Rocky Road Cake

All-time favorite ice cream? Definitely Rocky Road. It's chocolate-based and there are things to chew on, 2 musts in my book. So naturally a rocky road cake is going to peak my interest. And while the cake portion seemed a bit dry and crumbly the first day, it softened right up the next day and I could not stop eating the stuff. The thick layer of chewy marshmallows and milk chocolate fudge drizzle were too much for my will-power to control. I'm thinking a sturdy brownie base is a must-try too.

Rocky Road Cake

{Recipe source: Baking Bites}

Cake:

1/2 cup butter

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

2 T cocoa powder

1 t vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup coarse-chopped walnuts

optional: chocolate chips

Marshmallow topping and Fudge Glaze:

10 1/2 oz package mini-marshmallows, divided

1/2 cup sugar

2 T milk

2 T butter

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9x13 pan. In microwave safe bowl, melt 1/2 cup butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir until smooth. Add cocoa powder and vanilla, stir. Set aside. In bowl of mixer, beat sugar and eggs. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. Add chocolate mixture and sour cream to egg/sugar mixture. Slowly add dry ingredients until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in chopped walnuts and chocolate chips, if using. Spread batter into greased pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle all but about 2/3 cup marshmallows evenly over the top. (Approx. 4 cups) Return cake to oven for 2 minutes, until marshmallows are puffy but not browned. Allow cake to cool several minutes while glaze is prepared.

For the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine sugar, milk, and butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and remaining 2/3 cup marshmallows until smooth. While hot, drizzle over still-warm cake. If it starts to cool and get to thick to drizzle just let it re-warm a bit on the stove.

Allow cake to cool completely before slicing.

TIP: While slicing, run blade of sharp knife under hot water to help cut through sticky marshmallows cleanly.

Chocolate Banana Snack Cake

This here cake is the best of both worlds. Its borderline-healthy with bananas and applesauce on the ingredient list ;0). And super duper tasty with that ever-amazing ingredient chocolate chips, which I of course added of my own accord because I can never leave well-enough alone. I found the original recipe in a Cooking Light magazine years ago and they refer to it as snack cake because it's somewhere between a brownie and a cake in consistency, every moist too. As in it's sturdy enough that you can pick it up and eat it with your hand, no fork necessary. I remember they also suggested using the pieces as individually wrapped bake-sale items, but I say skip the bake sale donation and just eat it all yourself. I know that's what I do!

Chocolate Banana Snack Cake

{Recipe Source: Cooking Light}

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup mashed, ripe bananas

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 square baking dish. Combine sugar, applesauce, butter, and eggs in mixing bowl and mix till combined. Add banana and vanilla. In separate bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually combine with wet mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir till evenly distributed. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake in oven for about 40 minutes. Check with toothpick. Cool in pan on rack and then dust with powdered sugar, slice into desired size pieces, anywhere from 8 to 16 small squares or so. Serve at room temperature.

Peaches and Cream Cake w/ Warm Vanilla Sauce

Wow, this. was. yummy! It was pretty much peach cobbler in a cake, doesn't get any better! I was looking for a 4th of July dessert and this one caught my attention. I love peaches and I love cream cheese and this has both. I liked that this used canned peaches, since where I live fresh peaches are pretty much gross and not worth buying. So sad, since I LOVE fresh peaches. But the canned tasted terrific and are something most people probably have on hand all the time. As for the sauce, it actually comes from another recipe but when I realized I had no ice cream or whipped cream I opted to "steal" this and see what became of pairing the two. Pure tastiness, that what came of it! This was an easy, no fuss dessert that I will definitely be making again and again. And you should too.

Peaches and Cream Cake w/ Warm Vanilla Sauce

{Recipe source: Mels Kitchen Cafe-combined 2 recipes}

Cake:

1 1/2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 T cornstarch

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 T butter, melted

Peaches and Cream Cheese Layer:

29 oz. sliced peaches

2 pkgs (16 oz.) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 cup sugar

6 T reserved peach juice

cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. In bowl of mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cornstarch. Add vanilla, eggs, milk and melted butter. Mix till well combined and spread batter evenly in the prepared baking dish.

Drain peaches, reserving 6 T of peach juice. Set aside. Slice peached into bite sized peaches and scatter over top of batter evenly. In same mixer bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and reserved peach juice until light and creamy. Dollop cream cheese mixture over peaches and batter. Then use spatula to spread as evenly as possible over all. It doesn't have to be perfect. (Mine was so runny that it spread itself over the peaches and batter, but my cream cheese was probably a little on the warm side to begin with) Sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until the edges are puffed and golden and the cream cheese layer is bubbled slightly. If the middle is still jiggly, bake until it no longer jiggles. Mine was right around 50 minutes. Serve warm or room temp (we liked room temp with the warm sauce) with ice cream, sweetened whipped cream, or warm vanilla sauce. Recipe follows...

Warm Vanilla Sauce

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 t vanilla extract

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add the sugar and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened (it thickens more as it cools). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spoon over peaches and cream cake.

Chocolate Chip Cake Waffles {Dessert}

If you need a quick chocolate cake fix and don't want to wait the 40 minutes of bake time this is the dessert for you! My kids loved this fun take on chocolate cake. Sweetened whipped cream, a chocolate drizzle and the ever favorite strawberry slices made it extra special.

The great thing is the options are endless. Any flavor cake mix will do...yellow, lemon, cherry, spice etc. And add-ins could include: toffee chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chopped nuts, m&m's, coconut and so on. Come to think of it, I'm a little curious how brownie batter would do in the waffle iron? Better get on that pronto! In the meantime here's our version...

Chocolate Chip Cake Waffles

1 chocolate cake mix (I used chocolate fudge. German chocolate or Devil's food would work nicely)

Ingredients called for in cake mix directions

Chocolate chips

Sweetened whipped cream

Chocolate syrup for drizzling (caramel or berry puree would be terrific too)

Strawberries or sliced bananas for garnish

Cooking spray

Begin heating waffle iron. Make cake mix as directed. When waffle iron is hot, spray with cooking spray (do this step each time) and pour in prepared cake batter. Sprinkle with chocolate chips before closing. Cook per manufacturers directions. When done top with whipped cream, strawberry or banana slices, chocolate, caramel, or berry puree drizzle. (or all 3!) Serve immediately. Leftover waffles will keep just like left-over cake or cupcakes would.