Triple Chocolate Poke Cake

My favorite cake to bake is remission cake.  It never looks the same or has the same ingredients, but it's by far the best one to make.  Every time my uncle Scott's lymphoma is in remission, I bake him and his family a remission cake to celebrate!  Luckily two weeks ago, I got to make another one.  He loves chocolate, so I found this triple chocolate poke cake on Pinterest and decided to try it out.

Have you ever made a poke cake?  You literally poke holes in it once it's done baking, and pour a glaze over the top.  The idea is that the glaze fills in the holes so the cake is extra moist and has pockets of chocolatey sauce inside!

Here's a rule of thumb that I learned while making this poke cake: less is more.  Less holes, that is.  I poked so many holes that the cake looked like brown swiss cheese.  I figured, more holes must be better than less holes!  Unfortunately, then I ran out of glaze real fast.  It barely filled half of the holes, and the ones it did fill weren't even completely full.  Then you are supposed to sprinkle chocolate shavings on the top, which I did, and they sort of looked like brown saw dust, and they melted a little too.  The cake, in short, looked like crap.

I was horrified.  In an attempt to fix its cosmetics, I filled my holes with whipped cream and covered it all with sprinkles.  Then I frantically delivered it to my aunt and uncle and told them not to tell me if it sucked.  This was the picture I got sent later:

 along with a text that the cake was "the best chocolate cake ever," and an offer to return the favor in exchange for smoked salmon! Haha.  No thanks to the salmon, but I was really happy to find that my ugly cake was still delicious.  Since Scott compared it to the legendary chocolate cake of his childhood, I supposed I would have to share the recipe with you, even though I tried to pretend it never happened.  Just don't go overboard with the holes and all should be well!

Recipe:

triple chocolate poke cake
from The Two Bite Club

Ingredients:
for cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup mik
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
for glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
chocolate shavings (freeze a chocolate bar, then use a vegetable peeler to shave it)

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

2) Ina  mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat for 3 minutes with an electric mixer.  Stir in the boiling water; the mixture will look very thin and runny.

3) Pour the mixture into greased baking dish.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let sit for at least 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, add all the icing ingredients to a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Cool for 5 minutes, then beat with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.

5) Using the handle of a wooden spoon, carefully poke deep holes into the cake (not too many, you crazy hole poker!!!) .  Pour the glaze over the top of the cake, making sure to get some of the glaze evenly into all the holes.  Use a rubber spatula to carefully spread all the glaze if you need to.

6) When the cake and glaze are cool, sprinkle chocolate shavings over the entire cake.

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

I will be honest: I am not 100% sure that I am sharing the right recipe today.  I've explained before that I have a wonky, disorganized way of keeping track of the recipes I have to blog.  I take pictures on my phone of everything, and that's how I know what is next.  I keep the recipes open on my iPad or laptop, pinning things when I can, so I don't lose them.  But then there are the times when someone closes all my websites down to open Craigslist (ahem NICK) or fantasy football (ahem MARK).

To be fair, neither of them are to blame today.  I made this recipe one night at my mom's house and used her iPad to find it.  They had gone apple picking and had an overabundance of them.  Somehow I stumbled upon a caramel apple upside down cake, and I was intrigued.

Unfortunately, the next time I peeked at Mom's iPad, the recipe was gone, so I have spent way too much time this morning trying to search it out.  I'm about 75% sure that this is the one, but the good news is, most of the recipes I have found seem pretty similar, so even if this isn't it, you should be fairly safe trying it out!

Now to the cake itself: my family loved it!  Mom said it was one of my best cakes.  I actually ended up taking it out of the oven and then heading home - can't remember why, but I was somehow in a rush and didn't have time to eat it.  But my mom, sisters, and Cathleen were there and ate it quite happily.  The cake is moist and fluffy and topped with homemade caramel and sliced apples.  The scary part is that, being an upside down cake, you pour the caramel and layer the apples on the bottom of the pan (I also added a few chopped walnuts for Mom's benefit), and then pour the batter on top and bake it.  Then you have to flip it upside down when it comes out of the oven.  I was petrified that something bad would happen - it would spread out everywhere, or stick in the pan, or something... but it came out perfectly.  Not only is it tasty, it's beautiful and impressive.

And now I'm off to be on good wife duty.  There are few things as panic-inducing as a vomiting husband 2 hours before you're supposed to head to a wedding.  Ugh.

Recipe:

caramel apple upside down cake
from The Recipe Critic (I think!)
serves 8

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, divided
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
2 medium apples, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a 9-inch round pan with cooking spray.  Set aside.

2) In a medium saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat until melted.  Add the brown sugar.  Bring it to a boil and remove from heat.  Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Pour into the bottom of the greased pan.  Arrange the apples over the brown sugar.

3) In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.

4) In a large bowl or mixer, beat together 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter on medium speed until fluffy.  Add in eggs and vanilla.

5) beat in flour mixture alternating with the milk until smooth.  Pour batter over the apples and spread evenly.

6) Bake 55 - 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

7) Run knife along the edges of the cake and flip upside down on a pan.  Serve warm with whipped cream on top.

Pre-flip!

Blueberry Crumb Cake

My mom, Kenzie and I went blueberry picking in late August this year.  Blueberry season lasted way longer than it usually does, probably because of the cooler weather.  No complaints on my part - that meant once the wedding insanity was over, there was still plenty of time to go berry picking!  We went to Odd Pine Farm in Ashburnham and picked pounds and pounds of plump, sweet berries (a bit smaller this year, but just as great).  Many of the berries are frozen right now in my freezer to last me through the winter, but a couple cups of them ended up in this blueberry crumb cake, which I made and brought over to my mom's house on my very last weekend of summer vacation... RIP, summer.  I miss you every day.

This cake is a good one.  My crappy picture doesn't do it justice.  It's full of berries, nice and moist, and has a crumb topping (isn't everything better with crumb toppings?).  It was pretty much devoured by everyone.  I'd venture a guess that this is one of those cakes that is a great dessert, but you can also pretend it is breakfast food and get away with it.

Recipe:

blueberry crumb cake
from the Pioneer Woman
makes 16 servings

Ingredients:
for the cake:
5 tablespoons butter
3/4 cups sugar
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups whole milk
2 cups fresh blueberries
for the topping:
3/4 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir and set aside.

2) Cream 1/2 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter with cinnamon and sugar.  Add egg and mix until combined.  Add vanilla and mix.  Add flour mixture and milk alternately until totally incorporated.  Do not overheat.  Stir in blueberries until evenly distributed.

3) Grease a 9 x 13" baking pan.  Pour in batter.

4) In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients and cut together using two knives or a pastry cutter.  Sprinkle over the top of the cake.

5) Bake cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Cut into squares and serve with softened butter.