Frostings and Icings

Boxed store brand cake mixes are good but you can make them even better by adjusting the ingredients just a bit.  By tweaking it a little it makes the cake super moist.  I always get a bunch of compliments  and people are surprised that it’s just a simple doctored up cake mix.

I made this chocolate cake for hubs on Valentines Day; hence the red, white and pink M&M’s on top.  The cake is so soft and moist and the icing is perfectly sweet without being too sugary sweet.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

1 boxed Devil’s Food cake mix
1 box instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°.  Mix together all of the above ingredients.  Spray baking pans (I used two 9″ rounds) with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour batter into pan and bake according to cake mix directions, or until toothpick comes out clean (around 25 minutes for the round pans).  Let cool completely before icing.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
4oz cream cheese, room temp
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 – 6 tablespoons milk
plain M&M candies (optional)

1.  Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually start adding in the powdered sugar and milk, alternating each.  You may not use all of the milk.  Use as much as you need to reach the consistency you’d like.  Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

2.  Frost your cake and sprinkle M&Ms on top if desired.  Enjoy!

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I really can’t see why anyone would dislike whoopie pies.  They’re basically hand held pieces of cake.  These particular whoopie pies are made with a devil’s food cake mix and icing made with marshmallow cream.  Yum!

The cake tops turned out super soft and moist.  Which kinda made them harder to eat but that’s half the fun.  The messier the better I say, it usually means you’re eating something delicious if you’re willing to be covered in it!

And oh my, the icing!  It’s a sweet and sugary vanilla icing with a nice marshmallow undertone.  So good.  You’ll get a good number of nice sized whoopie pies out of this recipe.  They end up being about 3 inches across.

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Have you ever heard of making frosting with chocolate syrup?  Well me neither!  I thought that stuff was only good for making a cool glass of chocolate milk.  Well surprise surprise, it makes for a delicious chocolate frosting!  Probably one of the best chocolate icings I’ve tasted in a long time.

And use it to top a chocolate cake with a marshmallow middle and you’ve got a real slice of heaven on a plate.  But be warned your sweet tooth will be screaming after one small piece.  A little goes a very long way, even for hubs who can normally suck down sugar like it’s water!

I was a bit disappointed by the marshmallow filling though.  Maybe my expectations were a bit high but I thought it would be more creamy and have more of a marshmallow taste.  Don’t get me wrong it’s still a delicious icing.  I guess maybe I expected something more like the filling you find in a hostess cupcake.  But then again, that would make for a very messy cake!

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