Christmas in May...

Since I've just started this blog I don't have too many pictures of food. I've made things a thousand times without ever taking a picture...why didn't I think of that before? Anyways...even though we're a good six months to next Christmas, I do have a picture of the Chocolate Candy Cane cake I made. It was so pretty in my new cake stand at the time. While you may have a hard time finding candy canes now, the round peppermints will work just as well. This recipe is originally from the Kraft Food and Family magazine (which is free and comes quarterly). I've adapted it a little, so here's my recipe. Enjoy!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cake

1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jello Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
4 eggs
1 container (8 oz.) Sour Cream
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
4 squares Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped
18 small candy canes, coarsely crushed (about 1 cup), divided
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 cans white frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil and water in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, stopping frequently to scrape side of bowl. Beat on medium speed 2 min. or until well blended. Stir in chopped chocolate and peppermint extract. Spoon evenly into prepared pans.

Bake 40 to 45 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool 10 min. Loosen cakes from sides of pans with metal spatula or knife. Invert cakes onto wire racks; carefully remove pans. Cool completely.

Place one of the cake layers on serving plate; spread evenly with 1 cup of the frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and side of cake with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes just before serving.