I didn't find a chocolate peanut butter cake, but there is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars recipe (page 326) that sounds good, probably could be a cake with some adjustment. Janice

Well, I didn't find it at Sam's Club lastnight. I will try WalMart and if it's not there I'll have to go back to Books-A-Million. I know they have it. They have the Cupcake Doctor and the Chocolate CMD as well.

I was at our WalMart and they had both the CMD book and the cupcake one. Too bad I was in such a hurry and paid full price for it

I have seen the book at of all places Home Depot! I wonder if they sell it at Lowes too..

Well maybe I should have went to Home Depot!LOL! I ended up with the chocolate CMD. I went to two different WalMart stores, a Target, and Books-A-Million! One Walmart had a Cupcake CMD but nothing else and Books-A-Million had the Chocolate and Cupcake but not the plain ole' CMD! The clerk said they must not have any on the shelves. DUHHHHH!! So I just went with the Chocolate and licked my wounds all the way home!!

I made a couple more cakes out of this book last week so I thought I'd share the results (too bad I can't really share the results - they were tasty!).

I made Susan's Lemon Cake last week with the lemon buttercream frosting. I didn't think the lemon cake was very lemony and the buttercream was too lemony but I think they balanced each other out! The cake was very moist and got good reviews. Since I am in Denver I did use sugar free gelatin which worked great. (that was a tip from the CMD website).

Saturday I made the Hummingbird Cake with a pineapple filling and cream cheese frosting. Everyone (myself included) LOVED this cake. It was moist and full of flavor. This one will be on my list of all time favorites!

I made the Darn good chocolate cake - I think its in the Chocolate CMD book...it was very rich and moist. Some of the "critics" didn't prefer the chocolate chips being suspended throughout the cake, but the true chocoholics LOVED it! It depends on your audience, I guess. I definitely recommend making the cake!

just got the book and I made the banana cake. I only tasted the cakescraps but OMG its YUMMI! the cinnamon leaves a tiny little spicey aftertaste, it's simply awsome. I will fill it tmrw with the recipe what they use on top of the banana-puddingcake. can't wait to taste the endresult

Esther,

When you made the banana cake did you think that the mixture was too liquidy? Even after beating for the correct amount of time, I thought it was pretty runny. When it baked, it was pretty flat and dense. How did yours come out? It was very moist and yummy according to the Guinea Pigs at DH's office.

Lera

actually I did think it was to liquid, so i beat it a little bit longer than recomendet and it came out thicker. I baked it for about 32-33 minutes and the cake came out great. pretty moist (i think because of the mashed bananas) but not to much. the center rised up pretty high and I had alot of cakecraps from leveling. but other then that it's just like you said. it's YUMMMMIIIIIIII

(i mixed the cakescraps with peanutbutter, dipped them in dark chocolate and covered them with coconut. AWSOME, but only for sweet tooths LOL)

I also wanted to mention a couple of the recipes that I have done. I made the White Chocolate Cake with White Chocoalte Cream Cheese Frosting. I filled with raspberry filling (the Solo kind). It was great cake. Everyone who tried it said so. The white chocolate does not carry much of a flavor punch IMHO. It does add to texture (and expense of the cake). It kept well and I will make it again for a special occasion.

I also made the Basic Pound Cake the other day for a cake to go under mm fondant. IT wanted a sturdy cake for the fondant. I did add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon oil to the batter which gave it a very light lemon flavor and fragrance. If I wanted more lemon, I would add more like 1/2 teaspoon. I was pleased with it. Filled it with lemon curd mixed with buttercream and everyone really liked it.



Lera

Finally back from vacation Frosting Friends!! My cake selection this week from CMD is on pg 36 and is the DARN GOOD CHOCOATE CAKE, and it is all that

This cake uses a devils food mix, chocolate pudding, sour cream and chocoate chips. WOW. Can you say RICH?

To start with , the batter alone is worth skipping the baking and just licking the bowl. The batter is thick, creamy and a promise of things to come!

Baked in a bundt this cake come out MOIST MOIST MOIST and very rich. You can actually see the glistening moistness in the photo, the chocolate chips suspended in the cake. The recipie does not call for a frosting, and the cake stands fine alone without one, but my graveyard guineas opinion is that it would benefit from a light frosting, one that would not compete with the richness of the cake. Cool whip and ice cream were suggested. A chocolate ganache drizzled over the top I believe would complement this cake also if you are wanting to die a chocolate induced death.
I got up at 2am the other morning and grabbed a can of generic canned white cream cheese frosting out of the fridge (we keep one on hand for a quick cupcake fix when needed) and slathered it on this cake. UH UH. Way to much going on there, the flavors competed and really ruined the experience for me. Heck, at 2am, anything is an experience.
After looking through CC at other posts on this cake, it is my concensus that the majority really enjoy this cake also. A standout thus far in the book. A slice of this cake really must be followed by 1/2 a gallon of ice cold milk.

I give this cake a solid 5 guineas, assuming a complementing frosting. Regular cake folks will like it, true chocolate lovers will swoon.

WHITE CHOCOLATE FROSTING

This frosting is delicious, but I find it's much too soft to work with for decorating. I ended up almost doubling the pdrd sugar, which kind of eliminates the "not too sweet" that the recipe is going for. I will end up using buttercream for my decorating.

Anyone else use it? Were you able to decorate with it or just fill and frost?

If you haven't tried the Creamy Filling on page 205 (from the Pumpkin Roulade recipe), you must! It's a delicious cream cheese filling. I've tried it made with whipped topping, as written, and the whipped heavy cream variation. Both are soooooo good.

I love the Darn Good Chocolate Cake recipe as well, but prefer it made with a German Chocolate or Chocolate Fudge mix instead of Devil's Food. I've made it as a bundt cake, but I love to make it in 8-inch layers, which I torte into 4 layers, fill with chocolate whipped cream and ice with dark chocolate ganache. It's a chocoholic's dream!

I really enjoyed reading your evaluations, Gilpnh. Did you give up on your quest? I imagine it gets expensive, let alone calorie laden! But what fun!!

This was interesting, I don't have the book but will now look for it. Please people keep updating this thread.

In the regular cake mix doctor book I made the carrot cake recipe, it is much different then people may be used to as it has a white or yellow cake mix as it's base, and you use orange juice in it but it makes the cake nice and fluffy and not soo heavy tasting. A fellow carrot cake lover gave it 2 thumbs up- definetely needs cream cheese frosting on it.

I made the Holy Cow cake upon recommendation. It has chocolate cake then you put holes in it and put caramel over it while it's still hot. You top it with a cream cheese/whipped cream mixture and then put crushed candy bars on top. She suggests Butterfinger or Heath I think. I used the caramel chocolate chip swirls by Nestle as my family doesn't all like one of those two. I think the cake was a little too sweet. Next time, I'm making it with German chocolate cake mix. The caramel didn't get all the way through either. I don't know if I didn't do enough holes or what. I poked them with a straw and didn't want too many holes! (Although it is called HOLY cow cake!) It's not a cake to decorate, but it does go over well for potlucks or family gatherings with sweet freaks like me!

Kelly

Hey Folks,

Back Again. No I didn't give up the quest but its been an interesting last few months. My sitter quit at the last minute, no notice. I could not at 4pm on the Friday before school started Monday, get a sitter or day care. My 3 year old boys have 1/2 day title I pre school, need to be dropped off/picked up, and my 8 yo son goes to Christian School across town, also drop off & pick up. So I quit my "night job". I love being a nurse and working the floor but my needs are for my family right now. I figured for what I was paying the nanny a month, that would pay my portion of our bills and I could stay at home, (we have the luxury of a subsidy from the state for adopting our boys from DFS, that is what has paid for childcare & schooling) which had been on my mind alot any how.

In addition to that, my grandparents moved here from AZ, they paid me to take care of them in their duplex so that I could at least afford health insurance at $600 month (I am so high risk no one will touch me) my grandmother got worse and I lost both my grandmas in the last 2 weeks,
needless to say, as much as I love to cook and bake, it has been on the "back burner". The funeral is Monday and I will be hosting the family at my home this weekend, my DH is currently taking my grandpa out to breakfast so I can get the house cleaned. (my 3 boys tearing it up faster than I can clean it )

All this aside, I hope to get back "in the game" in a few weeks, I am actually busier as a SAHM than I ever was working full time night shift.

I love to cook (I joined a freezer cooking coop) and bake, it is what relaxes me, even with the interruptions. Thanx for keeping me in mind Frosting Friends. Will fire the oven back up soon.

Heather

So sorry to hear about your Grandmas!! What a blow to lose both of them so close together! My sympathy and prayers go out to you and your family. I hope your Grandfather finds comfort in being close to you now. Sounds like you have a very busy life. Take care and enjoy your baking when you can.

gilpnh,
I am so sorry to hear about your grandmothers. You have had quite a few changes in your life very quickly. I hope all settles for you soon.


On a lighter note, (Well, it depends on how you look at it.) I made the turtle cake tonight for my fathers b-day. YUMMMMMY I highly recommend this cake. It is for the true sweet tooth only though. Devils food cake, carmel, pecans, and chocolate -- it is moist and VERY rich. The family loved it!

I am very sorry to hear your about your loses. I'm sure everything will start looking up very soon!

On my CMD note, I tried the Chocolate marbel gooey butter cake yesterday. Very tasty. I used chocolate cream cheese instead of regular, and didn't get as much of a marbled effect. End pieces are the best as it gets all chewy, caramely. Mine however,did not stay jiggly in the centre, but was on the sides. On baked for maybe 30 minutes, but my over heats too hot, even with me monitoring with an oven thermometer. Anyway, very yummy.

I tried earlier in the year one of the biscotti recipes. Those who ate them loved them, I thought they were too cakey. I have also tried a cookie recipe in the CMD and again too cakey for me, but kids loved them. Hold up well to use cookie cutters with.

Im waiting for my book to come in and I can't wait to try it out. Have you tried anymore new recipe's?

I use the "staple" recipes in the bake, nothing fancy just things like youghurt white cake, sour cream white cake, buttermilk chocolate cake. They are all pretty great recipes.

Oh at Christmas I tried the yule log cake and it was great as well.

SYMPATHY FOR YOUR FAMILY!
GALD TO HEAR YOU COULD STAY HOME WITH YOUR BOYS.
I HAVE REALLY ENJOYED FOLLOWING THIS THREAD, JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU! AND KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!

You have a most enormously generous heart! Thank you for your example of service to your family and others!

I just heard about this thread recently, and it's convinced me to pick up a copy of CMD as soon as humanly possible! Thanks for the inspiration.

Bekah Marshall

My favorite chocolate cake is from the original CMD- Devishly Good Chocolate Cake...instead of using semi-sweet chocolate I use Milk Chocolate baking chocolate....way better!!!!
Here are two good combos
Devishly Good chocolate, filled with butterscotch pudding, frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting
Devishly Good chocolate, filed with a raspberry non-dairy cream, frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting.
You can bake the Devishly Good Chocolate cake in regular cake pans.
Yummy! Yummy!

Hi,

I just wanted to bump this up to the top again. I had a chocolate cake taste off last week with my DH. I was looking for the cake I will use for a wedding in September. Of course, the book is at home, but it was one of the cakes out of the first CMD book. I put two of the CMD chocolate cakes up against the Devil's Food scratch cake from the Cook's Illustrated new cookbook. I made them all according to the directions--no freelancing--and the CI cake came in a distant third. Now it was REALLY sharply chocolate, but not what we wanted to eat. I made cupcakes and we tried them all plain. I know which was which, but DH did not. I will post the two CMD cake names tomorrow...just to keep you in suspence and the fact that I can't remember which won.

I have yet to make anything from the CMD but I did make 2 recipes from the Cupcakes CMD book so i thought Id would share..

The Key Lime Pie cupcakes they were so yummy!! I had lots of positives reiviews on these. I will definitely be making these again. Sorry, no pics (they got eaten too fast!!)

The Cookies and Cream Cupcakes IMO I thought they were just ok. Pretty much the cup cake is an Oreo cookie on the bottom, white cake mix with crushed Oreo cookie in the middle and butter cream icing on top. I used their BC icing recipe and it tasted just like the Oreo cookie filling to me. The on top is sprinkled crushed Oreo. My husband thought they were good but I thought the Oreo on the bottom tasted a little burnt, plus I'm not much of an Oreo cookie eater. I guess if you like the cookies and cream taste you would like these, it just wasn't for me.

I'm wondering if the other books, the Cupcake and the Chocolate books are worth it.