Chocolate E'clair Cake

As simple as this recipe is, you'd think it to be a delicacy.  It's full of flavor with a light crust and soft vanilla pudding insides... And the fudge topping is heavenly!

Ingredients:

(Cake)

• 1 box graham crackers
• 2 pkg. instant French Vanilla pudding
• 3 cups milk
• 1 (9 oz) container of Cool Whip

(Fudge Topping)

• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp milk

Directions:

1. For cake, grease 9x13 pan.  Line pottom of pan with crackers. 
2. Mix pudding and milk, then blend in Cool Whip.  Beat until slightly thick.
3. Pour half of pudding mixture over grahams.
4. Layer more crackers, then the rest of the pudding.
5. Add another layer of crackers.
6. For frosting, combine fudge topping ingredients, beat until creamy. 
7. Pour frosting over top layer of graham crackers.
8. Refrigerate for 30 minutes then serve!

Butterscotch Apple Cake (a.k.a. "Evil)

I've been craving apples lately, so I suppose I'll share one of my old favorites with you... Butterscotch Apple Cake.  After finding this recipe on Noble Pig's website last year, I made it for a family get-together... and made it again a bunch more times after that.  My family has nicknamed this recipe "Evil", as in, "Would you like another slice of Evil?" because it is so incredibly sweet and tempting, you can't help but have some.

Once again, a long list of ingredients, but you should only have to go out for a couple things.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups finely chopped, peeled apples (Granny Smith are recommended, but you can use pretty much any kind you like). Again, use your Apple corer/peeler/slicer! I'm telling you, it rocks!
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 1 cup butterscotch morsels (find em in the grocery store by chocolate chips)
• Caramel sauce
• Whipped cream or ice cream

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix together oil and sugar.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
• Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; beat well.
• Stir in vanilla, apples, and pecans (mixture will be thick--you may have to use your hands to mix it).
• Spread mixture evenly in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan.
• Sprinkle butterscotch morsels over top.
• Bake for 55 minutes.
• Cool completely in the pan.
• Garnish with warm caramel sauce and whipped cream, or serve over vanilla ice cream.

The BEST Chocolate Cake EVER

Found this one on the web last winter at Kevin and Amanda's Recipe Blog, and yes, it's true. It is truly the best chocolate cake ever. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients (for the cake)

• 1 box devils food cake mix
• 1 package Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup veggie oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Ingredients (for the buttercream frosting)

• 1 cup Crisco
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
• In a VERY large bowl, mix together everything on the cake ingredients except the chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.
• Now stir in the chocolate chips.
• Pour batter into the cake pan of choice (I used two 9 inch round pie pans).
• For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil's food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says.
• Then I do the toothpick check, and if t's not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that.
• It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9 inch pie pans.
• In a separate mixing bowl, cream shortening until fluffy.
• Add sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
• Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream.
• Blend on low speed until moistened. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.
• Take the first cake out of the pan and put it on a plate. Frost the top of it.
• Put the second cake on top of the first cake and frost the top of that one.
• Then frost the sides.
• If you have any mini chocolate chips left over, you can sprinkle some on top and on the sides.

Kitty Litter Cake

This one is just so fun and disgusting, I had to post it--even though it's not really a "Starving Student" type recipe. I got this recipe from my soon-to-be stepmother-in-law, who turns out to be an avid baker and awesome cook.

I ended up making this for my nephew's 6th birthday when he got two cats as a birthday present. The cake was a huge hit, and looks totally real.

It takes some time to make, but it pays off really well in the end.

Ingredients

• German Chocolate Cake mix, prepared
• White Cake mix, prepared
• 1 large box vanilla instant pudding mix, prepared
• 1 package white sandwich cookies
• 12 small tootsie rolls
• 1 litter box (a new one, please)
• 1 plastic pooper scooper (also new, please)
• Green food coloring

Directions

1. Prepare both cakes separately and bake according to directions. Set aside to cool.
2. Prepare pudding mix and chill until ready to assemble.
3. Crumble white sandwich cookies in small batches in the blender-- they tend to stick (you can also smash them in a big ziploc bag, but the blender works well if you have one).
4. Set aside all but about 1/4 cup crushed cookies.
5. To the 1/4 cup cookie crumbs, add a few drops of green food coloring and mix using a fork.
6. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble them into a the new litterbox.
7. Toss with half the white cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding (you probably won't need all the pudding).
8. Mix with the cake so it's moist, not soggy.
9. Put three unwrapped Tootsie Rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable (just a few seconds).
10. Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly (basically, make them look like real cat poop).
11. Repeat with three more tootsie rolls and bury in the mixture.
12. Sprinkle almost all the white cookies crumbs over top.
13. Scatter green cooke crumbs lightly over the white cookes (they will look like the chlorophyll in kitty litter).
14. Heat the remaining Tootsie Rolls, three at a time (some can be heated until almost melted and then scraped on the top of the cake).
15. Sprinkle with the remainng crumbs, splling a few on the table outside the box for effect.
16. Place the scoop in the box to be used for serving.