Easy Pudding Cake

This is a favorite from my growing up years. My mom used to make it all the time, and I think it was the first thing I ever learned to bake. It is very easy, and very tasty. I made it on Sunday, and probably ate the half of the cake by myself...for better or for worse... :)

Pudding Cake aka Best Chocolate Cake EVER.

Prep Time: 10 Min
Baking Time: 30 Min

1 small pkg. chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
1 cake mix (chocolate)
1 c. nuts, chopped
1 c. chocolate chips

Make pudding in medium saucepan according to package instructions. Remove from heat. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add chocolate cake mix (dry) to pudding and mix just well enough to incorporate (small powder bits are fine). Spread quickly into greased and floured 9X13 inch pan. Sprinkle nuts and chips over the top and press into the batter with the back of a spatula. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if you please.

Variations: Lemon cake mix with vanilla pudding and white chips, spice cake mix with butterscotch pudding and butterscotch chips.

We have some cakey winners!!!

I apologize for the delay in the cake mix contest winner decision. Without further delay, I'd like to proudly announce the winner is....

Cake Batter Pancakes

Submitted by Hannah

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups milk (I used vanilla almond milk)

assorted sprinkles
 

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed. I suggest a small taste test as well to see if the pancakes are flavored enough.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat (I use an electric grilled and turn it to 250 degrees). Fold desired amount of sprinkles into batter. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with vanilla glaze.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

assorted sprinkles
 

Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms. You may need to add a little more sugar or water/milk to reach desired consistency. Mix into glaze and drizzle on pancakes.

*Hannah found her recipe here, which includes many other great sweet treats, as well as pretty pretty pictures. Check it out! 

2^nd Place- I plan on making this every day. 

Dorm Room Cake

Submitted by Taylor 

Needs:

Cereal Bowl

Cake Mix of choice

Water

Spoon

Microwave

Put desired amount of cake mix into a bowl

Add desired amount of water

Mix

Microwave until baked (about 50 seconds)
 

I have never measured it out, but it makes a pretty darn good microwaved cake once you figure out the proper proportions.

If you would like to make icing use the same or a different flavor cake mix and add less water so it is thicker. Spread on top of microwaved cake.

3rd Places in no particular order ( I couldn't choose between these three, so there are three third places whether you like it or not.)

Healthy Chocolate Cake

Submitted by Tyler 

1 can black beans

1/2 can water

1 chocolate cake mix 

Drain the beans and rinse them so that you don't get gas as a result of eating this delicious cake. Blend the beans with 1/2 can of water (using the original bean can). Mix this with the cake mix and put her in the oven and sha bang! You have a cake with virtually no fat and still all of the original tastiness. Your friends won't even be able to taste the difference. 

Peach Cobbler

Submitted by Maddison 

1 large can of peaches (29 oz)
1 lemon cake mix
1/2 cup of melted butter or margarine

 Lightly grease a 9 X 13 pan, then pour in peaches and their juice. Sprinkle dry cake mix over the fruit, then melt butter and pour over cake mix. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes (or at like 400 for 30 minutes or something like that, I don't remember). Serve it hot or cold. It is delicious.

Sprite Cake

Submitted By Liz 

You can make a cake by mixing a cake mix with a 2-liter bottle of Sprite! It's rather amazing, and fairly delicious. You leave out the other ingredients that the cake mix calls for and use Sprite instead, then bake the cake at the allotted temperature for the allotted time. That's it!

 
Congrats to these lucky finalists, and thanks everyone who participated!

Pumpkin Desserts To Die For!

I love pumpkin. I don’t mean the literal pumpkin guts or anything. Just processed pumpkin with tons of preservatives and chocolate added. Mmmm, nothing says autumn louder than a pumpkin dessert. Last year around this time, my good friend Jesse C. brought over a plate of these divine cookies. I can still remember the blue tinted glass plate on which the cookies sat. Everything about these cookies was perfect- from their circular shape, to the balanced chocolate-pumpkin ratio, to the slightly crispy outside and the perfectly gooey inside. I highly recommend these cookies. Thanks for saving they day yet again, Jesse.

Total Prep Time: 7 Min
Total Cook Time: 10 Min
Total Price: $0.00 They were a gift. (I challenge you to find an unsuspecting pumpkin-a-holic to make them for you too!)

Perfectly Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 can (29 oz) of 100% Pure Pumpkin (I use Libby's brand)
2 boxes spice cake mix
1 bag (11 oz) of your favorite chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pure pumpkin and spice cake mix in a large bowl until even consistency. Mix in chocolate chips. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet (or I use parchment paper) using a spoon. Bake 10 min. However, I have found each oven may be different, so watch cookies and remove from oven after a toothpick/fork comes out clean in the middle of one of the cookies.

Another tasty yet easy pumpkin dessert is this Pumpkin Crumble. Check out the recipe here! 

I made this for my work meeting, and it was a complete success. Two thumbs up.

Molten Lava Cakes of Love

I wish I could take the credit for this beautiful delight, but I can’t. However I can take the credit for loving chocolate and laziness enough to share this recipe with the world! This is super easy, and yet if you’ll notice by the picture, very official and gourmet looking. Perhaps even romantic looking. Maybe you should make these this weekend for your secret crush. You’ll win him/her over for sure with these.

Total Prep Time:10 min
Total Cook Time: 10 min
Total Cost: most people have most of these ingredients can be found in yours or your neighbors pantry except maybe the chocolate chips, which you can get for $2.50. Go love your neighbor.

Molten Lava Cakes of Love

4 tablespoons of room temperature butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz bittersweet melted chocolate (I just used most of a bag of good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a muffin tin with butter. Sprinkle sugar over the butter, coating each cup. Dump excess sugar out. The recipe usually makes about 8 cakes, so you only need to coat that many.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one well. Then add flour and salt until just combined. Melt chocolate (I usually do it in the microwave in 30 second intervals) and mix into the batter.

Place equal amounts of the batter into the sugar lined muffin tin and bake on a baking sheet for 8-10 minutes or just until the top of the cakes no longer jiggle when slightly shaken. (this is the crucial part, if you go to long you'll over cook them, they are supposed to be "molten" inside after all). Scoop into a bowl (don't worry about it staying intact when you take it out of the muffin tin-it won't.)

Serve with vanilla ice cream and berries (I like raspberries with a little sugar on them the best) and get ready for the best and easiest dessert of your life.

*This recipe was brought to you by Melissa. Another amazing co-worker with a good head on her shoulders and a good recipe book on her bookshelf. She is a saint, and also cute. If you would like information on how to contact her, or how to make her a Molten Lava Cake of love, just let me know!

S'mores Treats

I have always had a thing for anything s'mores related. This being said, my co-worker Andrea was my hero last week and brought these incredible creations to our work meeting last week. These things changed my life-love at first taste bud contact. I came home from school that day, and made my own batch. I will never admit to how many I did, or did not eat from said batch. I will admit that it only took me a total of ten minutes to make, and everyone that tried them wanted to be my best friend. I was instantly the most popular girl in school- or my apartment at least.

S’more Treats

Total Prep Time: 10 min
Total Cost: $6.59

1/4 cup butter
1 (10 oz) bag regular marshmallows
1 box of Golden Graham cereal
1-2 cups Chocolate Chips

In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add marshmallows and keep stirring until the marshmallows completely melt and you get a marshmallow sauce. Make sure you don’t use a rubber spatula to stir. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this mistake... Remove from heat.Add Golden Grahams and stir until they are all well coated, then add chocolate chips.
Grease a 9x13 pan and press S'mores mixture into it.

Cut into squares and eat! Hopefully you share with people, and don’t eat them all by yourself.

Here is where Andrea first found the recipe.

AND, here is where you can take a look at Andrea's really cool photography website. Her photo skills are very similar to her cooking skills, which have forever changed me for the better.

Ice Cream Pie that will change your life.

 

Ice cream is the most important food group. This is what I learn in college anyway. Luckily, a kitchen-savvy aunt of mine introduced me to this divine dessert which helps me get my daily dose of dairy. It was an instant favorite. I asked her for the recipe and she directed me to a magazine aimed at children ages 8-12 where she first found it. Basically it is the best deal ever- Martha Stewart taste, for elementary school effort! Plus, I honestly think it tastes like cheesecake.

Total Prep Time: 10 min
Ready In: 4.5 hrs
Total Cost: about $5.75 per pie

1 graham-cracker piecrust (10 inches/25 cm)
1 pint (.5 L) vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 package whipped topping (8 ounces/227 g), thawed

1. Fill the piecrust with ice cream or yogurt. Cover and freeze for 30 minutes.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Stir in whipped topping.
3. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the ice cream. Cover and freeze for 4 hours.
4. Cut into 8 slices and enjoy!

*Try different flavored pie crusts and ice creams for more fun! I’ve used oreo pie crust with mint chocolate chip ice cream before- so good!

Find the original recipe here!