The 2017 Davidson Bake Off

Got chocolate?

For the past couple of weeks,

my family has had chocolate to the max!

Do you remember our Bake Off cake from last year?

It was a Zucchini Cake with

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

and it was GOOD!

This year my brother Rick choose our cake.

It was the 1966 second place winner in the

Pillsbury Bake-Off Competition.

The Tunnel of Fudge Cake

This cake has a soft fudge core baked into the

center, hence the name.

The original recipe calls for a package of

Double Dutch Fudge Buttercream Frosting Mix.

Alas, powdered frosting mixes are now defunct.

Because this recipe is one of the Bake Off's

most requested recipes,

Pillsbury developed an alternate recipe,

resulting in the same cake.

Above is Rick's cake from the oven.

Here's Nancy's cake just out of the oven.

I must tell you, 

Nancy gets extra points for her cake,

since she is limited to the use

of a toaster oven for her baking endeavors.

(Another whole story there.)

Nancy and Rick used the same recipe.

As usual, I had to go in another direction

and found a recipe for the cake from

the New York Times.

Rick's finished cake. 

It got high marks from him.

Nancy's cake. 

Her assessment of it was

it's a good cake, but next time

she'll buy a package of brownie mix

and make those instead.

Enough said.

Here is my sister-in-law, Pat's cake.

Pat is picking up the slack from our 

brother Bill, who is not a baker.

However,  Pat says the cake was yummy 

and passed Bill's taste test.

Here's my NYTimes cake,

which was the only one 

to not call for a glaze.

This cake is VERY rich and

really didn't need a glaze.

However, if the glazed cake

 is NOT rich enough for you,

serve it with 

a scoop of ice cream,

as Nancy did.

My neighbor Sue, 

who was gifted

with a few slices of my cake,

suggested heating a slice,

topping it with ice cream,

and then perhaps a 

drizzle of chocolate sauce. 

(This suggestion was given as a joke!)

The recipe I used had some 

of the most specific instructions 

I have ever come across in a recipe.

For example, 

"Crack the 4 whole eggs into a large mixing bowl.

With a small knife,

cut the yolks and barely

stir the eggs,

minimally blending the

whites and yolks."

What the...???

Another interesting instruction,

"About 30 minutes after taking the cake 

out of the oven,

press the inside and outside

edge of the cake bottom down

all the way around 

to minimize the air pocket"

above the soft fudge center.

I followed this recipe to the letter,

but it started cracking 

before it even came out of the pan.

More cracking and collapsing!!!

Total collapse!!!

The cake is now all gone,

enjoyed by several people.

I don't think it's a cake

I'll ever make again,

although, Pat has already gotten

a request to make one for someone.

We all had fun with this year's cakes.

Thank you Rick for choosing our

cake and keeping us on track!

Nancy with her cake.

Sharing this week at
Foodie Friday/Rattlebridge Farm