Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post today.  Things are still a bit crazy here.  Ugh.

Halloween is heaps of fun, and I LOVE to decorate for it, but for the past few years I haven't been able to do much of it except for maybe a pumpkin or purple strings of lights.  Nothing really cool, though.  This year wasn't any different - just the purple lights.  

Cleavers and knives and bloody hatchets, oh my!
Just the kind of grandmother you want for your
small children, right?

However, I made a cake for our Halloween - a RED velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  The fun part is I'd found some Halloween cake decorations at the grocery and couldn't resist using them.  Just another manifestation of my twisted sense of humor.  It's like the game, Clue - it was me, in the kitchen, with the hatchet!

So here's my recipe for delicious homemade cream cheese frosting - so easy!

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese
1 c butter
2 t vanilla extract or lemon juice
4 c confectioner's powdered sugar

I let the cream cheese and butter sit out on the counter for half an hour before starting.  Using an electric hand-held or stand mixer makes mixing much easier and sifting the sugar unnecessary.

Start with the cream cheese and butter in the mixer bowl.  Mix at a low speed until well combined.  Add the vanilla extract or lemon juice and mix some more.  Add sugar, one cup at a time.  Turn the mixer to medium to medium-high speed and beat until smooth and creamy.  

Double Dutch Chocolate Bundt Cake (from Mom's Recipe Card File)

This has to be my favorite chocolate cake recipe of all time.  It's rich and moist, but not cloying.  It's fantastic with vanilla ice cream.  It's really EASY!!!  

This is an "old" recipe from the late 1960s or early 1970s.  My version uses ready-to-spread frosting, which when we first made this recipe wasn't a thing!  We had to buy a boxed frosting MIX (how convenient!) and make it before starting the cake.

It's called Double Dutch because either the cake mix or the frosting mix was called Double Dutch.  You can't find it anymore, so I get as close as possible with fudge and dark chocolate.  Make sure you use a good quality non-stick Bundt pan (Nordic Ware and Wilton both make good ones, but I prefer Nordic Ware).

Double Dutch Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 package dark chocolate or fudge cake mix

1 can dark chocolate or fudge ready-to-spread frosting (divided)

3 eggs

1 1/3 c water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together cake mix, 1 cup of the frosting, eggs, and water.  Bake in a sprayed Bundt pan for 50 to 60 minutes.  Cool 15 minutes, then remove from the pan.  Add a little water to the remaining frosting and mix to make a glaze.  Drizzle glaze over the cake.