Mark's Favorite Cake - Chocolate Pudding Cake with Raspberry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

 It's been a super long time! But in honor of Mark's big 40 this year, I wanted to post the cake he usually requests that I make him for his birthday. It is also the most popular cake at my work when I make cakes for birthdays and whatnot. And it is pretty freaking good, if I do say so myself. 

Notes - 

* You can actually use any flavor of pudding if you want to play up specific flavors, I am just obsessed with chocolate so the more the better. 

* It's best if you let your eggs come to room temperature, I usually just put them out while I gather everything together and prep; this helps make for a better texture on your cake because you aren't adding something pretty cold to a bunch of room temperature stuff. There is real science behind it but I don't want to type it all out so google it, if you are curious 😀 I usually make sure all my liquid (and sour cream) is about the same temperature when I add them to the mixture 

* I really like the Bonne Maman raspberry jam but obviously you can use whatever brand (or flavor) you prefer 

Cake 

1 box Devil's Food cake mix

1 3.9 oz box of instant pudding, chocolate*

4 eggs, room temperature*

1 cup water, lukewarm/room temperature 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 cup sour cream, room temperature (optional but it is super good with it) 

1 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1/2 jar of raspberry jam*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack right in the middle of the oven. Grease 2 cakes pans, I usually do 9" pans but you could use 8" too 

2. Empty the cake mix and the pudding into a large bowl and whisk until the powder is all smooth and mixed well. Add eggs, water, vegetable oil and sour cream and whisk until all combined and smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into the 2 pans trying to make sure there is an even amount in each pan. 

3. Bake until top of cakes are springy and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Times can vary especially depending on the size of the pan but it's usually around 25-35 minutes. I usually start checking around 27 minutes or so depending on the oven I am using. 

4. Cool cake completely and put the first layer on a plate or serving platter with the crumb side down. Place a good amount of raspberry jam on the top of this layer and spread it evenly avoiding about 1/4" of the edges of the cake so it doesn't get all over the frosting and stuff. You can make the layer as thick as you want obviously, it's really up to you and how thick you want that filling to be, I use about a half of a 13 oz. jar when I do it.  Just be careful not to go too crazy so it doesn't smush out the sides when you frost it or put the top layer on. Put the top layer on with the crumb side down and now you can frost! 

Cream Cheese Frosting 

Notes - 

* You can use salted or unsalted butter, but if you use salted be sure to omit the 1/4 teaspoon salt because you definitely won't want that in there! 

* You can use up to 4 cups of powdered sugar. I only use 3 because we like our frosting to be more cream cheese and less sweet. And I find that it always makes plenty for me to frost the two layer 8 or 9 inch cake. 

* When using the mixer on all of the steps, be sure to occasionally scrape the sides of the bowl and ensure everything is being mixed evenly. 

1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter, softened*

8 oz full fat cream cheese (not the spreadable kind) 

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

3 cups powdered sugar 

1. Combine butter and cream cheese in bowl of stand mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on high until creamy and lump free. 

2. Add vanilla or almond extract and salt if you are using it and beat until blended in 

3. With mixer on low, start adding the powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time. I scrape the bowl and whisk about every cup of powdered sugar or so to make sure it's mixing evenly. As I indicated above, I usually only do about 3 cups of powdered sugar but you can easily do up to 4 cups if you want it sweeter. 

4. And done! Frost the cake and let someone lick the rest of the frosting out of the bowl. 😆

Pretty easy overall and homemade frosting is 100% where it is at. And it's way faster and easier than I ever thought it would be, although I am absolutely spoiled by having my awesome KitchenAid mixer (Thanks O!) 

With the Raspberry jam on it 

Ready to frost! Although it looks like one layer is slightly larger than another somehow?