard to make one that lived up to those warm and fuzzy memories.
This one does.




The cake itself is richly spiced with lots of cinnamon and clove. The cake is topped with a tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting that is the perfect foil to the spiciness. Have it for dessert, have it for a snack, heck...have it for breakfast, I did! Just make it.



I'm sharing the recipe for this cake over at Imperial Sugar.
Go grab the recipe and make some spice cake memories of your own! ♥