Instead, today I'm posting about a very American cake. Two weekends ago, my friends and I had a BBQ/picnic, and I, of course, offered to bring dessert. I wanted to try something new: a cake that involved poking holes and pouring liquids on top, a poke-and-pour cake if you will, like "Tres Leches" or "Jello Poke" Cake (both of which I still need to make). For my first poke-and-pour cake, I finally settled on "Better than Sex" Cake (with a name like that, how could I resist ;) haha). Turns out though, there are actually two versions of the cake, one chocolate and one tropical. Naturally, I made both.
My conclusion is that these are great potluck cakes. They may not be the prettiest cakes, but they're widely appealing and provide just enough servings. The chocolate version appeals to chocolate and caramel lovers. It's for those days where you need a bit of sinful decadence in you life. Covered in condensed milk and caramel, it's a sweet, rich chocolate cake, made even better topped off with homemade whipped cream and chopped toffee candy bars.
The tropical version is perfect for those who prefer vanilla and fruit flavors. It's a yellow cake topped with a crushed pineapple syrup, vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, whipped cream, chopped pecans, and roasted coconut. To make it even better, I added a splash of rum to the syrup. It's the perfect cake for a hot summer day, refreshingly cool with tropical flavors that transport you to a beachy paradise. Which cake is better? You'll just have to make both to find out ;).
Better than Sex Cake (Chocolate)
adapted from food.com
chocolate cake recipe (use measurements for the small cake)
1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 oz) jar of caramel topping
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Heath bars (or 12 mini Heath bars), chopped
Bake your chocolate cake in a 9" x 13" cake pan. When it comes out of the oven, poke it all over (I used both a chopstick and a fork).
First pour the whole can of condensed milk over the cake.
Microwave 8 oz of caramel topping for 30 seconds, or until it is easily pourable, and then pour it over the cake. Let the cake cool to room temperature. Cover it in plastic wrap and let it chill for at least 24 hours, even longer is better as it gives the cake more time to absorb the condensed milk and caramel.
When ready to serve, prepare the whipped cream. Pour the cold whipped cream in a bowl and use an electric mixer on medium speed to whip the cream until it is slightly thickened. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Increase the mixer to high speed and continue whipping until you get soft peaks. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cake and top with the chopped Heath bars.
Better than Sex Cake (Tropical)
adapted from My Mom's Recipe
yellow cake recipe (below)
1 (20 oz can) crushed pineapple
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp rum (optional)
2 (3.5 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
2 bananas (optional)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Bake your yellow cake in a 9" x 13" cake pan. While the cake is baking, prepare the pineapple syrup. Place the crushed pineapple with the juice in a medium saucepan and add the 3/4 cup sugar. Heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved, then remove from the heat.
When the cake comes out of the oven, poke it all over (I used both a chopstick and a fork). Add the rum to the pineapple syrup.
Then pour the syrup over the whole cake. Let cool to room temp.
Mix the instant pudding with the milk.
Spread it over the cake.
Thinly slice the bananas then layer over the pudding. Cover the cake with plastic wrap then chill for at least 24 hours, even longer is better as it lets the cake absorb the syrup which moistens the cake.
When ready to serve, prepare the whipped cream. Pour the cold whipped cream in a bowl and use an electric mixer to whip on medium speed until the creams is slightly thickened. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Then mix on high speed until you get soft peaks. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cake and top with the toasted coconut and chopped pecans.
Yellow Cake
adapted from Chickens in the Road
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup boiling water
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13" cake pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside for now.
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder.
Add the milk and vegetable oil. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla extract.
Mix in the boiling water. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Welcome back! To get the pretty circular versions, did you just cut them out of the sheet cake? I see they are on foil cupcake liners, but there is no crumb residue so I don't think you made a cupcake version...or did you?
ReplyDeleteYup, I used a small round cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the cake before adding the whipped cream, then placed each round on a flattened mini cupcake liner for decoration. If you do choose to do this, make sure the cookie cutter is cleaned off before cutting each cake round because residue cake stuck on the cutter makes the shapes less pretty.
DeleteYou could easily make a cupcake version if you wanted, using the baking directions from my Hunger Games Cupcakes (uses the same chocolate cake recipe). But only fill each liner half full with batter. And also, if making cupcakes, try to use foil liners because the cake gets really sticky after adding the liquids, so a paper liner might soak through, which would make eating it less pleasant.
zomg... soooo delicious looking.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks!
Deleteyour cakes look delicious! Did you use all purpose flour for the tropical cake?
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yup, I used all purpose flour. If I don't clarify the type of flour, it's usually all purpose.
Deletemmm..they both sound delicious! great blog btw :-)
ReplyDeleteWow these look amazing! That 24 be waiting period would be tough.
ReplyDeleteHow many servings does the yellow cake recipe make, or how big of a pan would it fill?
ReplyDeleteI used a 9x13" pan. The number of servings depends on how many squares of cake you want to cut. I cut mine pretty small (since the cakes are pretty rich), so it made quite a few servings. Typically a 9x13" pan makes 24 servings.
DeleteOh! Nevermind. =)
ReplyDeleteI've made the tropical cake before it is delicious but I don't remember if I used the pineapple in heavy syrup or the one in its own pineapple juice. Can anyone please advise...thanks
ReplyDeleteI used the pineapple with juice here because in this recipe, you cook the crushed pineapple with sugar to make your own pineapple syrup to pour over the cake. Plus I like being able to control the sweetness of the syrup by adding my own sugar.
DeleteI made this cake for my brother's birthday and it was a hit! I did the chocolate one and it tasted so good!!! My favorite cake by far!
ReplyDeleteDoes the banana not turn brown while it is in the fridge for that long? I would like tobake this cake soon. Also, for the chocolate version, what are Heath bars? They don't sell them in South Africa. Would a regular chocolate nut bar be fine?
ReplyDeleteYes the bananas do turn brown if left in the refrigerator too long, but it's not very noticeable since they're covered by the pudding and whipped cream.
DeleteHeath bars are chocolate covered toffee bars (hard toffee, not soft). Similar candy bars are Skor and Daim. But yes, you can use whatever candy bar you prefer!
Hello, well I did the cake and I found problems with it. I followed all the steps, and whe I added Boiled water the mix turned to go full liquid. I mean, I could drink that. So I added more flour (despite I know nothing about bakery, my common sense told me you can not bake liquid cake) when I did that, it turned out well, but when the where ready it tasted so much to soda, or baking powder (are you sure is that much soda AND baking powder?), tasted so salty it can't be eaten :/ Help me please.
ReplyDeleteHi! The cake batter really is supposed to be that watery/liquid. I remember being super surprised by that the first time I made the cake as well, because most cake batters are pretty thick, but not this one. (I thought I mentioned that in the recipe description, but now that I look back, I only addressed it in the comments! I will have to add that in sometime as a warning.)
DeleteAre you sure you're using the right measurements for all your ingredients? Tsp = teaspoon and Tbsp = tablespoon. It really should not be salty at all! That sounds awful :(. For the small cake measurements, there's only 1 1/8 teaspoon baking powder and 1 1/8 teaspoon baking soda; that really isn't that much, not enough to make the cake salty tasting. And only 3/4 teaspoon salt. Also, you're using all purpose flour right (not self-rising)?
Also, how much extra flour did you add? Maybe because you added that extra flour, it diluted the taste of the rest of the ingredients and the cake ended up too savory and not sweet because the extra flour outbalanced the sugar in the recipe? That's the only other thing I can think of...
Hi, was wondering if the chocolate version is tastes super sweet?
ReplyDelete