GF Lucky Jack® Wacky Cake

Well, here we are – 2nd day of #Choctoberfest and I promised you a simple cake. (Oh, by the way, did you enter that Rafflecopter to win prizes from our sponsors? You can find it here.)

Wacky Cake was developed during the Depression when often you couldn’t afford to use eggs or milk in your desserts. I’m always amazed at how deliciously moist this cake can be – and even more so because I made this one with gluten-free flour!Also impressive is the fact that you don’t dirty any extra utensils. I just used an 8x8 glass dish & a fork (aside from measuring cups & spoons, that is…)

You’ll need to pre-heat your oven to 350°. Into the dish (don’t even need to grease it!) you’re going to measure:

• 1 & 1/2 c. gf flour blend (I used  Bob’s Red Mill^® Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. baking cocoa
• 1/2 t. Kosher salt
• 1 t. baking soda

You could sift this all together, but I just dumped it in & mixed carefully (that dish might not be as deep as you think…) with a dinner fork. After it’s thoroughly blended, you’ll need to make three holes, or “wells,” in the powder.

Into the first you will put 1 t. Kahlúa (mine is home-made, leftover from Christmas gifts…) and in the second you’ll pour 1/3 c. coconut oil (melted) and 1 T. vinegar goes in the last. (Don’t be surprised if that one fizzes a bit with the presence of the soda.) Lastly, you will pour one cup of Lucky Jack^® Double Black over all the ingredients. (Unfortunately, I’m afraid you’ll just have to drink the remaining 2 oz.)

Carefully stir until everything is completely combined. Pop it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean. Let cool.(mine cracked a bit… No worries! We’ll soon cover that up!)

While your cake is baking, measure out 2 T. whipping cream and dissolve 1 t. instant coffee crystals. After the cake has cooled, pour 2 c. cold whipping cream, 3 T. honey and the dissolved instant coffee into the Blendtec (or food processor, or mixer, or metal bowl with French whisk…)Seriously, 5 or 6 seconds on “high” gave me luscious Honey Java Whipped Cream. (Please ignore that finger-swipe strange crease, I have no idea how it got in there!)Toss a dollop on a slice of cake and you’re ready for a tea coffee party!

Check out all of today’s #Choctoberfest recipe links below:

An InLinkz Link-up

#CHOCTOBERFEST

Today is one of my favorite days of the year... because it is the first day of #Choctoberfest 2016! #Choctoberfest is a virtual event put together by The PinterTest Kitchen. Bloggers from around the world will be posting their favorite chocolate recipes, and you’ll get a chance to win some awesome prizes. What’s not to love?

Thank you to the sponsors who make #Choctoberfest possible! This year, Imperial Sugar is back as our Gold Sponsor. They have been a trusted name in kitchens since 1843, and their website is home to thousands of sweet recipes tested in the Imperial Sugar Kitchen. You can find Imperial Sugar on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube, or join their Sweet Community so you can share your own recipes, save recipes to a virtual inbox, print Imperial Sugar coupons, and connect with other sugar lovers.

Imperial Sugar and our silver sponsors have banded together to offer a huge #Choctoberfest prize pack, which you can enter to win below! One lucky winner will be chosen at random to receive the following:

• From our Gold Sponsor Imperial Sugar: 1 case of granulated sugar (40 pounds), 1 case of brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of dark brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of powdered sugar (24 pounds bags), and an Imperial Sugar red ruffle apron
• From our Silver Sponsor Nature Nate's: 32 oz. Raw & Unfiltered Honey bottle, Honey Syrup, Honey Packets, a Nature Nate’s T-shirt, various kitchen supplies, and $50 Amazon gift card
• From our Silver Sponsor Barlean's:16 oz Barlean’s Butter-Flavored Coconut Oil, 9.52 oz canister of Chocolate Silk Greens, and 8oz bottle of Essential Women Omega-Swirl Chocolate Mint
• From our Silver Sponsor Caveman Coffee: 1 Bag of Coffee (you choice of blacklisted or sabertooth), 1 coconut MCT oil, and 1 Cacao Butter
• From #Choctoberfest blog hosts The PinterTest Kitchen: 1 specialty chocolate gift pack (your choice of dark or milk chocolate), 1 tin (14 ounces) drinking chocolate, and Divine's Fair Trade Gift Set

Enter now to win our #Choctoberfest 2016 prize pack! We'll be picking a winner at random winner on Saturday, Oct. 15, so enter by Friday to make sure your name is in the drawing:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's a list of all of the bloggers participating in #Choctoberfest 2016. Visit any of their blogs to get delicious chocolate recipes throughout the week:

The PinterTest Kitchen • 2 Cookin’ Mamas • A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures • addicted 2 recipes • Amy’s Cooking Adventures • An Affair From The Heart • Balancing Motherhood • Body Rebooted • Bottom Left of the Mitten • By the Pounds • Canning and Cooking at Home • Coconut & Lime • Cook with 5 Kids • Cook's Hideout • Cookaholic Wife • Cooking with Carlee • CopyKat Recipes • Cricket's Confections • Crumbs in my Mustachio • Elisabeth Jean • Fairyburger • Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice • Family Around the Table • Fantastical Sharing of Recipes • Feed Your Soul Too • Feeding Big • Frankly Entertaining • Full Belly Sisters • Get the Good Stuff • Grumpy’s Honeybunch • Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks • Hostess At Heart • Ink and Sugar • Jane’s Adventures in Dinner • Join Us, Pull Up a Chair • Karen's Kitchen Adventures • Kate's Recipe Box • Kudos Kitchen by Renee • Kylee Cooks • Letz Eat • Life Currents • Life on Food • Making Miracles • Monica's Table • Moore or Less Cooking Food Blog • My Catholic Kitchen • My Gluten Free Miami • Our Good Life • Palatable Pastime • Restless Chipotle • Seduction in The Kitchen • Sew You Think You Can Cook • Simple Food 365 • Southern With A Twist • Sumptuous Spoonfuls • Take Two Tapas • Tampa Cake Girl • Teaspoon of Goodness • That Recipe • The Crumby Cupcake • The Flavourista • The Food Hunter's Guide To Cuisine • The Freshman Cook • The Pajama Chef • The Redhead Baker • The Spiffy Cookie • Tramplingrose • Wildflour's Cottage Kitchen • Zesty South Indian Kitchen

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the yummy recipes posted on these blogs. Check them out throughout the week and don't forget to follow our sponsors and bloggers using the Rafflecopter giveaway widget above for your chance to win our sweet prize pack.

Dark Chocolate-covered, Vanilla Bean Cream-filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

(…tried to think of a catchy name for them, but did not succeed… maybe you could help?)I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t drooling excited when Kristen announced the ingredients for the August Improv Challenge:

I had pinned this recipe for gluten-free Thin Mints some time ago & I figured it would make an excellent base for my cookie. (I do realize oatmeal is not OK for all GF eaters. I’m going to try this recipe again without grains.) After I ground some oatmeal (yep – didn’t have time to run to the store for some Bob’s Red Mill Oatmeal Flour…)and sifted it, this is how I made the cookie:When I got to thinking about a nice, creamy vanilla filling; I somewhat shuddered at the thought of the traditional shortening/sugar fluff. Then I remembered seeing some glorious recipes for vanilla bean cream cheese – A-HAH! Perfect!I wanted to taste vanilla and cream cheese, so I used Stevia in place of honey or powdered sugar. Being sweet-deprived relatively sugar-free this was perfect for me! Here’s what I mixed:

After “sandwiching” the cookies, I made sure they were well-chilled then I dipped them in about a pound of dark chocolate melted with almost a tablespoon of coconut oil.Living in the desert (where summer’s still going strong) one has to decide whether to snap pictures of chocolates with a little refrigerator bloom on them, or melty fingerprints…But, despite their appearance, these little cookies were absolute nuggets of joy! The sweetness of the dark chocolate coating made up for the lack of sugar in the cookie & filling. I loved the slightest tangy flavor of the vanilla-ed  cream cheese.YUM!

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Please be sure to check out other bloggers’ links to their chocolate & vanilla creations.

An InLinkz Link-up

Oh, no you di'n't!

alternately titled: Who 'Jacked the Wacky Cake?


In a perfect world, one can eat what one wishes without weight or allergy consequences. In this world, however, one just hopes to balance the "healthy" food with the "bad for you" food and trust your body will survive.

I needed to whip up a birthday cake for a special young man -- so I took an ordinary cake & made it quite "special" for him.


My two younger sons love to get their hands on the remnants of my iced lattes. Even better is to have their own made on Saturday mornings when I make theirs an iced mocha.

That was on my mind this morning while I was starting to stir up Alec's cake. I was making Wacky Cake, but decided to "kick-it-up-a-notch"!

I started off by using whole wheat (healthy!) flour. The rest of the ingredients stayed the same except for using a little extra cocoa. As I was getting the the water portion, my "what-if" brain decided flavored water would be just as good, so I used a cup of cold leftover morning coffee to pour over. 

Then I "what iffed" a cup of chocolate chips into the mix...

Verdict will be in later this evening.

trifling with chocolate

Please Lord, never let anyone institute Chocoholics Anonymous, 'cause I don't wanna be cured!

Because I wished to show off highlight use my trifle bowl for Christmas Day dessert, I started plotting a few weeks prior what lovely ingredients would be showcased that evening. In the past I'd done raspberry & white chocolate, key lime, strawberries & cream -- even, ashamedly, a Twinkie & cherry trifle (gorgeous, by the way...) Selfishly, I decided to please myself and created a chocolate fantasy. It is chocolate cake, chocolate pudding & cocoa-rum whipped cream:

(Well, if I would've truly realized my fantasies, I'd have added chocolate chips 

and chocolate syrup...)

The cake recipe is from the Depression Era. (Can you believe this is the first time I've tried this recipe?!?) It is egg-less & milk-less. It is incredibly moist & chocolaty without being too sweet. It is called "Wacky Cake" because of the ingredients.
Sift the dry ingredients together into an 8x8 pan. (no need to spray or grease)

Make three holes in dry mixture and put vanilla in one, oil in the next, and vinegar in the last.

Pour cold water over all

and stir.

Bake in 350° oven for 25 - 30 minutes.

After the cake cooled, I cut it into squares. I crumbled about a third of them into the bottom of my dish. I topped that with a third of my pudding.

(yes - this package uses a gallon of milk & makes over 4 quarts of pudding
no - I did not make the entire package
and yes - I very much wanted to!)

Onto the pudding went my cocoa-rum layer.

(sift cocoa & XXX sugar, add to cream, whip, add rum & whip until peaks form)

I repeated this to fill the dish, reserving some of the cake for topping.

I'm linking up to Sheryl's Cast Party Wednesday.

"Weekends were made for Snickaloaf"

Oh! How I ♥ Tim Hawkins! 

I've found my next cooking inspiration!
("So good, makes you wanna slap yo' mama") <--OK -- that's from another one of his videos...

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Do you need a quick-fix (I mixed by hand...) goodie for brunch or tea? A little something not too heavy or overly sweet? These muffins fit the bill!

 I combined advice for quick breads from various friends like Paula (you know, Deen...) Martha (yes, her!), Fannie (the Farmer) & Joy (of Cooking) plus a bit of experimentation to create my recipe.

Aside from the dog-eared aspect of my cookbooks, I have another disclaimer -- only the finest ingredients for this cook! (Finest meaning items with very good flavors purchased in bulk at Business Costco!)

Why yes! That is a 10# bag of chocolate chips & a 5# keg of peanut butter! (Mr. Footballer is supposed to be weight training & eating five PB&J sandwiches a day... We use a lot of peanut butter!)

Easter Scrapbook