Best Ever Candy-Bar Cake

For my first ever post to this blog, I wanted something special and it didn't take me long to decide: what could be more special than my favorite birthday cake from childhood? Nothing, that's what. The base for this life-changing confection is a cocoa cake recipe that's dense and moist and fluffy and just a really perfect all-purpose cake for any occasion. But what really puts this birthday cake over the top is the cream cheese candy bar frosting. I promise, it's the best frosting ever!

Every year when I was growing up, in the days leading up to my birthday, my mom would always ask me what kind of birthday cake I would like to have. And my answer was always the same: candy bar cake! This cake is so special to me. Just one taste of this cake immediately transports me back to the happiest moments of childhood: helping my mom stir the frosting, seeing her come around the corner carrying this masterpiece and singing "Happy Birthday", blowing out the candles as I made a wish, and sharing it with my family.

Here is my mom's original Cocoa Cake recipe, which I know she got from her mom. Where my grandma got it, I'm not sure. But you better believe this is one recipe I'll be passing down to my children as well.

I just love this picture of the recipe, how it's splattered with cake mix and just tells its own little story. I also love how you can see that my mom was monkeying around with the recipe, probably trying to double it!

To begin with, you cream together two tablespoons of butter with two cups of sugar. This would be infinitely easier with a stand mixer, which I sadly don't have right now! But I gave myself a mighty arm workout doing it by hand. So if you don't have a stand mixer easier, don't despair! Work those biceps!

Then mix in two eggs and two teaspoons of vanilla.

The next step was weird to me, but then again, I'm not used to making cakes from scratch! You dissolve six tablespoons of cocoa in one cup of boiling water. As you can see from my picture, mine nearly bubbled over into a giant cocoa volcano, so keep an eye on it!

Mix this boiling cocoa volcano into your previous mixture and then add two cups of flour. It's starting to feel like cake batter at this point!

Now more dissolving to do: dissolve two teaspoons of baking soda in one cup of boiling water. This part smelled really funky to me...but trust the process!

Once it's dissolved, add it to the above mixture. And that's your cake batter, baby! Pour it into two greased cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Now, for the life-changing frosting, I don't have a hand written recipe for that part. But I do know where my mom found this recipe (or at least, one version of it!), so I tracked that down and sort of compiled it with other sources and...voilá! This is a pretty good recreation of what she used to do.

Start by beating eight ounces of cream cheese, one cup powdered sugar, and half a cup granulated sugar together until creamy (again...SO much easier with a mixer, but it's still possible to do by hand!)

Then chop up eight 1.5 oz candy bars. Whichever candy bar is your favorite! My mom ALWAYS did Three Musketeers, so I'm kind of biased in that direction. But you could try classic Hershey bars or Milky Ways or KitKats or whatever else strikes your fancy. Fold the chopped up candy bars, along with 1 twelve ounce tub of whipped topping, into the cream cheese mixture. And that's your frosting!

Once your cake has completely cooled (seriously, don't rush this, or the frosting will get all melty and slide right off), spread the frosting generously in between the layers and on the top and sides of the cake.

Now for the finishing touches! Chop up the two remaining candy bars and use to decorate the top and/or sides however you like. This really brings it all together! Now don't forget the birthday candles!

And would you look at that? You just made the best birthday cake of all time.

People will beg you for the recipe, I guarantee it! This cake also keeps quite well in the fridge for a long time. So enjoy, party people! I hope you love this cake as much as I do.

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Cocoa Cake

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 2 cups flour

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Cream together the butter and granulated sugar

2. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined

3. Dissolve the cocoa powder in 1 cup of boiling water, then add to the above mixture

4. Add the flour and mix well

5. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 cup of boiling water, then add to the above mixture

6. Mix to combine

7. Pour into two greased cake pans

8. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

9. Allow to cool completely

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Cream Cheese Candy Bar Frosting

• 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 10 (1.5 oz) candy bars (I used Three Musketeers)

• 1 (12 oz) tub of frozen whipped topping, thawed

1. Beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar together until creamy

2. Finely chop 8 of the candy bars and stir into cream cheese mixture

3. Fold tub of whipped topping into mixture

4. Spread frosting evenly in between layers of cooled cake and on top and sides

5. Either chop the remaining candy bars and sprinkle on top, or press whole pars into the frosting as decoration

6. Enjoy!

What do you think of this recipe? Sound like something you might try for the next birthday in your life? Which candy bar would you use?