Cherry Chocolate Cake

This is one of my most absolute favorites and my friends and family love this cake, too. Not only is it one of the easiest to make, but hands down one of the most delicious cakes you will ever eat. I have made this recipe more times then I could ever begin to count and I will never tire of it. You will notice in the recipe that the melted icing is poured over a hot cake. How cool is that? No need to wait for this baby to cool before icing it. Also, it is the perfect travel cake to give as a pot luck or for a party. I keep a stack of disposable 2-packs of aluminum foil pans on hand. You can buy these very inexpensively at Wal-Mart. I love to be able to give and not worry about getting a container back. This recipe won the Pillsbury Bake-Off, and this is my variation.

Cherry Chocolate Cake

• 1 box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix
• 1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
• 2 eggs (beaten)

Do not use mixer. Add cake mix to beaten eggs and fold in pie filling. Mixture will be stiff, stir until just moistened through. It will look like thick mud.

Bake in a 10 x 13 greased pan at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until cooked through and tester comes out clean.

Frosting

• 1 cup super fine or dessert sugar
• 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup Ghirardelli Double Chocolate bittersweet chips

Boil sugar, butter and milk for 1 minute stirring constantly until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat & stir in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Pour evenly over hot cake as soon as it is removed from oven. Cool.

Also, if you heat the melted chocolate over very low heat for about 5 more minutes it gives the icing a fudgy flavor. You will notice it gets a little thicker, but be very careful not to burn the chocolate, as it burns easily.

The super fine sugar dissolves better and will not leave your icing with a gritty feeling.