Week...8?: Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cake

So I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands - I started baking weekly treats 7 weeks before I started this blog.  The historian in me wants to keep everything in neat chronological order & gradually catch up to the current week's baking project.  Alright, it's not entirely the historian in me...it's also the OCD tendencies I inherited from both sides of my family (thanks Mom & Dad).  Here's where the dilemma comes in: I worry that if I wait to write about the current baking project until after I've written up all previous projects, I'll forget all the little details that I want to remember the next time I bake this cake.

Enter Chuck, my practical husband.  His suggestion: "how bout you alternate posts between previous & current projects."  Brilliant!  Well, maybe brilliant is too strong a word.  Let's just say, I think that's a great idea.  Let's also just say I'm unlikely to strictly alternate between the two.  In other words: I'm going to write about baking projects in whatever order I feel like.  And you're going to read about them in whatever order you care to.

So - on to week 8: Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cake with chocolate cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  Cinnamon is one of those spices that makes just about every dessert taste better.  And it pairs especially well with chocolate.  I'd like to say that's why I decided to bake this cake.  But here's the real reason - it was Monday night, I felt like baking, but I didn't feel like going to the store to purchase ingredients.  So I opened my pantry & discovered that I had 2 cake mix options: white & devil's food.  I then pulled out two of my go-to quick & easy cake cookbooks: The Cake Mix Doctor and Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor.  One of the things I really appreciate in these books is that the author indexes her recipes by name but also by the type of cake mix you're using.  So I flipped to the index of both books & picked a recipe that sounded good.  A couple hours later, I had this:

And 30 minutes after that, I sliced into it:

And 1 minute later, I ate this:

Lessons learned & recipe thoughts:


1. This is seriously one of my favorite frostings ever.  I am already thinking through every other cake & cupcake I've made and pondering whether they might taste better with chocolate cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

2. I only had a "pudding-already-added-to-the-mix" type of cake mix on hand, and it definitely seemed to impact the texture of the final cake.  It was a little crumbly & ever so slightly dry for my taste.

3. As long as layer cakes don't intimidate you (and they shouldn't), this is a very easy recipe.  If you're not up for layer cakes, you can also make this cake in a 9x13 pan.  Just add 3-5 minutes to the baking time.

4. I am very excited to have finally tried out the 99 cent Wilton cake decorating comb I purchased a couple years back while taking the Wilton Cake Decorating Courses (1 through 3!) at my local Michael's craft store.
Here's the recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor:


Ingredients


•1 pkg dark chocolate fudge cake mix (can substitute Devil's Food)

•3/4 cup milk

•3/4 cup oil

•3 large eggs

•2 tsp cinnamoon

•1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:

•1 pkg (8 ounces) light cream cheese, at room temp

•1 stick butter, at room temp

•1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder [KATIE NOTES: you can substitute regular unsweetened cocoa powder; I prefer to sift my cocoa to remove any lumps]

•1 tsp cinnamon

•1 tsp vanilla

•4 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour 2 - 9 inch cake pans.

2.Place cake mix, milk, oil eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla in mixing bowl. Blend with mixer for 1 minute. Scrape down sides and beat 2 minutes more.

3.Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.

4.Bake 28 - 32 minutes.

5.Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert ont a rack, then invert again onto another rack----so both are right side up. Allow to cool 30 minutes.

6.Meanwhile, place cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl. Blend on low speed 30 seconds. Add cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla and 3 3/4 cups sugar. blend with mixer on low speed until all ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Add more sugar if frosting seems too thin. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 2 minutes more. [KATIE NOTE: I prefer to blend my butter & cream cheese for 1-2 minutes before adding other ingredients - makes for a fluffier frosting.]

7.Place one cake layer, right side up, on a serving platter. Spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer, right side up, on top of the first layer and frost the top and sides of the cake.

8.Place this cake, uncovered, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. The store at room temp for 3 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.