Almond Bark Tripple Layer Devils Food Cake

Oh man say that 3 times fast! Well this chocolate cake was definitely a hit and death by chocolate might i add. It is soooo RICH you definitely will need a whole glass of milk to put down a slice of this bad boy. I got my inspiration from southernliving.com they had the top 10 most fabulous cakes on their website and i was intrigued by their version of a white chocolate almond cake if you wish to see that cake and recipe click here



Some of our friends asked me to bake a cake for them and her husband loved chocolate cake so i just twisted it to my liking and made it a death by chocolate cake! It was a major hit!

As you guys already know i have been battling the altitude lately with my cooking so i decided to do a trial run, i made a chocolate cake from scratch! It came out pretty good it didn't' sink in and middle but it just wasn't chocolaty enough for me...you know how red velvet cake doesn't' really taste like chocolate but doesn't taste like vanilla either well that's just how my home made chocolate cake tasted. So i decided to go with Duncan Hines devils food cake mix because i have not tasted a home made chocolate cake that comes out more moist and more chocolaty than this mix does. And on top of the fact that i am a bit skeptical of altering any of the ingredient amounts in a home made cake too much because of the altitude issue here i might not even have a cake to complain about LOL So enough with the talking already here is the recipe

Almond Bark Tripple Layer Devils Food Cake

Ingredients

Cake

2 boxes Duncan Hines devils food cake mix (follow directions on back of box for egg, oil and water amounts)

4 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder


Combine all ingredients together until smooth spray three 8" square cake pans with butter and dust with flour. Divide batter equally into the three pans bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean set aside and let cool



Almond Bark

One 12 oz bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup toasted almonds chopped

Place almonds in oven at 350 F for five minutes let cool, once cooled chop thinly
Over a double broiler melt chocolate until smooth and pour onto a piece of parchment paper, spread chocolate out thinly about 1/4 of an inch thick. Immediately pour chopped almonds on top and press lightly to make sure they get molded into the chocolate. You could add other things to this bark at this point if you would like as well to give the cake more of a twist like crushed peppermints or toffee bits. Or just use your favorite bark recipe!


Swiss Meringue Chocolate Butter Cream Icing (martha stewart)

5 lg egg whites (you can all so use meringue powder which is pasteurized dried egg whites if you are afraid of using raw eggs or if you are breastfeeding) You can find it at walmart
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
4 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 oz bakers unsweetened chocolate bars (you may need to add more chocolate depending on flavor)

Combine egg whits, sugar and salt heat over double boiler until eggs feel warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved use a whisk and mix constantly whiles heating don't cook the eggs!
Whisk egg white mixture with an electric mixer until white and fully
add butter tablespoon at a time untill all the butter has been whisked in set aside
Chop chocolate into small pieces and melt over a double boiler once smooth cool chocolate and add to butter cream. Using a paddle attachment beat butter cream until light and all of the air bubbles have been iliminated and mixture looks like icing.




NOW TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER!


Ice each layer of the chocolate cake and stack 3 layers high. Ice cake completely ontop and along the sides. Next break up the almond bark and press it onto the cake just like a puzzle. The almond bark should stick to the icing. ENJOY!

P.S. Be prepared for all of the oooing and aaahhing you will receive from this recipe hehehe