Dark Chocolate Orange cake is no lie

After the heavenly lightness of the last cake (pineapple cherry chip), I decided to do something completely opposite: dark, rich and decadent. The obvious answer involved chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. I did have one glaring problem, though... no chocolate cake mix. Yes, I know, I could do the 'hard' thing and make it from scratch but I'm lazy and I *did* have white cake mix. So how do you make white cake mix into chocolate (even, dare I say dark chocolate)? Duh, cocoa powder. And I DID have a metric crap-ton of cocoa powder, so my problem, it turned out, was not so much a problem as an opportunity to adjust the amount of delicious chocolate I could put into my cake. I was the master of my own cake-y destiny! 

So! It's time to gather your ingredients and implements, kids. Remember, this is a chocolate orange cake, so you may have to do some shopping.

Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
3 eggy-wegs
2 sticks of butter (instead of the oil called for in the recipe on the box)
2/3 c of cocoa powder
2-3 oranges (I prefer Valencia oranges, as they tend to be juicier. You can do blood oranges, navel oranges, whatever floats your boat. You're going to want AT LEAST 1 cup of juice)

Implements:
A baking pan (or pans)
An oven
Measuring cups
Mixing bowl
Non-stick spray
Whisk/spoon

1. Take butter out of refrigerator to get it to room temp
2. Pre-heat oven to 350F
3. Grease pan(s)

PREPARE TO GET JUICY!

4. Juice your oranges into a bowl/cup/whatever you're going to use to contain it. *make sure you keep the seeds out. Some pulp is no biggie, so long as you don't mind biting into it later once it's in the cake. If you're not into that at all, you can use paper towel/strainer/cheesecloth to strain out the pulpy bits. Set the juice aside for later

5.  Pour cake mix into large mixing bowl
6.  Add in cocoa powder and mix until combined well
7.  Slice up butter sticks so they are easier to work with and add to the mix
8. Add eggs into mix
9. Stir CAREFULLY - it will be lumpy, that's ok. We're gonna help it out in a second.
10. Add in 1 C of orange juice (this is in place of 1 C of water from the cake box recipe) and mix. If it feels a little bit thick, you can add more juice to loosen it up a bit. It will still be a thick batter - maybe the texture of brownies
11. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes - until not-gunky in the center

Just like with the last cake, we can make icing quick and easy. This time, instead of letting it just be icing, we're going to put in some orange juice so that we get another lovely kick of citrus. For the icing,  you'll need:

At Least 3 Tbls. Milk
3 Cups Powered Sugar
1/2 cup (like Butter
3-8 Tbs of the orange juice

And all you really need to do to all this lovely stuff is mix it together. Add more/less orange juice to taste. If you feel like it's too sweet, put juice in. If it's too juicy or orange-y, put more sugar in. Tada!

Also, I know I didn't mention this last time but.. it's a good idea to let your cake cool off before you frost it. At least 20 minutes. I know it's PAINFUL to wait sometimes, but it's a better idea to ice it when it's cool because the icing won't run into any cracks and/or run straight off the cake.

Cherry Chip Pineapple Cake

Well, it was about time for me (Rabbit) to make my own post right? So here I am, with dessert. A super-moist, lovely cake that is perfect for summertime and is good for almost a week if you keep it in the refrigerator. Yeah, that is, if it lasts a week without you nomming it down in the first few days.

You will need the following -

Ingredients:
1 box (yes, I cheat) cherry chip cake mix
3 eggy-wegs
2 sticks of butter (instead of the oil called for in the recipe on the box)
1 can of crushed pineapple (20 oz)

Implements:
A baking pan (or pans)
An oven
Measuring cups
Mixing bowl
Non-stick spray
Whisk/spoon

**NOTE!** I am baking at 1,117 ft above sea level in the desert, in the middle of the summer right before monsoon season. If  you are higher or lower by any significant measurement (+/- 1,000 ft), more or less humid and/or living in a place that actually gets rain on the regular, your baking time and/or temperature may need adjustment. I cannot and will not be held responsible for cakes that go flat, take longer to bake or burn pre-baking time in my elevation. Baking is a tricky business! Times and temps change with ingredients, humidity, barometric pressure, elevation, whether or not a squirrel has farted in a 1/4 mile radius and billions of other things that I simply cannot adjust for.

(Kobold's Note: That's FAR too much effort. YMMV, Cook at your own risk, baking is easy :-P )

PREPARE FOR AWESOMENESS!


1. Take the butter out of the fridge if you keep it there, so that you can have it at room temp by the time we have to do anything with it.
2. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
3. Gather the rest of your ingredients and implements

GENERATE AWESOMENESS!

1. Empty box'o'cake mix into mixing bowl
2. Add eggy-wegs
3. Add now-soft butter sticks (I like to cut them up into squares with a butter knife so I don't have to fight with giant lump-sticks).
4. Mix until thoroughly combined
5. Add pineapple chunks - be sure to include juice.


BAKE AWESOMENESS!

1. Grease pan(s)
2. Pour batter into pan(s) - if you're using more than one, make sure to spread out the mix evenly
3. Put pan(s) into preheated oven
4. Bake @ 375 for 25 minutes. Mine took 28 total, but 25 is when you should start checking

And the Kobold Says:

What Rabbit didn't tell you is when it comes to the finer points, I come from a long line of people who know how to bake. What happens when Rabbit doesn't have frosting? "Kooobbbooolllddd make me a simple white frosttiiinnggg!!!" Yep. You can tell we are related, right?

You will need:

• At Least 3 Tbls. Milk
• 3 Cups Powered Sugar
• 1/2 cup (like Butter
• 1 Tbls. Vanilla Extract - I like vanilla. 

And what do you do?

You mix it. All of it. Mix it real good. You might need a little more milk. It happens. I wanted a thinner frosting, because we didn't want to coat this already super sweet thang in a super thick layer of sugar. This, spread over a slightly hot cake makes for a thin coat of vanilla-y goodness.

We frosted, stacked, frosted. We didn't do the sides. It was an almost subtle touch for something made with 3 garsh darn cups of powered sugar. Sweet, sweet, Columbian... Ahem sorry I got lost.

The Deli Den

Once upon a time, Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Kobold drove allllllll the way out to never-never-land to find a papasan that was barely used and on the cheap. Whilst out on their adventure, they hungered. Deciding to see what sort of delectable edibles were available out in knobby-ville, they drove to the Durango and 215 area and found a place called The Deli Den. Seeing the prices were reasonable, and being that Rabbit is a big fan of delis in general and more specifically, New York style delis, they decided to nom at this place.

Ms. Rabbit chose the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and Kobold chose the special (which we unfortunately cannot remember the name of) with corned beef, provolone and yum-tastic bread. Both were excellent, the meat had good flavor and the portions were huge. The service was mediocre at best, but the staff was friendly enough. It definitely had a family-owned feel and the decor was functional and non-fancy (odd, for that side of town).

The two adventurers nom-ed their gigantic sandwiches and eyed dessert but thought better of it, as the balaclava was bigger than Rabbit's hand. Yikes! Portions here are out of control big.

The only sticking point that was while Kobold was digesting, the tummy started to churn and do unhappy things. We're not sure if it was the sandwich, the corned beef or the combination of the two, but it did not end well for Kobold's bathroom or his stash of TP.

So if you're ever waaaaaaaaaaay out in never-never-land, give it a try but beware the corned beef.

We Eat Too Many, on the third try, that is.

So most of Ms. Rabbit and my adventures happen in the wonder that is Las Vegas. We drive around looking for food and randomly stop to, as she would happily say, "Nom, nom, nom." Our latest adventure took us down Boulder Highway at 9:00 pm on a Sunday, looking for the afore mentioned "Noms." We started with Sam's Town. We figured they should have a 24 hour Cafe, and we fail. Continue down the road a bit and we get to the East Side Cannery. Their little hole in the wall Cafe ("Snaps") is a bit busy, we wait in line for 10 minutes like good little fatties. We get inside, order our drinks, and begin to wait. And wait. 15 minutes pass, we've gotten a refill, and no Server. We watch as tables around us begin sending cold orders back. I'm guessing they were just understaffed and having a bad night, at least that's what I hope was happening.

We made like a tree, and got the F out. Across the street we go, to the Long Horn, where it's not a palace and it's not a town, and some other lyrics to the radio song. We get in, get seated, and get to order. Their menu is a bit small, but it's decently priced and worth it. I got the Finger Food Basic. Mini Burritios, some cheesy taquitos, wings, fingers, and onion rings. Everything tasted great, for the price. The wings and fingers were medium, but had a great flavor for medium. And I seriously got a plate full of ranch, sour cream, salsa, and ketchup. Rabbit got a decent Patty Melt. This is all besides the fact.

The joy of our night and the orgasm of our hungry coupling was the Strawberry Shortcake. It's $3.99. It's huge. Seriously it had to be 6"x6"x6". Covered in strawberries, whipped cream, strawberry goo. It was wonderful. I do believe Ms. Rabbti "Squeed in her Pants." Even us, two professional fatties couldn't finish it, it was that freaking large.

So, for all of you with a sweet tooth in the middle of a Sunday Night, hit up Longhorn on Boulder Highway. It'll make your noms come true.