on how to bake a cake

Today is my boy's birthday! I think I might be more excited about it than he is, I just love birthdays and making someone feel so great and special on their day. Since I don't have a job currently (:-/, I'll leave that for another post) I got him a few little gifts that will be reviled later but I wanted to do something special for him.... so I decided, what could be better than a delicious chocolate-lover's dream cake? Plus I hadn't used my new cake pan yet so this was my excuse. This cake, a Fudgy Chocolate Torte from Betty Crocker, was super easy even thought I was nervous to make it. I wasn't sure how to use a spring-form pan but it was a complete success.

Start with 1/3 c. sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated) and 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips.

The recipe says to microwave it on half power for 1 minute until stirred smooth but it only took 30 seconds for me. I'm glad I checked it early because the milk can cause the chocolate to burn if it's heated too long. It should be completely smooth like this.

Next combine dry Super Moist Chocolate Fudge cake mix with 1/2 c. vegetable oil. Beat it on low for 30 seconds, don't worry if its crumbly, it should be. Take one cup of this batter out and set it aside.

To the remaining batter, add 2 eggs and 1 c. applesauce. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes until it's all mixed. It's okay if it's grainy, that's from the applesauce so it's supposed to be. Pour this batter into a greased and lightly floured 9 or 10-inch pan.

At this point I had to heat the chocolate sauce from before just slightly because it sat for a little while and cooled, 10 seconds did the trick and it was smooth and runny again. Onto the batter in the pan, place teaspoon blobs of the chocolate sauce all over the top. It said to place more on the edges than the center, I'm not sure why and I tried but there was a good amount of chocolate sauce so I couldn't help it.

Remember that cup of batter you saved, now it gets crumbled onto the top of the batter/chocolate in the pan. If you want you can add either 1/3 c. chopped pecans or sliced almonds to the cup of reserve batter before you sprinkle it on top. I decided to omit this step because Jeff's truly a chocolate lover and isn't a fan of nuts. Again, it's fine if it's crumbly on top as long as there aren't any really big chunks.

Place the pan in the oven, heated to 350F, for 45-50 minutes. I set the timer for 40 just to check it and I only ended up leaving it in for an extra two minutes so definitely check it early. It's sorta hard to tell when it's done because the typical "insert-a-knife" test is hard with the blobs of chocolate throughout the cake. You're knife won't come out clean if you hit a chocolate pocket. In general, the cake should jiggle just a tiny bit when it's just done so give it a little shake to test. Let it cool for about 10ish minutes before you try to take the side of the pan off to make sure it holds its form. It should look delicious, just like this!

Can you say yumm-oo!? It looks awesome doesn't it. I may sprinkle it with a little powdered sugar or maybe get some whipped cream but I'm not sure at this point. I bet it'll be good with anything. I hope Jeff enjoys it and it tastes as good as it looks, I'll keep you updated when the taste-test commences. As of now though, it's sitting cooling on the counter (cool it completely before you cover and store it) staring at me with all of it's chocolaty-goodness.