Birthday Cake

I am pretty picky when it comes to cake. I like my cake moist and full of flavor. I typically avoid most store bought cakes because they usually don't taste that great and have a super sweet frosting that is just sweet but not flavorful. Whenever I make this cake, everyone seems to enjoy it. The best part is, it starts with a cake mix. I originally found this recipe on Allrecipes.com. It was called Too Much Chocolate Cake. I have since modified it to be vanilla as well as chocolate. Both work.

Birthday Cake (Too Much Chocolate Cake)
1 18.25 oz. package devil's food cake
1 5.9 oz package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup applesauce (original recipe calls for oil but I substitute it with store bought or homemade applesauce and it works great! It doesn't matter if it has cinnamon or not. This step saves a lot of extra calories)
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
1-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients in a mixer until well blended. Here's some tips for getting FLAT cakes that turn out well from  your pans. Grease two 8 inch cake pans with Crisco. Cut parchment paper and lay across the bottom. I just cut a rectangle and lay it in the round pans. I don't bother trimming it to fit. Just push it into the edges as best you can. Pour half of the batter in each pan. Here's a tip that helps you get flat cakes. I learned it from a baker on a TV show. Take a spatula and shape the batter into a mound in the middle of each cake pan. The center of my cake batter is about 1/2-1 inch higher than the outside edges. It looks like a mini mountain. When it bakes, the cake flattens out and I end up with very flat cakes that don't need to be trimmed. It's weird I know but it totally works!
Bake the cakes about 25-35 minutes. Make sure the center doesn't jiggle when you take it out. Set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, run a spatula around the outside edge of the cake and then flip onto a cooling rack. Peel off the parchment paper. Since I have followed these steps, I almost always have perfect, round cakes that turn out so well and don't need to be trimmed to flatten them. I hope it works for you!

If you would prefer a vanilla or yellow cake you can use a white or yellow cake mix with vanilla pudding. Recently, I was making a cake and only had a yellow cake mix and chocolate pudding. That was all we had so we used it and it was delicious. It turned into a light chocolate cake.
* I have used this recipe with a boxed gluten free cake mix one time and it turned out excellent. I can't guarantee it will always work but I'd try it again for sure!

Frosting
There are two types of frostings that I typically use with the cake above. I either make a rich chocolate ganache or a whipped cream, cream cheese frosting. Both are delicious! I'll list the recipe for both frosting but only choose one for the cake.

Ganache Frosting
2 cups of whipping cream
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pour a medium container of whipping cream into a small saucepan. It should be 2 cups of whipping cream. Heat until hot but don't boil. Add two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir until melted. Reserve a couple of chocolate chips to add at the end. Cool.
I used to have problems getting my ganache to set. Sometimes it would stay runny. Make sure to use just a little less than 2 cups whipping cream or a little more than 2 cups chocolate chips. You want there to be just a little more chocolate than cream. Also, I found out there are different ways that chocolate can temper (harden). It tends to follow the crystals that are in it. So, now, I throw a hard chocolate chip or two into the ganache as it's starting to cool. I think it helps the chocolate to form the right type of crystals and thicken well. Since I started doing this, I haven't had problems with my ganache anymore.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, un-whipped

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar, granulated

1 pinch salt

1-2 tsp vanilla

1.  In a bowl whip the 1-1/2 cups whipping cream until stiff peaks form. (Move out of mixer into a separate bowl).

2.  In the original mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese with sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. Make sure the sugar isn't crystalized any longer. 

3.   Using a spatula fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

The beauty of this recipe that it's not overly sweet and it holds up well in on the cake like a regular whipped cream frosting would not. It is a white frosting so you can easily color and decorate this frosting.