Easter, Chocolate Bunnies & Cake

There are a lot of things happening in the next few weeks make life on this blog difficult. Starting school again today, finishing our taxes, moving to an entirely different part of PA (not like our 3 minute move from Manayunk to East Falls) and Easter. Easter's been at the bottom of my list these past few days, but I can't deny how much I actually enjoy the holiday. Besides the fact that it's always fallen right around my birthday, it's got some of the best looking candy filling up two aisles at Rite Aid. Two aisles!

Every year I just slink through the aisles looking at it. Marshmellow covered everything. This year I saw orange bunny peeps (I was shocked too). Chocolate in the shape of eggs, eggs made of creme, and carrots filled with reeses pieces. You could get a cavity just looking at all of the sugar, it's amazing. 

I think I love Easter because when I was little I used to occasionally bring home chocolate easter bunnies from winning drawing contests or guessing the right amount of jellybeans or something. I remember that they were always deceivingly hollow. When I'd bring them home, Allyson and I would size them up to see if we could open the box and eat a part of it before my parents got home. It never really worked, but when we were allowed to open it up I remember you could almost see a puff of smoke come out of the rabbit's head when you yanked an ear off. Like in Christmas Vacation when the turkey is too cooked and just explodes completely hollow, these rabbits looked like they were five solid pounds of chocolate but they were just a thin shell of a bunny. So disappointing. 

Dump Cake Part 2!

So the only thing I didn't actually bake so far has the most amount of views on this blog. I couldn't figure out why, especially since I didn't have any photos to accompany the post. I figured it must have been my witty writing and intelligent banter.

Then I had this thought - it must be because the cake sounds freaking amazing. And it did. So last week I had a few minutes to actually try and bake it- I say a few minutes because the whole thing took me about 8 minutes to put together. And it turns out, I was right. This cake really could make people give chocolate up for lent, and after eating it I think it might also cause divorces, marriages, spontaneous pregnancies, fault lines and any other kind of environmental catastrophe/something awesome. 

Now that I've actually made the cake, I HIGHLY encourage you to try it. Below are some after photos to help convince you. Forget the before because it all happened so fast. Again, I can't stress how easy this was so if you need something quick and easy that tastes like something you'd buy at an expensive restaurant, this is it.

Crazy right?

Up close and personal.

And this, which is not related, is a shot of the Snickers cupcakes I made for my mom last week. Second batch worked just as well! Check out the sweet cupcake stand I made too!

If you've made the dump cake, let me know!

Karen A's Chocolate Dump Cake

This recipe has the word dump in it. Sooo...it's got to be good.

I found this recipe in the AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner app last night on my iphone. (I would highly recommend that app, by the way. I've found a bunch of good stuff just spinning around through the desserts and entrees sections.)

So the fact that it had dump in the title was intriguing, but the fact that it calls for a package of instant chocolate pudding, a package of chocolate cake mix AND two cups of chocolate chips kind of threw me. This is like chocolate Disney World. Chocolate Space Mountain. This sounds like the reason why people give chocolate up for Lent.

I haven't had the opportunity to make this yet, but it's definitely on my list. So I think it's safe to say that, yeah, I'd bake that.
(i finally worked that in!)

Here's the link for the recipe on AllRecipes.com's site:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Karen-As-Chocolate-Dump-Cake/Detail.aspx

And here's the breakdown of ingredients and instructions for a quick look:
**make sure you go to the website to see what they look like!

Serves 24

Ingredients

• 1 (5 ounce) package non-instant chocolate pudding mix
• 2 1/3 cups milk
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 
  
• Directions
• 
  
• -Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
• -Combine chocolate pudding and milk in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick, stirring frequently.
• -Remove pan from heat and add in dry cake mix. Mix together and pour into the lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Evenly spread the chocolate chips over the top of the cake.
• -Bake at 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes. Let cake cool and serve.

If you try it out let me know how it tastes! 

Source:  Allrecipes.com /  Karen A's Chocolate Dump Cake Recipe / By: Jann De Circe 
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Karen-As-Chocolate-Dump-Cake/Detail.aspx