This is the ONLY chocolate cake I will eat HAPPILY without icing. I am an icing maniac – but with the almost ‘cheesecake’ marbling and the chocolate chips – it is great without messy icing. This makes it very portable for family gatherings – picnics and etc.
No Icing Chocolate Cake
Cream Cheese Addition:
- 1 (8+- ounce) pkg cream cheese of your choice – SOFTENED at room temperature maybe an hour or 2
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ c granulated sugar
- ¼ - ½ tsp vanilla
Cake Portion:
- 1 box Betty Crocker (Pudding in the mix) Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- (Make sure you have the ingredients you must use with the mix – i.e. eggs, oil, etc)
The Love:
- 1 (12+- ounce) package chocolate chips (regular size or mini) – semi sweet – any brand. I have never used the whole package. Usually half a package – but hey, it is YOUR cake!
Equipment:
- Hand mixer (unless you are crazy enough to whip this up by hand power)
- 1 mixing bowl large enough to handle the Cake Portion
- 1 bowl large enough to hand the Cream Cheese addition
- 1 scraper for scraping bowl sides
- 1 knife to run through the batter/cheese to give the ‘marbled’ effect.
- Cake pan of your choice
- Using the hand mixer, cream the cream cheese brick.
- Add the sugar and cream that in.
- Add the egg and beat that in.
- Add the vanilla and beat that in.
- Set aside.
Cake Portion in 2nd bowl:
- Prepare the cake mix per the recipe on the box.
- Pour batter into the cake pan of your choice
- After pouring the batter into the pan, I tap the pan on the counter to help settle the batter in it.
- I sprinkle however many chocolate chips I feel like – on the top of the batter at this point.
- Take the spatula and place 6-8 large dollops of the cream cheese mixture around the top of batter in various spots.
- Drop more chips on TOP of the cream cheese dollops.
- Run the knife/flat spatula up and down the batter to create the marbled effect.
Bake per directions on box.
Suggestions:
- Set out the cream cheese a couple of hours ahead of when you want to make this recipe. Adjust time according to how hot/cold your environment is. And do NOT use a microwave to try to speed the process. I say THIS from EXPERIENCE….
- Mix up the cream cheese/cheese cake portion first so the cake with its leavening components is not sitting waiting in the pan.
- Scrape bowls periodically during mixing.
- Shiny metal pans are the first choice for baking cakes.
- Dark non-stick cake pans may require you to reduce heat by 25F because they absorb heat and brown faster.
- I use the largest cake pan the box calls for. I have never tried this recipe for cupcakes or tiers.
- Bake in center of oven.
- I absolutely use the longest baking time called for on the box for the size cake pan I am using.
- Cake is done with a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.
- Cool cakes on a wire rack away from drafts.
- Due to cream cheese mixture, I refrigerate the cake if I am going to be keeping it for several days, but it will work at any event without cooling.