German Chocolate Cake

My mom was well known for her German Chocolate cake and it was also one of the few sweets that my brother Steve really liked.   So Mama would make it for his birthday and other special occasions.  The rest of us all liked it too.  But, because it can be a bit of a pain making the frosting, we didn’t have it all that often.   After not making one for a long time, I have had the pleasure to make two in the past week.  And, everyone that ate them was very pleased in how it turned out.   You can just as easily make the cake using a mix, but here is a simple cake recipe that you can also use for homemade flavor.   As always, enjoy!
An Easy Chocolate Cake   (this is the traditional recipe from Hershey’s, but with a couple of additions of my own.  It is very easy, tender and moist.   Great flavor, too!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Grease a 9X13 inch cake pan and set aside.   In a large mixing bowl add the following:
2 cups white sugar
¾  cup cocoa powder, dark or regular
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsps. Baking powder
1 ½ tsps. Baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant coffee (unless using hot coffee instead of the hot water)
Stir well to combine.
In another bowl beat together:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
Stir this into the dry ingredients and mix about 2 minutes or until well blended, scrapping the bowl once.  Then, all at once add the boiling water or coffee.  
1 boiling water (or coffee)
Continue to beat until well mixed, then pour into the prepared pan and bake about 35-45 minutes.   The cake will feel dry on top, pull slightly away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick in the center will come out clean.   Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.   

When the cake comes out of the oven, you can make the frosting.  

In a heavy pan, an enameled Dutch oven is perfect, beat together:

1 ½ cups white sugar
1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk (1 ½ cups)
5 egg yolks

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil, add 1/2 cup butter and then cook until the mixture becomes very thick, about 9 minutes or so.    Remove from heat and add 1 ½ tsps. Vanilla.   Stir in 2 cups of sweetened coconut, lightly toasted is good, but untoasted is good too, and about 1 ½ cups chopped pecans, again lightly toasted is very tasty, but untoasted is good too.  
Allow to cool completely, then frost the cooled cake.    

Nutella Cream Sauce

  A very decadent and delicious dessert sauce can be made in minutes.   I guarantee that if you like Nutella and chocolate, you will love this!  Serve it over cake, ice cream, flan, cheesecake, you name it.  

Equal parts of heavy cream and Nutella.  Put the cream in a small pan and warm gently to just below simmering.  Add the Nutella and stir until it is well blended with the cream and the mixture is creamy and smooth.   Cool and either use at room temperature or chill.  If you chill it, it will thicken a bit.   Store any leftover sauce in the refrigerator.  

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

 Choose your favorite sugar cookie recipe, replace 1 cup of the flour with cocoa powder, if you have the dark cocoa powder even better.   Also use half brown sugar for the white sugar and add 2 tsp instant coffee granules.   These cookies will turn out tasting a lot like a chocolate brownie.   They are very good.  

Another Chocolate Sugar Cookie

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling


Cream together butter and brown sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in the eggs  and then vanilla. Combine cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix well.  Refrigerate dough for one hour.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough and place into granulated sugar, roll around to coat. Place sugar coated dough on lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet, space cookies 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 9-10 minutes.
Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely

"Healthy" Christmas Candy

Take about 3 cups of dried fruit,  a mix of more than one kind is best.   Place in a food processor with about 1 cup of nuts, almonds are good.    Process until coarsely chopped, then put in a bowl and add 2 tbsp. of honey.  Mix well and then form into balls, then roll in powdered sugar or more ground nuts.    You can also line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper, then press the fruit and honey mix in the prepared pan and cover with  3 ounces of melted chocolate.  Chill in fridge until firm, then cut into squares.  

You can also add a bit of cinnamon or a drop or two of vanilla or almond or pineapple extract depending on what fruits you are using.   My personal favorite mix is 2/3 diced dried peaches, 1/3 diced dried apricots, almonds and a drop of almond extract, with the honey, then the balls rolled in chopped roasted almonds.  

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

14 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
about 1/2 cup sugar, either granulated or powdered (for rolling the dough balls before baking)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
 
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Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla.    Fold in the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.   Take teaspoons of the dough and roll into balls, then roll those in the granulated or powdered sugar.    Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 9-12 minutes.  When done the tops of the cookies will look dry and they will be covered with cracks.   Allow to cool on the pans about 8-10 minutes before moving to a rack to finish cooling.    Makes 4-5 dozen cookies, depending on size. 

Super moist and chocolatey chocolate cake with Hershey frosting

There used to be a very good B&B in a nearby town called The Holton House.   They served all you can eat chicken dinners and ended with a square of the richest, moistest chocolate cake I had ever eaten.   (Unfortunately, they recently closed)   For years I have been searching for a chocolate cake that resembled the cake they served   Finally, this past week I came across a recipe that came close, with a few tweeks I managed to recreate it perfectly.   Here is what I came up with:

1 box chocolate fudge cake mix, Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker are the best brands
1 box instant chocolate fudge pudding
1 cup sour cream, light sour cream works well
1/2 cup Hershey's syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.   Grease and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan.    Place all of cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat on low for about 1 minute, then increase speed to medium until well combined, maybe 1 1/2-2 minutes.   Stir in the chocolate chips.    The batter will be very thick.  Spread into the prepared pan and bake 35-45 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched, is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.   Allow to cool completely, about an hour or so.    Spread with the Hershey's chocolate frosting.  

If you want to make a layer cake, use the same recipe and bake in two greased and floured 9 inch layer pans.   Adjust baking time by checking for doneness after about 30 minutes.    Allow cakes to cool in pan about 10 minutes, before finishing cooling on a rack before frosting. 

Hershey's Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup Hershey's Syrup
1 tbsp. milk (or more Hershey's syrup)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Cream the butter, cocoa, vanilla, milk and Hershey's syrup until creamy and well blended. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar and continue beating until the frosting is smooth and well blended.   Spread on the cooled cake. 

Diego's Mom's Italian Style Hot Chocolate

Way too many years ago (December 17, 2005-January 7, 2006,) I had the privilege to visit some friends in northern Italy.   My friend Diego took me to his home village up in the mountains (near where the skiing competition of the 2006 Winter Olympics were held), by the name of Perosa Argentina.   It was a magical visit.   I was lucky to get to spend Christmas in this little mountain village with Diego's family.   I remember going to  Midnight Mass in the old parish church and after the Mass, drinking mulled wine in the church square.    Another memory I have is of Diego's mom making me Italian hot chocolate.   Ever since that visit I intended to ask Diego's mom for her recipe, but kept forgetting.   Finally last week I remembered to ask Diego to speak to his mom and today I received her recipe.   I guarantee you, this will be the best hot chocolate you have ever tasted.  This how Diego said his Mom said to do it:

"For 2 persons:
1/2 liter (1,1 pint) of milk [just a touch more than 2 cups]
120 g (4,2 oz) of dark chocolate [4 1/4 squares of cooking chocolate]
20 g (0,7 oz) of cocoa powder or chocolate powder (if you prefer a sweeter flavor) [4 teaspoons]
20 g (0,7 oz) of cornstarch [4 teaspoons]
20 g (0,7 oz) of sugar [4 teaspoons]

Pour the cold milk, the cornstarch and the cocoa (or chocolate) powder into a saucepan and heat up. Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave oven. Bring the milk (with cocoa powder and cornstarch) to the boil over a low flame, mixing all the time then add the melted chocolate. To increase the density of the chocolate, boil for longer. If a less dense chocolate is required, add more milk. Remove from the flame and enjoy the chocolate by adding sugar to suit personal preference."

Many thanks to my dear Italian friends!   

Texas Sheet Cake

This has been a long time favorite of mine and my mom used to make them all the time.   They are relative easy to make and give you a very moist and not too sweet chocolate cake.   I have seen very many variations on this recipe, but most are pretty similar and almost non-fail.   Here is the one I use.

For the cake:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla

Grease and flour either a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan or a 9x13 cake pan.   Then in a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In a large saucepan, bring to a boil the butter, cocoa and water, stirring well all the time.   Beat the boiling mixture into the dry ingredients, then beat in the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.   Spread in the bottom of the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees 25 minutes for the jelly roll pan or 35 minutes for the 9x13 cake pan or until a toothpick stuck in the center of the cake comes out clean.  

While the cake is baking prepared the frosting:

1/4 cup butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
1/4 cup butter milk
approximately 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

In a saucepan bring the butter, cocoa and buttermilk to a boil.   Remove from the heat and beat in the vanilla and powdered sugar.  It should not be too thick, as you want it to spread easily.   Add more buttermilk if needed.   Spread the warm frosting over the hot cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.   Allow to cool completely before cutting.   Refrigerate any leftovers.   As always, enjoy!

Chocolate Brownies

I am a big fan of anything chocolate.   One of my favorites, as well as a favorite of many people, is a really good brownie.   They are cakey, chewy and rich.   Nothing like a good homemade brownie.   Here is the recipe I use.

1 cup melted butter
2 cups white sugar
12 heaping tbsp. cocoa
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional, I don't like nuts in mine, but some folks do)

Beat together the melted butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and eggs. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until smooth. Stir in nuts if using. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 inch cake pan. (Lick the batter remaining in the bowl and on the spoon.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or until it begins to pull away from the edges of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before cutting and removing from the pan.


If you really want to gild the lily, you can frost with a chocolate frosting.