Simple chocolate cake gets flair from embellishments

Cooking Connection is a Journal-World feature that prints favorite reader recipes. This week’s featured cook is Judith Galas, of Lawrence, with her birthday cake.

Why it’s special: “This recipe is so simple; it hardly seems worth mentioning, except that it is a spectacular, scrumptious dessert and the birthday cake my friends and family expect me to make. This cake tastes like a cold, creamy Hostess cupcake. The fluffy whipped cream surprises first-time tasters and gives the cake its special flavor and appearance. I have sprinkled the top and sides with nuts or coconut. I have also used other cake and frosting flavors, but chocolate is by far people’s favorite. I have also embedded small amounts of sliced strawberries or raspberries into the whipped cream as I layered, but I offer a caution: Additional ingredients between the layers can destabilize the cake and leave you with a Leaning Tower of Cake. If you add ingredients, hold the layers together with a bamboo skewer inserted into the middle of the stacked cake layers before the frosting step. Hide the pointy wood that might stick out under a glob of frosting or snip it off.”

Simple chocolate cake

1 box of chocolate cake mix

1 can of chocolate frosting

8-ounce carton of whipping cream

Bake the cake in two 8-inch cake pans according to package directions, being careful not to let the cake get too dry. Be sure to prepare cake pans with cooking spray so cake layers do not stick to the pan.

When the cake has cooled, slice each layer crosswise into two even sections, for four layers. Whip the whipping cream into stiff peaks. Place one of the cake halves, rounded side down, on your cake plate. Evenly smear with whipped cream almost to the edges. Place another cake layer on the whipped cream, and apply an equal amount of whipped cream to that layer. Repeat process ending with a cake layer.

Frost sides of the cake, carefully sealing in the whipped cream and covering all gaps between the layers. Frost the top last. Chill until ready to serve.

– Do you have a recipe you’re known for, or one that means something special to you? Send it to Terry Rombeck at trombeck@ljworld.com or 645 N.H., Lawrence, 66044.