Cooking with Rod

By Rod Cohenour

Double Chocolate – Triple Raspberry Cake

       While a young boy our nanny, Louella, surprised me for my birthday each year by baking my favorite cake – a scrumptious chocolate-raspberry blend with fudge icing. On my eighth birthday, she surprised me when her response was “No!” to my question, “Louella, are you baking my favorite cake?” She immediately hugged me up, kissed me on the top of the head as she was wont to do and said, “Ole’ Louella it’nt gonna be ‘roun’ for all o’ your birthdays, so I think the best gift I could give you is to teach you to make the cake yourself. That way, you can have it any time you want!”

      She was right. It is a gift that keeps giving. It is still my favorite cake. It still goes straight to my hips and belly. And I do not care because it makes me feel GOOOOD! So, here’s my modernized take on Louella’s fabulous cake. If you choose to make chocolate cake and fudge icing from scratch from a beloved recipe, feel free. But these days, I take advantage of all the pre-blended ingredients I can. I select what I consider to be the richest, most delicious prepared Chocolate cake mix and Fudge icing. Instead of making my own raspberry preserves, I buy the best on the market. Louella, I believe, might even appreciate my creativity, although all her cooking was “from scratch” and delicious.
      Bon appetit!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Box Duncan Hines (my preference) rich chocolate cake mix
• 1 lg. pkg Jell-O Raspberry gelatin mix
• Additional ingredients called for by your cake mix
• 2 jars Smuckers’ Raspberry Preserves
• 2 containers Duncan Hines Sweet Chocolate Fudge Icing
• 1 pint fresh raspberries, rinsed gently

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Dump dry cake mix into mixing bowl, add entire package of Jell-O Raspberry gelatin mix. Then prepare cake according to box directions.

2. Prepare two (2) 9” round cake pans by generously greasing with butter (easiest to use the paper from a stick of oleo) and dusting with Cocoa mix. This prevents the cake from having the white flour splotches when baked.

3. When cakes are done (test: Toothpick method – it should come out clean; Finger touch method: cake should spring back when gently prodded on the center), permit them to cool.

4. Invert one cake onto your cake stand. Whip first container of Fudge icing and spread evenly on first layer. Dribble first jar of preserves over icing

5. Invert second cake layer on top of first, evening up edges for best presentation.

6. Whip second container of Fudge icing as above and begin icing the sides of the two layers. Finish with the bulk of the icing on top of the cake. Dribble preserves over icing and permit to drip down sides over icing as well.

7. Garnish with fresh raspberries and – if you want to make this Triple Chocolate-Triple Raspberry, use sweet chocolate shavings to decorate along with the fresh raspberries.

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