Chocolate Candy Cake

I first fell in love with this cake at a baby shower. The recipe is flawless and simple. The cake is moist and thick. The frosting is decadent and delicious. It's a beautiful marriage!

Recipe for Cake:
1 package devils food cake mix (yep, serious cheating!)
1 1/2 c. Milk
3 eggs
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 (3.5 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
Combine ingredients and mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.
Use 2 - 9" cake pans lined with parchment (or 3 - 8" pans).
Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool completely IN the pan on cooling racks. When completely cooled wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 1/2 hour and up to a week in the freezer.

Recipe for Frosting:
I doubled this and enough leftover for cupcakes the next day
3/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. water
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. clear imitation vanilla (or use real vanilla, it just wont be white frosting)
1/8 tsp. butter flavoring
4 c. confectioners sugar
1 c. pecans, chopped (substitute nuts for skor bar or toffee bits)
2-4 (1.5 oz) milk chocolate candy bars, chopped (try substituting candy bars with oreo cookies)
Blend until well combined

To curl the white/dark chocolate:
Use Bakers chocolate bars (they are thicker and easier to shave). Warm the squares up (20 seconds) in the microwave. Shave with a vegetable peeler. They will curl nicely. I used 100% cocoa, unsweetened, dark chocolate. It tastes terrible alone, but with the sweetness of this cake, you would never know it!

After the cake is completely cooled, layer the cake with a nice thick layer of frosting. Add the top layer and put a crumb coat of frosting on. Refrigerate for 15/20 minutes then frost the rest of the cake. Lightly press the chocolate curls into the sides and top of cake. 

Slice and enjoy with ice cream!

Fresh Summer Fruit Salad

nummmy nummy fruit in the tummy!

I went to have coffee with a friend the other day and decided to bring fruit rather than a pastry like I usually do. I opened the fridge and used any fruit I could find. This was a great way for me to use up fruits that were losing their freshness. So here's the simple recipe:

Summer Fruit Salad

1 baby watermelon - seedless, diced

1 cantaloupe, seeds removed, diced

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced

2 cups grapes, sliced

1 pineapple, diced

2 apples, diced with 1TB fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup mint leaves if you have them on hand

Add: kiwi, blackberries, raspberries or any other fruit you have on hand. 

**The orange juice was the key to making it extra sweet and juicy! 

Mine held up for 2 days in the fridge. 

A couple spoonfuls of this fruit salad twice a day and you will have eaten your days worth of fruit. The food pyramid suggests 2-4 servings of fruit each day. One serving can be: 

• One apple, orange or banana 
• A 1/2 cup chopped fruit 
• 3/4 cup of 100% fruit juice 

Although it's expensive, we need to have it in our diets to stay strong and healthy so eat up!!