Calling All Chocolate Lovers!

Posted by Justine January 26, 2016

Calling All Chocolate Lovers!

Hi!! Happy Tuesday!

Hope your week is off to a great start!!

So...my husband's birthday is at the end of this week and I have been bugging him to let me know what kind of dessert he would like me to make for his special day!

Of course, just last night when I asked him again- he said, "brownies or triple chocolate cake- you pick!"

If it was up to me- we would have both! HA!

We are a chocolate loving family (minus my precious Cora Maye who can't stand it- I KNOW. I don't know where that trait came from!!) and the two recipes I am sharing today are our FAVORITES.

First up: The Best Brownies EVER. I posted this recipe probably 9 months and because these brownies are SO good- I wanted to share it again in case you might have missed it the first time!

Here's the recipe!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 X 11 pan (I use a Pyrex baking dish) with cooking spray.

This is where it gets fun- because this recipe is totally one where you can dump all the ingredients in at once. You don't need a mixer to make these brownies!!

In a mixing bowl, dump the following ingredients-

1 cup flour

2 cups white, granulated sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips (and an additional 1 - 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips)

Mix well together and pour brownie batter into your 9 X 11 pan.

The batter will be THICK!

Bake your brownies for approximately 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. You do NOT want to over bake them!! Over baking can take any dessert from super delicious to hockey puck status in just a few extra minutes too long in the oven!! :)

At the 30 minute mark, put a knife in the middle of the brownies- if it comes out clean- they're done! If not- let them bake for a couple minutes longer and check again.

Once you have taken the brownies out of the oven, sprinkle your remaining chocolate chips (I like to use a mix of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips) all over the hot brownies. Let the chocolate chips sit on top for about 5 minutes- then they will be melted enough that they can be spread into an "icing!" Once you have your chocolate chips all spread out- you can add some fun sprinkles (my family LOVES sprinkles- including my husband!:) Or you can just leave them plain. Either way- the brownies will be delicious.

Next is Triple Chocolate Cake!!

I have two favorite recipes for this cake.

The first recipe I use and LOVE is from Shay at Mix and Match Mama.

It is SO easy! You can find her recipe for Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache here!!

All you need is:

1 box of chocolate fudge cake mix

2 small boxes of instant chocolate fudge pudding

1/2 cup of veggie oil

1 1/4 cups of water

4 eggs

2 cups dark chocolate chips, divided

1/2 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 10 inch bundt pan

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, puddings, oil, water and eggs with electric mixer. Add in 1 cup of dark chocolate chips. Pour into prepared bundt pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cake rest on counter in pan 10 minutes. Then, invert cake onto serving plate to finish cooling.

To make the ganache, place remaining cup of chocolate chips in medium bowl. On stove, bring whipping cream just up to boiling. Pour over chocolate chips. Stir a few minutes until chocolate is melted. Let stand 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour over cooled cake.

If you don't want to make the chocolate ganache- you can put a thin layer of chocolate icing on the cake or just leave it plain- it will still be DELICIOUS.

The other variation of this recipe, that I sometimes follow, and that is equally amazing has sour cream in it! I KNOW. It sounds weird- but it actually makes the cake SUPER dense and moist!

Here's the recipe:

1 Box German Chocolate Cake Mix

1 box instant chocolate pudding

12 ounces (1 regular size bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

8 ounces sour cream (light or regular is fine!)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup warm water

4 eggs

Dump all of the above ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

Put in a greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Make sure to NOT over bake this cake! You want it to stay moist and perfect!

If you compare this recipe to Shay's version, there are few differences. The above recipe calls for only 1 box of instant pudding (versus 2 in Shay's recipe), 8 ounces of sour cream and it uses less oil and water.

Both cakes are SUPER yummy and I suggest just making both! HA! You can never have too much chocolate cake in my opinion!