My favorite cake ...

Christmas is officially over (((sigh))). My husband just took our son to the airport to catch his early flight back to New York. As I sit here reflecting on his wonderful but too-short visit, I'm also taking advantage of the peace and quiet for another December post, Number 27 to be exact! Several years ago, I got this fabulous recipe from old high school friends. Shortly after that, I saw it on the Pillsbury cake mix box! It's probably my favorite cake. I think it's the addition of the almond extract that makes it taste so good. Almond extract has a strong, pure, sweet flavor that goes really well with cherries and chocolate. You absolutely have to make this ...
CHOCOLATE-CHERRY CAKE
1 pkg. Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil's Food cake mix (pudding in the mix)
1-21 oz. can Wilderness cherry pie filling
1 Tbs. almond extract
2 eggs, beaten
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9x13 cake pan. In large bowl, combine beaten eggs with almond. Add cake mix and cherries, stirring by hand until well-blended. Spread in pan. Bake 25-30 minutes.
Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
5 Tbs. butter or margarine
1-6 oz. pkg. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine the powdered sugar, milk and butter in a saucepan. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Pour and spread over warm cake. Cool completely. Allow frosting to FUDGIFY. Cut into 48 bars or serve as cake with whipped cream

What a wonderful word! Clafouti!!!

I've been wanting to try this ever since I saw it on Simply Recipes, one of the food blogs I follow. Clafouti (kla-foo-TEE) is a custard-like baked French dessert made by baking fresh fruit (traditionally cherries) and a batter, somewhat similar to pancake batter. Clafoutis require only a small amount of the most basic baking ingredients on your pantry shelf. Some purists strongly advise against de-pitting the cherries used in clafoutis. According to them, the pits release a wonderful flavor when the dish is cooked. I took the pits out ... I think it's bad manners to remove a cherry pit from your mouth, no matter how discreetly you try to do it. And I didn't want anyone swallowing a cherry pit or breaking a tooth because of MY clafouti! But it was messy work and my fingers are still stained. If you're a fan of desserts with little work and a lot of payoff, then clafouti is for you. I have to be totally honest and admit that my husband and son-in-law didn't care for the texture of the clafouti, but Katie and I enjoyed it immensely. But we probably have more of a sweet tooth then they do. There are dozens of different clafouti recipes. I love the addition of the almonds and the almond flavoring in this one ...
Cherry Clafouti
Posted on Simply Recipes by Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic on Jun 7, 2009
INGREDIENTS:
• 2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 Tbsp Amaretto - or 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar for dusting
METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour a 9X9 or 10X7 baking dish. Toss in the cherries and slivered almonds.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugars, salt, and flour together until smooth.
3. Add the milk, Amaretto (or almond extract, if using), and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. This should be served warm with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Serves 6.

Mmmm ... Chocolate Cherry Cake ...

This is one of my all-time favorites ... I actually think of it as heaven in the mouth or dessert ecstasy! Got the recipe from my good friends Katy & Mary Ellen, and the back of the Pillsbury cake box!

CHOCOLATE-CHERRY CAKE
1 pkg. Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil's Food cake mix (pudding in the mix)
1-21 oz. can Wilderness cherry pie filling
1 Tbs. almond extract
2 eggs, beaten
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9x13 cake pan. In large bowl, combine beaten eggs with almond. Add cake mix and cherries, stirring by hand until well-blended. Spread in pan. Bake 25-30 minutes.
Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
5 Tbs. butter or margarine
1-6 oz. pkg. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine the powdered sugar, milk and butter in a saucepan. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Pour and spread over warm cake. Cool completely. Allow frosting to FUDGIFY (Mary Ellen's word ... I LOVE it!). Cut into 48 bars or serve as cake with whipped cream.