RASPBERRIES & CREAM WHITE CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE: National Raspberry & Cream Day!

Today is Raspberries & Cream Day. Here's a great recipe for Raspberries & Cream White Chocolate Bundt Cake to celebrate. The recipe calls for raspberry jam, but feel free to add some chopped raspberries to the jam. Also, you may want to make your own white cake.

RASPBERRIES & CREAM WHITE CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients
1 package white cake mix
1 - 5 ounce instant white chocolate pudding
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (Guittard) chopped into smaller pieces
1 cup raspberry jam (Bonne Mamma)

Directions
Grease and flour bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
Beat together first six ingredients. Fold in white chocolate chips. Fill prepared bundt pan with half batter. Spoon half of raspberry jam in small, separated spoonfuls over batter (so it looks like separate clumps of filling over top). Using knife swirl filling through cake. Swirl until there are lots of tiny swirls.
Pour remaining batter in evenly and spoon in remaining jam, repeating "swirling" process above. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 mins. (do "knife test" to determine doneness). If knife does not come out clean, keep placing back in the oven for 3-5 min at a time until it does. Remove from oven.
Let cool for 20 mins. Remove from pan. Let cool.

You can frost this with a cream cheese frosting, but I usually leave my Bundt Cakes bare.

ROOT BEER FLOAT BUNDT CAKE: Root Beer Float Day

Today is National Root Beer Float Day. Just an FYI: A&W Root Beer is giving away small Root Beer Floats today, so you might want to get over to an A&W today and check your local news for other places giving out Root Beer Floats.

So what exactly is a Root Beer Float? A root beer float is made from Root Beer and vanilla ice cream. To make a 'traditional' root beer float, add the root beer to a tall chilled glass, leaving a bit of room in top. Then slowly add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the glass. Drizzle a small amount or root beer on top, and it will turn to foam. You might want to put a plate under the glass, because when the ice cream begins 'to float', it often bubbles over! Sometimes people just mix the two together, but I like the float-y way. A Root Beer Float is traditionally made with vanilla ice cream, but you can also make a Root Beer Float with Chocolate Ice Cream--it would be called either a brown cow or a black cow, depending on where you live. Each region in the U.S. has its own names. No surprise there!

But maybe you want to do something even more special than making an ice cream float to celebrate the day, but still maintain the root beer float flavor. And, you want to include lots of chocolate. I'm a huge fan of bundt cakes. They're easy and pretty! Well, then this recipe from the BrownEyedBaker is perfect. There's chocolate in both the Bundt Cake and the Frosting. Personally I rarely frost my bundt cakes, and I feel this cake has the flavor of the root beer float, but if you're all about frosting, make the frosting and ice the cake! Actually the frosting, itself, tastes like a root beer float! Lick the bowl!

Root Beer Float Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients
2 cups root beer (not diet root beer)
1 cup DARK unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray, or butter pan and dust with flour, shaking out excess flour; set aside.
In medium saucepan, heat root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until butter melts. Add sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and cool.
In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together.
In small bowl, whisk eggs until just beaten, then whisk into cooled cocoa mixture until just combined. Fold flour mixture into cocoa mixture. Do not overbeat. Lumpy is fine!
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking, until sharp knife inserted into cake comes out clean. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool. Loosen sides of cake from pan and turn onto rack.

Root Beer Float Fudge Frosting

Ingredients
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup DARK unsweetened cocoa powder
2 -1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Put all ingredients in food processor. Pulse in short bursts until frosting is shiny and satiny, scraping sides of food processor a few times. (You can always use hand mixer or standing mixer)
After cake cools, use spatula to spread frosting over cake in a thick layer. Let frosting set before serving.

Chocolate Dream Pie: Retro Ad & Recipe

I love Retro Recipes & Ads. Here's a really easy recipe for Dream Pie.

CHOCOLATE CRIME FICTION: A List

If you read my blog, you know I'm immersed in both the chocolate and mystery worlds. Chocolate is at the heart of many true crimes, but for the Chocolate Tasting for my local Sisters in Crime chapter, I decided to focus on fictional Chocolate Crime. This list is just a sampling. Be sure and let me know if I've forgotten any titles.

Many of the mysteries on this list also include recipes, and several of the authors have cookbooks of their own. You can never have too many chocolate recipes. Enjoy your chocolate reading. I'm always Dying for Chocolate. Bon Appetit!

CHOCOLATE CRIME FICTION: A LIST

Aarons, Kathy: Death is Like a Box of Chocolates; Behind Chocolate Bars

Adler, David: The Chocolate Fudge Mystery

Alexander, Ellie: Fudge and Jury

Barker, Constance: Death by Chocolate Sundae

Beck, Jessica: Drop Dead Chocolate; Cocoa Crush; Cherry Filled Charges; Boston Cream Bribery;  Devil’s Food Defense; and more.

Bell, Cindy: Christmas Chocolates and Crime

Bell, Maymee (aka Tonya Kappes): Cake and Punishment; Batter Off Dead

Berneathy, Sally: Death by Chocolate; Chocolate Mousse Attack

Berkeley, Anthony:  The Poisoned Chocolates Case

Best, Morgana: Murder Sweetly Served

Bradford, Laura: Éclair and Present Danger

Brady, Jacklyn (aka Sherry Lewis): A Sheetcake Named Desire

Burdette, Lucy: Murder with Ganache

Carl, JoAnna: The Chocolate Cat Caper; The Chocolate Bridal Bash, The Chocolate Mouse Trap;  Crime de Cocoa; Chocolate to Die For; The Chocolate Falcon Fraud; and more.

Carter, Sammi: Chocolate Dipped Death

Cates, Bailey: Charms and Chocolate Chips

Child, Laura: The Jasmine Moon Murder

Chocolats, Agatha: Thirteen Chocolates

Coco, Nancy: All Fudged Up; Oh, Fudge

Cole, Lyndsey: Easter Buried Eggs

Cormier, Robert: The Chocolate War

Coyle, Cleo: Dead Cold Brew; Dead to the Last Drop; Once Upon a Grind; Holiday Buzz;  and more

Davidson, Diane Mott: Dying for Chocolate

Davis, Krista: The Diva Steals a Chocolate Kiss

Davis, Kyra: Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate

DeSmet, Christine: First-Degree Fudge; Hot Fudge Frame-Up; Five-Alarm Fudge

Eichler, Selma: Murder Can Stunt Your Growth

Fairbanks, Nancy (aka Nancy Herndon): Chocolate Quake

Fluke, Joanne: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder; Christmas Caramel Murder; Fudge Cupcake Murder; Red Velvet Cupcake Murder; and more.

Frost, Agatha: Chocolate Cake and Chaos

Gardner, A: Chocolate Macaroons and a Dead Groom

Gerber, Daryl Wood: A Deadly Éclair; A Souffle of Suspicion

Graves, Sarah: Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake; Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake

Green, Jillian: Double Fudge Murder; Sugarcoated Lies; Guilty Confections

Hanna, H.Y.: Witch Chocolate Fudge; Bewitched by Chocolate; Dark, Witch & Creamy; Bonbons and Broomsticks; Witch Summer Nights Cream’ Blood, Sweets and Tears

Haven, Heather: The Chocolate Kiss-Off

Hickey, Cynthia: Chocolate-Covered Crime

Hodge, Sibel: Chocolate, Lies, and Murder

Hollis, Lee: Death of a Chocoholic

Keene, Carolyn: The Chocolate-Covered Contest (Nancy Drew)

Klein, Libby:  Midnight Snacks are Murder

London, Colette: The Semi-Sweet Hereafter; Criminal Confections; Dead and Ganache

McKinlay, Jenn: Dark Chocolate Demise

Meier, Leslie: Chocolate Covered Murder

McKevett, G.A.: Death by Chocolate

Patra, C.S.: Wrapped in Death and Chocolate

Penrose, Andrea: Sweet Revenge; The Cocoa Conspiracy

Salonen, Debra: Montana Secret Santa

Shelton, Connie: Sweet Masterpiece

Snopek, Roxanne: The Chocolate Cure; The Chocolate Comeback

Stilton, Thea: Thea Stilton and the Chocolate Sabotage (Children’s)

St James, Dorothy: Asking for Truffle

Swanson, Denise: Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry

Warner, Gertrude Chandler: The Chocolate Sundae Mystery (The Boxcar Children)

Weiss, Kirsten: Bleeding Tarts

West, Anisa Claire: Chocolate Covered Crimes

Youngblood, I. Seymour: Death by Chocolate

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