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Notes from the Doctor: Chocolate from The Cake Mix Doctor
Notes from Workman: On The Road Again
Reader Q&A
Bits & Bytes: Flat Cake, Wedding Cake, Baking with the Kids
Great Quotes
Recipe Swap: Neapolitan Cake, Blondies
Hot Tips
Try These Fun Summertime Cakes
Doctor the Doctor: You Doctor My Recipes
Do Share!
Next Issue: August 2001

I have just returned from the massive Book Expo in Chicago, my bags are still packed, and I feel as if I smell of chocolate, one of my favorite aromas. We sliced chocolate cake for hundreds of tasters to showcase the next Cake Mix Doctor book.

So now I can whisper a few words to my newsletter readers . . .the new book is called Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor. Inside the book will be all sorts of wonderful chocolate layer cakes (including German this time!). There will be more cheesecakes (even baked in springform pans!), more 13- by 9-inch sheet cakes as you requested, more muffins and little cakes as you suggested, and an entire chapter devoted to pound cakes. You will find more angel foods, cake terrines, warm souffle cakes, and more cookies and bars, including how to doctor up brownie mixes and even make pie. And yes, there will be a photo spread at the front of the book to help you locate the right cake to bake. Thanks for all your great suggestions along the way.

So there you have it, Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor to be on store shelves in October.

You know, long before the idea of a cake mix book or a chocolate cake mix book had entered my brain, I was a newspaper food editor, fielding many a call from readers about baking cakes, from scratch and from a mix. What I miss most about the newspaper business is being smack in the middle of that bustling newsroom where in a split second the mood could change from calm to chaotic, depending on the news.

As I took a quick read of our Community Board this morning, it dawned on me I have not left the newsroom! Questions get posted, and readers beg for an urgent answer. There is talk of cake mix shrinking in size—but it turns out not to be true . . . and so on. If you haven't been reading the board lately, please do check in.

My hat goes off to all the baking pros who jump in every day and help less experienced bakers find their way in the kitchen. You know, we are experiencing a wonderful thing here. Corporate America might have taken away many of the home economists, newspaper food sections and county extension agents might be too busy to answer our every question, and our mothers might not be around anymore, but we have the Internet and this community message board. Here we can turn for help, friendship, and a laugh.
Enjoy this issue, with its kid-friendly recipes--the Neapolitan Cake and the Blondies. My daughters are out of school and helped me bake these easy recipes. It looks like a fine summer to sit back, read the message board and a good book, sip some lemonade, and wait until fall and chocolate!

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Q.Can I make a chocolate cake out of a white cake mix? —Sally Pfaff, La Habra, CA

A.Yes, you can add from 4 to 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa to a white cake mix batter and turn out a chocolate cake. See my recipe for Old-Fashioned Cola Cake, page 55.

Q.I am planning an event for my law firm. Rather than a cake, I would like to serve cupcakes, which cuts down on the mess. Which of your cake recipes would you recommend in cupcake form? —Pam Cione, Miami, FL

A.What a great idea! Most any of my cakes can be turned into cupcakes. Try the Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake with the frosting suggested or with the Fluffy Chocolate Frosting. Or, try Mom's Layer Cake as cupcakes and frost with Quick Caramel Frosting or Orange Cream Cheese Frosting.

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Flat Cake

Karen McKinney of Tampa, FL,read about Christine Mollenhauer's desire to produce flat cakes for easy frosting and assembly. She offers this tip, which comes from a pastry chef... "Place a pizza or baking stone on a rack underneath the filled baking pans. Bake as recipe directs. Cakes will rise evenly every time. Of course, I do miss that little mound I used to trim off the top and eat, but I am saving calories!"

And Karen Hodgin of Charlotte, NC,also offers some advice for producing flat cakes. "Here is a tip that I learned in a cake decorating class. Pour your batter into the pan—round layers, 13- by 9-inch sheets, or tube pans—and then, using a spatula, scrape the batter evenly from the middle of the pan toward the sides of the pan. When you finish you can just about see the metal bottom in the center. As the batter bakes up it will seep back toward the middle and almost always end up flat on top. For pound cakes, pull the batter up at about a 45-degree angle from the center tube toward the top of the pan."

Wedding Cake

Not so long ago Elaine Warren of Oak Ridge, TN,was looking for a wedding cake recipe that started with a Duncan Hines white cake mix, to which you added flour, water, and egg whites. Carolyn Baner of Pennsville, NJ,(or CarolynB, as she is known on the message board) was kind enough to send this recipe, which she says comes from an old 1979 Duncan Hines Bake Shop in a Book cookbook. The recipe calls for 1 box of white cake mix, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/3 cups water, and 2 egg whites. You will need 4 batches of this to produce a wedding cake, and this will yield about 75 servings.

Note: This recipe does not call for adding vegetable oil. You can add 2 tablespoons oil per recipe to make a moister cake.

Baking with the Kids

My first baking attempts began with a cake mix, so I am eager to get the word out that kids should use my book! Mixes are easy, reliable, and allow children to be creative. Here are some recipes in my book that kids from 8 and up can do on their own, and kids younger than that can do with you.

*Holy Cow Cake—a basic chocolate sheet cake, in which they poke holes, pour in ice cream topping, smear with a frosting of Cool Whip and cream cheese, and scatter with crumbled candy bars. Recipes don't get much more kid-friendly than this!

*Birthday Cake Cones—they'll be amazed you can bake in those cones, and they can have fun fooling their friends that there is cake, not ice cream, inside.

*Neapolitan Cake (see Recipe Swap in this issue)—more hole poking, but this time warm strawberry gelatin is poured into the holes, chilled until set, then spread with a pudding-like frosting. Yum.

*Fruit Pizza—they bake the cookie round, then decorate with fresh fruit. Sort of healthy!
*Banana Pudding Cake—more fruit, but this time sandwiched between a yellow sheet cake and creamy pudding.

*Incredible Melted Ice Cream Cake—they actually have your permission to let ice cream thaw on the counter so that it can be poured into the batter. Marshmallows are needed for the frosting, and I am sure they won't complain!

*Hornet's Nest Cake—the little scientists will find the assembly peculiar but interesting, and they will love how the cake tastes and looks after it bakes.

*Cherry Dump Cake—so easy to assemble, and delicious for all ages when served warm with vanilla ice cream.

*Cookie Pops—pretty as a picture for picnics and birthday parties. The older kids can bake and wrap these in clear cellophane, and tie a ribbon around them for decoration.

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"I use your cookbook so much for catering jobs. I made the Honey Bun Coffee Cake for a breakfast meeting this morning, and it was a huge hit. I recommended your cookbook to another caterer who owns a bed and breakfast and probably shouldn't have since we compete! She made the carrot cake for a job yesterday, and the party loved it. I need to quit recommending or buying the book for friends. They will know all my secrets!" —Carrie, Rapid City, SD

"When I made the Fresh Orange Cake, one of my guests, a teenage girl, ate four pieces… Seems like you gave Americans exactly what they wanted." —Chris Gang,food editor, The Commercial-Appeal, Memphis, TN

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Neapolitan Cake

Serves: 20
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Baking Time: 28 to 30 minutes

It doesn't seem possible that last fall Joanne in New York City asked if I knew of a recipe for a Neapolitan Cake that called for strawberry and lime gelatin. I didn't, but I asked readers if they had heard of it, and by the end of the year a couple of recipes were submitted. Jeanne Taylor of Auburndale, FL, and Jan Doudna of Tangerine, FL,both sent in similar recipes using just the strawberry gelatin. Must be a Florida favorite! It begins with a fudge marble cake mix that you bake by the package directions, then poke with holes and fill with warm strawberry gelatin. You chill the cake, then frost it with a pudding mixture, and then I suggest you garnish with sliced sweetened strawberries. The cake is beautiful when sliced, and is true to its name—vanilla, chocolate and strawberry stripes associated with Neapolitan ice cream.

CAKE:
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain fudge marble cake mix
1 1/4cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

TOPPING:
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 envelope (1.3 ounces) whipped topping mix
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Sweetened sliced strawberries for garnish, if desired

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13- by 9-inch pan. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the gelatin in a small bowl and dissolve in the boiling water. Stir in the cold water and set the mixture aside.

3. Place the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more. Measure out 1 cup of the batter and stir in the cocoa packet from the mix. Pour the plain batter into prepared pan. Drop the chocolate batter onto the top in spoonfuls, then swirl it through the batter with a knife. Place the pan in the oven.

4. Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool 10 minutes.

5. With a wooden skewer or chopstick, poke holes in the warm cake, about 1 inch apart. Spoon the reserved gelatin over the holes so that the gelatin seeps into the hole and disappears. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the topping.

6. For the topping, place the pudding mix, topping mix, cold milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the topping thickens and becomes fluffy. Remove the cake from the refrigerator, and spread the topping evenly over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until serving.

7. To serve, slice into squares and serve with fresh sweetened strawberries.

Blondies

Serves: 20
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Baking Time: 20 to 25 minutes

Have patience, the recipe will turn up! That should be the motto of this newsletter recipe quest called Do Share! Unlike some high-powered computer search engine, we don't act instantaneously. But find that recipe we will, such as this wonderful and easy Blondies recipe requested last December by Bethany Anderson of Keller, TX.Only four ingredients are needed to pull off this delicious and chewy bar that Bethany's mom used to make in the 1970s. Take care not to overbake them as you want these lightly browned but still soft. Thanks go to Judy Wilson of Sun City West, AZ,for passing along this simple recipe!

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set aside a 13- by 9-inch pan.

2. Place the cake mix, eggs, and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are moistened, 1 minute. Add chips and blend on low another 30 seconds, just to incorporate.

3. Turn the dough into the ungreased pan, and spread it evenly with a rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until the bars are lightly browned but still soft. Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, then slice and serve.

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Lisa Kohler of Charlotte, NC,writes that her daughter's brownie troop went camping recently and made individual pineapple upside-down cakes. "They took clean tuna cans, greased them, put a pineapple slice in them, added a maraschino cherry in the middle and poured butter cake mix over. They covered the cans with foil and baked them over an open fire for 20 to 25 minutes. They loved them!"

Tami Simkins of Grants Pass, OR,says here is a fast and delicious way to make a Citrus Cake. Start with a lemon cake mix, and substitute 1 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup lime juice for the 1 1/4 cups water. Replace the oil with melted butter. Bake this batter in two loaf pans, and after unmolding, poke holes in the top of the loaves with a wooden skewer. Prepare a simple glaze using a little orange juice, lime juice, and confectioners' sugar. Drizzle this over the top so that it seeps down into the holes.

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*Finger-Lickin' Good Cake--page 150
*Orange Dreamsicle Cake--page 167
*Birthday Cake Cones--page 195
*Lemon Chess Gooey Butter Cake--page 247
*Pina Colada Cake--page 296

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In case you missed this recipe idea from the Community Board, here is how Laura Teague(thankfulgirl) of Austin, TX,doctored up my Pumpkin Pie Crumble Cake: "I used cooked, mashed sweet potato instead of pumpkin. I cut the amount of sugar in half (for both the filling and the crumb topping) and used brown sugar instead of white sugar. I added 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg to the filling along with the cinnamon that is called for… I also added 1/4 cup raw oats to the crumb topping for a bit more texture. Both co-workers and darling hubby gave it rave reviews." Yum!

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Ruby Worrell of Winston-Salem, NC,is in search of a Lemon Pie recipe that starts with a Jiffy yellow cake mix. "I recently found a recipe on the Internet for a Lemon Pie, and the crust was made from the cake mix. I printed it and then misplaced it. Can you help?" Sorry, Ruby, I am unaware of this recipe, but perhaps one of our readers out there knows of it. If so, please send that recipe to anne@cakemixdoctor.com.

And JoAnn Green of Fort Lauderdale, FL,is looking for a Dirty Cake, with vinegar as an ingredient, that she thinks comes from the Carolinas. It is not the Dirt Cake, made with pudding or cookie crumbs. If you have a recipe for Dirty Cake, please send it to me, anne@cakemixdoctor.com.

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Black Walnut Cake, German Chocolate Thumbprint and other cookie ideas, and some fun contests and book giveaways for Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor. Don't miss it!