Devil Dog Dessert Recipes

Steps:

• Cream together butter and 1 cup sugar, add egg. Sift together 2 cups flour, cocoa, soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt and baking powder. Add vanilla and milk.
• Drop by tablespoon full onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Cool completely and make sandwiches using following filling.
• To Make Filling: Combine 2 1/2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 cup milk and cook until it turns to thick paste. Cool completely.
• Cream together the 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup shortening, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Add cooled paste and beat until fluffy. (This will take awhile and if your paste is not completely cooled it will look curdled. ) I usually double this recipe for the filling.

Steps:

• To make cake:.
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch square cake pan (2 inches deep).
• Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well, then beat in vanilla.
• Add flour mixture and water alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined.
• Pour batter into cake pan and smooth top, then bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes.
• Cool in pan on a rack 1 hour.
• Transfer cake to a cake plate.
• Make frosting:.
• Combine frosting ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes.
• Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled.
• Mound frosting on top of cake.
• Dust with additional cocoa powder.
• Cooks' notes:.
• • Cake, without frosting, will improve in flavor if made 1 day ahead. Cool, then keep, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature. Frost cake just before serving.
• • The egg whites in the frosting are not fully cooked. You can substitute pasteurized or reconstituted dried egg whites if salmonella is a problem in your area.

Steps:

• For the best chocolate sheet cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use an 18-by-13-inch sheet cake pan. Cut parchment paper to fit the pan and spray each side with baking spray.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar and salt. In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the cocoa to the butter and stir together. Add 1 cup boiling water to the pan and then allow the mixture to boil for 30 seconds. Pour over the flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
• Pour the buttermilk into a bowl and add the baking soda, vanilla and beaten eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the butter/flour mixture. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 20 minutes. Let the cake cool completely.
• Cut the cooled cake into circles with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, and then lay the circles on another sheet pan with a wire rack; set this pan in the fridge to make sure there is no warmth to the cake at all. (The frosting is so light and fluffy, the coolness will help keep it all together.)
• For the white frosting: In a small saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick--thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. If in a hurry, place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in the vanilla.
• While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. You don't want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven't beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Grab a spoon and taste this wonderful goodness. If there is any left after your taste test, spread it on a cooled chocolate cake.
• For the ganache: Heat the cream until very hot. Add the vanilla, and then pour over the chocolate pieces. Stir to completely melt.
• To assemble: Place the white frosting into a frosting bag. Squeeze the frosting onto one circle of cake. Press a second circle on top. Using a ladle, pour ganache over the cake, allowing the chocolate to run over the sides. Place 3 cherries on the center. Repeat the process with each cake. Chill the cakes until ready to serve!

Steps:

• Bake cake to package directions and cool.
• Mix milk and flour in small saucepan and cook until thick. Take off stove to cool.
• Beat together softened butter and crisco for 4 minutes.
• Add sugar to butter mixture a bit at a time and beat for another 4 minutes.
• Add cooled milk and flour mixture a little at a time to mixture and beat for another 4 minutes.
• Add vanilla and almond extract and beat until blended.
• Frost cake.