SippitySup

Harried Chocolate Cake From A Box

Chocolate Cake From A Box

I think I am developing an addiction. A chocolate addiction of all things. But it’s weird. I don’t really like chocolate all that well– but I can’t stop thinking about it lately.

Oh well, I guess addictions are like that. I am also addicted to Diet Coke and I can honestly say that I hate Diet Coke. Could chocolate be the new Diet Coke?

It all started with cookies, as these nefarious things usually do. You see (in case I haven’t mentioned it) I am writing a cookbook. A cookbook on Savory Pies. It’s due at the publisher in just a few months. Which means I have precious little time to devote to anything else because I have my head stuck in the oven testing and retesting Savory Pie recipes.

But I also have a blog. A blog that I am (yep) addicted to. So I just gotta post regularly. Or at least semi-regularly. I just gotta! So I made Chocolate-Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies because it’s easy to have success with cookies and people love chocolate. Besides I already had the oven on from making (yep) Savory Pies. Win/Win, right?

Trader Joe's Cake MixWell lazy cookies led to even lazier Chocolate Sorbet. Another easy recipe to bring to this blog (because heck, I didn’t even write it myself). It’s a Perfect Scoop from David Lebovitz. Another Win/Win, don’t ya think?

But now it seems I have become a chocolate-obsessed lazy cook. So lazy that today I decided to make a three layer-chocolate cake. What’s so lazy about making a three-layer chocolate cake? Well I used a boxed cake mix, pre-made frosting and decorative icing from a tube drizzled on top. It’s not my usual way of doing things. But I am not usually in the middle of writing a cookbook while maintaining my addiction to this blog. A chocolate addiction at that…

The trick to this exercise was to see if I could make a pretty cake from a cake mix from a box. Well, I humbly think I can and did! Win/Win, right? Or am I now officially a loser?? GREG

P.S. If you want the recipe look on the back of the box next time you’re in Trader Joe’s. But don’t add pudding mix or any of those other Urban Legends. Just substitute melted UNSALTED butter for oil. The TJ brand has a list of non-frightening ingredients, but it’s a tad salty (even for this sodium-obsessed cook). So add a squeeze of lemon juice too.

P.P.S. I was not compensated in any way to write this post. It’s just another chapter in my harried life.

Greg Henry writes the food blog Sippity Sup- Serious Fun Food, and contributes the Friday column on entertaining for The Back Burner at Key Ingredient. He’s active in the food blogging community, and a popular speaker at IFBC, Food Buzz Festival and Camp Blogaway. He’s led cooking demonstrations in PanamaCosta Rica, and has traveled as far and wide as Norway to promote culinary travel. He’s been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, Los Angeles Times, More Magazine, The Today Show Online and Saveur’s Best of the Web. Greg also co-hosts The Table Set podcast which can be downloaded on iTunes or at Homefries Podcast Network.

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  • Look for Greg’s book Savory Pies coming Nov 2012, from Ulysses Press