If you're looking for a last-minute dessert for the holidays, this one couldn't be easier!
Last week I got a note from my son's school asking for parents to donate Christmas cakes for a school raffle. With very little wriggle-room for extra baking in a tight holiday schedule, it was tough to figure out how to manage baking and decorating a festive cake along with everything else that still needs to be done!
In times like these, I resort to boxed cake mixes. And I'm not ashamed to admit it! With some tweaks, additions, and alterations, boxed cake mixes can sometimes save the day. The Chocolate Candy-Cane Cake that resulted from this frenzy has become a wonderful addition to my party cake file.
To make this cake, simply prepare a Devil's Food cake as directed on the package. I added one cup of miniature chocolate chips, one tablespoon of dark cocoa, and one teaspoon powdered instant coffee to the mixture. Then I also added 1/3 cup of crushed candy canes. That all got stirred up and poured into a 13x9 inch baking pan.
After baking the cake as directed on the box, it was frosted with plain vanilla buttercream icing, lightly flavoured with a teaspoon of peppermint extract. The frosted cake was then decorated with the rest of the crushed candy canes that I had on hand. We used holiday-shaped cookie cutters to make small stars with the crushed candy canes on top of the cake.
It ended up looking gorgeous, and the cupcake that I made along with the cake (just to test it out, of course!) tasted wonderful. Give it a try!
