S'mores Bundt Cake: 2 Recipes for National S'mores Day!

If you follow my blog, you know I love S'mores, and I've posted over 60 S'mores Recipes. In all these S'mores recipes, I've never posted a S'mores Bundt Cake Recipe. So in honor of National S'mores Day here are two easy and delicious recipes, for S'mores Bundt Cakes.

The first recipe is from Cuisinart! I've mentioned many times, that you should always check recipes at food association sites, but also products. Use your cuisinart (or whatever you have) to make this. It will be so easy!

1. S'MORES BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water
11 whole graham cracker sheets
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 stick butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup marshmallow cream

Directions
In mixer bowl combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; mix until dry ingredients are combined. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; mix until just combined and then add hot water and mix for 20-30 more seconds.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Pulse graham cracker sheets in food processor until coarse crumb is formed; add in brown sugar, melted butter, and 2-3 Tbsp warm water and pulse until combined. Mixture should hold its shape when formed. If it doesn’t, continue to add small amounts of water until it does.
Prepare Bundt pan by coating with cooking spray. Press all but 1/2 cup of graham cracker mixture evenly into bottom of pan and an inch or two up the sides. Next, pour in chocolate batter. Sprinkle reserved graham cracker crumbs over top.
Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. With electric mixture beat together  butter and powdered sugar for several minutes until very smooth and creamy. Add in marshmallow cream and beat until well combined.
When the cake comes out of oven, let cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack.
When cake has completely cooled, spread frosting over top.
Take a kitchen torch and burn a bit to give it that real s'mores look and taste.

So if one recipe is good, two is even better. This second S'mores Bundt Cake is slightly adapted from Miriam Pascal at OvertimeCook.com

2. S'MORES BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients
Graham Cracker Streusel
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Chocolate Cake
5 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup DARK cocoa powder
3/4 cup milk

Marshmallow Glaze
1 cup marshmallow fluff
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp boiling water

Garnish:
Crushed graham crackers chocolate shavings

Directions
Graham Cracker Streusel
In small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, oil, and brown sugar. Stir until combined.

Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 350. Grease Bundt pan well with floured baking spray. Set aside.
In bowl of electric mixer on medium speed, beat together eggs and oil until combined. Add sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla. Beat until combined and smooth. Turn mixer to low speed and add cocoa powder, followed by  milk, then flour. Beat until just combined.
Pour half of batter into prepared Bundt pan, then sprinkle about 2/3 of graham cracker streusel over batter, distributing it evenly. Top with remaining batter and then sprinkle  remaining crumbs over top. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
Allow cake to cool completely before glazing.

Marshmallow Glaze
Combine marshmallow fluff, vanilla, and boiling water until spreadable consistency. Add up to another teaspoon of boiling water, as needed. Spread over cooled cake. Top with chocolate shavings and graham cracker crumbs.

Strawberry Chocolate Fool: National Strawberries and Cream Day

Today is National Strawberries and Cream Day. To celebrate, you can always have some lovely strawberries in cream or whipped cream, but how about taking it up a notch without much extra work? I love this recipe for Strawberry Chocolate Fool. This is one of the easiest desserts to put together, and just perfect with all the fresh strawberries in the market right now. What's great about this dessert is that there are only really three ingredients--and I usually have them in pantry and frig--Chocolate, Strawberries, and Cream. Oo.k, you can add a bit of salt and vanilla, but you don't have to.

What's a Fool you ask? It's a classic British dessert of fruit and whipped cream, and it's perfect for the warm summer weather. The word fool actually comes from the French word fouler which means to crush. You crush the strawberries! Then you whip the cream and add some chopped chocolate. It's kind of like a mousse. Want to elevate your presentation? Serve this Strawberry Chocolate Fool in clear individual containers such as wine glasses--either stemmed or short. Another serving option would be to serve in short clear mason jars. I have tons of those! And, FYI, bookmark this recipe for a last-minute Valentine's Day dessert.

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE FOOL

Ingredients
2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped finely
2 cups fresh sweet strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla (optional)
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions
Put sliced strawberries in bowl (save some for layers and garnish). Add sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mash berries and chill for 30 minutes.
Whip cream to stiff peaks. Fold chilled strawberry mixture and chopped chocolate into whipped cream.
Spoon into serving dishes, alternating layers with remaining chopped strawberries. Garnish with chopped chocolate and a strawberry.

Reese's Peanut Butter No-Bake Pie

It's hot this summer, and I'm always looking for easy no bake recipes. I've posted Peanut Butter Chocolate Pies before, but this Reese's Peanut Butter No-Bake Pie from The Novice Chef is terrific. I adapted several things, as well as making my own chocolate cookie crust (see recipe below). I substituted my own hot fudge sauce, but as always, feel free to use what you have. I also use whipped cream rather than Cool Whip, but again, it's a choice you can make. The Novice Chef uses Smucker's Hot Fudge Topping.

REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER NO-BAKE PIE

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cookie Crust
1-1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs -about 25 (chocolate wafers that have been crushed)
1/4 cup sweet butter, melted and cooled

Directions for Crust:
In bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter until moistened and pat evenly into bottom and up side of 10-inch deep pie plate. Bake in preheated 350 °F oven for about 10 minutes or until firm. Let cool.

Pie Ingredients
24 unwrapped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, divided
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
12 ounces whipped cream (whipped into stiff peaks) or Cool Whip, divided
12 ounces hot fudge sauce

Directions
Line bottom of pie crust with whole Reese's cups in flat layer. Set aside.
In stand mixer, beat peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth.
Fold in 8 ounces of whipped cream (or cool whip) into peanut butter mixture by hand, until well combined. Spoon mixture into pie shell and smooth mixture to edges of pie using spatula or back of spoon.
Heat hot fudge topping for 1 minute in microwave. Stir. Pour on top of cake and spread until reaches the edges.
Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
Once pie is set, spread remaining whipped cream over hot fudge layer.
Chop up remaining Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and sprinkle on top.
Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Chocolate Fudge Cake: National Lighthouse Day

Today is National Lighthouse Day. I've always been fascinated by Lighthouses, not just because of how they important they are to ships at sea, but because of the 'odd' (to a kid) living arrangements. Who lived in the Lighthouse? Did they have kids? Did the children go to school? Was the Lighthouse isolated from the community? And, what about the kitchen? Was there gas and electricity? Running water? 

Most of my early lighthouse experiences were down the shore in New Jersey--Cape May and Barnegat, but since childhood I've visited Lighthouses all over the U.S. Living in Northern California, I've visited the Lighthouse on the Rock (Alcatraz), Fort Point, and East Brother Island (lighthouse keeper job comes up often. This lighthouse operates as a B&B), Pigeon Point, Ano Nuevo (near the elephant seal breeding ground), Point Montaro. 

Growing up I loved Lighthouses in Books and Movies. I'm a mystery fan--check out my other blog: www.mysteryfanfare.com, and lighthouses sometimes feature in dramatic endings, although I recently read a crime novel in which the lighthouse and its keepers set the opening scene and tenor of the story. Scandinavian crime novel, as I remember it.

Anyway, in honor of today's holiday--Lighthouse Day--here's a chocolate recipe for Chocolate Fudge Cake from Becky Sue Epstein and Ed Jackson's American Lighthouse Cookbook. This cookbook on my shelf, of course, and I highly recommend it. The cookbook is a culinary journey across America, visiting 47 lighthouses, dozes of essays about them and over 300 recipes from eight coastal regions of the U.S.


Chocolate Fudge Cake 
Grosse Point Lighthouse, Illinois

Ingredients
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 ounces sweet baking chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
9 Tbsp sweet butter, softened, divided
1-1/8 cup sugar
2 extra-large eggs
21/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar  (this is what really makes this recipe!)
Cocoa Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions
Preheat  oven to 325ºF. Butter 2 (9-inch round) cake pans with 1 Tbsp butter.
Mix dry ingredients in  bowl.
Melt chocolate in microwave on medium heat or in double boiler.
In electric mixer, cream together 8 Tbsp butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at time, beating well after each addition. Pour in vinegar and melted chocolate, and mix well.
Slowly add flour mixture, mixing until fully incorporated.
Spread batter into prepared cake pans.
Bake 30 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake. 
Unmold the cakes.
Place 1 layer so bottom is facing up on platter. Spread 1/4 cup Cocoa Frosting on top of this layer. Place  second layer on top so tbottoms of layers are together, and frost  entire cake with remaining

Cocoa Frosting 

Ingredients
3 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp butter, softened 1 tsp (Madagascar) vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2–4 Tbsp milk

Directions
In electric mixer, stir together sugar, butter, vanilla, and cocoa. Add milk, a little at time, until desired consistency for frosting.