Shhh! Don’t tell anyone, but tonight we’re throwing a surprise party for a friend. Rumor has it that this particular friend has the worst luck with birthdays, so our goal today is to bless her to no end and make this the best birthday ever. I was enlisted to make the cake. Um, pressure? I think so.
My idea of a birthday cake is usually something that comes from a box frosted with something that comes from a can. You already know this if you read my earlier blueberry muffin blog. A quick perusal of my recipe binder brought me to a recipe that I’ve been meaning to try for a while but have not had the chance.
Pros: it’s made with a cake mix. Phew. Sounds easy enough. And it includes 10 chocolate bars. Now that’s more like it. And the picture of it looks stellar.
Cons: it’s a 3 layer cake. Last time I attempted a layer cake, it took me 6 hours, 2 pounds of butter (yes, 2 pounds) and a cake that I simply could not stomach because I knew that it had 2 pounds of butter in it. I ended up throwing or giving most of it away. Was I really ready for another layer cake?
The pros outweighed the cons, and I decided to give it a try. Knowing this could be either wonderful or disastrous, I invited mom and dad over to help me and take photos. The result? A masterpiece. Gorgeous, tasty, and … um… healthy? Well, you can’t win them all.
By the way, I’d love to give someone credit for this recipe, but it was cut out of a magazine years ago and I have no idea which magazine it was. So, whoever came up with this recipe, thanks!
3 layer candy bar cake
1 chocolate box cake mix, preferably something like devil’s food cake
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
10 (1.5 ounce) chocolate bars, or 15 ounces of bite-sized chocolates*
12 oz container Cool Whip, thawed
*I used a mixture of Hershey Almond Chocolates and Snickers
Preheat oven to 325.
First, mix the cake ingredients according to the instructions on the package. 
Divide evenly into three 8″ cake pans.
Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick entered in middle comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes and then let cool completely on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, finely chop 12 ounches of the chocolate.
In the bowl of a mixer, mix together cream cheese and sugars until well creamed.
Add the chocolate pieces, and, using a rubber spatula, mix well.
Gently fold in cool whip. The idea is to keep the frosting light and fluffy.
Frost the cake. Be careful to divvy up the use of frosting over all three layers and the sides!
When the cake is completely frosted, chop up the remaining chocolate bars and press onto tops and sides of cake.
When it’s done, chill in the fridge until the icing hardens a bit.
Slice, and serve. 
4 responses so far ↓
1 Mary Peyton // Sep 5, 2009 at 7:52 am
THAT. IS. INCREDIBLE.
I hope she absolutely loved it! This is definitely a special occasion cake – I’m sure it tastes as good as it looks..
2 Shirley Madsen // Sep 5, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Has anyone noticed that there are three times the number of photos that usually appear in this blog? I wonder why.
I am not complaining as I loved picture books when I was young (and still do). The photos are so clear that I don’t even have to taste the cake to know that it is out of this world. Truly a divine dish!
3 Dave Madsen // Sep 5, 2009 at 5:28 pm
This is one of those cakes that requires more frosting than what the recipe calls for because while making it, I manage to take enough “tastes” – you know…to make sure that everything is coming together as it should – that by the time I get around to actually frosting the cake, the frosting bowl is almost empty. But the good news is that by this point I am full.
4 Nicole Whear // Sep 19, 2009 at 8:29 pm
This is an incredibly fluffy-heavenly-looking-candysplosion. I cannot wait to try this recipe.
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