Paula Deen Is My New Hero

Photo Credit

Last week I was in charge of making desserts for the guys at the fire department after the funeral. I felt a lot of pressure! LOL I didn't want to embarrass my husband...I already do that enough by being the wife who doesn't cook dinner often, doesn't clean house often, and a list of other "not often" things! (Good thing he does all of those often, right?) In my defense...he has FIVE days off a week...I have NONE! Anyway, I'm a good wife. ;) I just don't cook...I bake. I even told one of his captain's wife that...ha. I didn't want to bake just plain ol' cookies or a plain ol' box cake...so Mama went all out....I turned to Paula Deen...I mean, this lady LOVES butter...firemen love butter...or anything fattening for that matter...so I knew she wouldn't let me down. I chose three different recipes from her but the Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake won the heart of my husband and his firemen brothers!!

Here's the recipe...oh and be ready to have a heart attack from the amount of butter in it!

Ingredients:

1 16-ounce) box powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg, plus 2 eggs
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
2 STICKS (16 tablespoons) of butter, melted, plus butter to grease the pan.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts (I omitted this, hubs doesn't them but I read other people replaced them with choc. chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted butter, and stir until well blended. Pat mixture into prepared pan and set aside. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining 2 eggs, and the cocoa powder. Lower the speed of the mixer, and add the powdered sugar. Continue beating until ingredients are well mixed. Slowly add the remaining 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of melted butter, and the vanilla, continuing to beat the mixture until smooth. Stir in nuts with a rubber spatula. Spread filling over cake mixture in pan.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. (I baked mine for 50 mins) Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking. Let cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.

I did not take a picture of my final product because I thought it looked hideous but evidently it was very good.(I don't eat anything I bake usually, except that 6 layer cake)Mine was also not round like Paula Deen's...I just left it in the throw away 13x9 pan and sent it with the hubs!

Here are the recipes to the two other things I baked as well...

Buttery Fingers Mine were balls...not fingers...and get your head out the gutter! ;)

Banana Pudding (special request from the hubs) The bottom layer of cookies were butter cookies with chocolate covered tops...added some flavor...hubs didn't care too much for those but the other guys like the chocolate touch.