All-in-One Cake & Frosting

Good things come to those who wait…

Or so they say…I…on the other hand, am sort of impatient. Something I need to work on now that we've moved to Portland, OR. It doesn't seem like they are in a hurry to do anything. Thankfully I don’t know where the heck I am going so I blend into traffic pretty well. I’m ready to take on the more laid back approach to life. Why be in a hurry, what are we in a hurry to do anyway. We need to enjoy our surroundings and the people we're with as much as we can.

So I was waiting…in a waiting area when I decided to pick up a Family Circle magazine to flip through to pass the time, when I came across this recipe, All-in-One Cake and Frosting. You make the frosting first and reserve some and then in the same bowl with the rest of the frosting you make the cake….what!? I don't know if this was proper etiquette or not but I ripped the recipe out because I just had to try it.

The original recipe was basically just a vanilla cake with a cream cheese frosting…which is good…but I had to tweak it a little. First of all I am not a big fan of overly sweet frostings and I could tell that this was going to be one of them. So I turned it into a chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting instead. I added some melted bittersweet chocolate, cocoa powder, and subbed chocolate milk for regular. Looking back I would probably add even more chocolate. You can never have too much chocolate! I think this would also be amazing as a lemon or an orange cake as well. The cream cheese lends to a very moist cake. The other half says it's dense like a pound cake. Anyway you decide to do it, I'm sure it will turn out wonderful. This is one of those recipes just waiting to be played around with.

All-in-One Cake & Frosting

Ingredients:

6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 (2 lb) pkg powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, divided
2/3 cup chocolate milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup water, room temperature

*The items italicized were my additions to the original recipe. Please feel free to leave them out and try it the original way, or add your own additions like the juice and zest of a lemon or an orange. The possibilities are endless.

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour a Bundt baking pan. (I used my trusty baking spray)

2.  In a large bowl, (I used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment) beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and cooled bittersweet chocolate; mix well.

3.  Add powdered sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa powder alternately with chocolate milk; mix well. Remove 2 1/2 cups of the mix, place into a plastic sealable bag; set aside.

4.  With mixer at slow speed, add eggs to remaining frosting; beat until well blended.

5.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to mix alternately with water; mix well.

6.  Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake 65-75 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Now it may be that my new oven runs a little hot, but both times I tried this recipe I took it out earlier than the original recipe suggests. I suggest checking on it when you have about 15 minutes left.) Cool 30 minutes. While cake is still warm, use a knife to loosen the cake edges from the pan. (I skipped the knife step, my baking spray releases the cake without any problems.) Cool completely before removing from pan. Top with frosting.