Page 15 - Chocolate Cake Doctor

C H O C O L A T E F O R T H E S O U L xiii

I have determined which are the easy yet sophisticated brownies. And
best-tasting chocolate cake mixes and as always, I have stuck to my mother’s
which are the best ingredients with advice: “You can get away with a cake-

which to doctor them. I have discov- mix cake, but you must make your
ered that you don’t frostings from scratch.” Sample the
need to use fancy easy White Chocolate Glaze on chiffon
European choco- cake, the German Chocolate Cream
late to create these Cheese Frosting, the Pineapple Cream
desserts—supermarket Cheese Frosting, Martha’s Chocolate
chocolate works just fine! In the process, Icing, and the Warm Lemon Curd Sauce
I have baked and tasted cakes so memo- on white chocolate cake, and see what
rable that I have a whole new repertoire I mean.

of favorites: The Ever-So-Moist Choco- For those of you who don’t know the
late Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream story, The Cake Mix Doctor began as an
Frosting will be our family’s new birth- article I wrote in the summer of 1998
day cake. The humble yet substantial while working for Nashville’s newspaper,
Triple-Chocolate To-Live-For Muffins will The Tennessean. I shared family recipes
be toted on our car trips. The unbeliev- for doctoring cake mixes, and I asked
ably moist German Chocolate Sheet readers to send in their favorites. Within

Cake with Rocky Road Frosting will be a a week, more than 500 recipes arrived.
potluck mainstay. And this is just the Dumbfounded, I wrote a sequel. Then
beginning! people wanted more, and I ended up
With devil’s food, German choco- writing a book. Cake mixes are time-
late, white, angel food, and a few yellow saving and reliable, but left alone, pre-
cake mixes, I have created warm pud- pared using the package instructions
ding cakes and elegant terrines, choco- and frosted with the canned stuff
late cheesecakes in springform pans, (heaven forbid!), they are ho-hum. What
chiffons and cookies, more angels, new I proposed in that first book was to

mini cakes, scrumptious bars, and doctor mixes with mashed bananas,