Not box cake

Last year on Andy's birthday he insisted that I make him a cake from a box. He said that was his favorite and it's what he wanted.

With much wailing and gnashing of teeth I complied. Not to be outdone by a cake from a box I fancied things up a bit.

Still, it goes against the baker inside of me to just whip something up out of a box. It causes me serious pain.

Don't get me wrong. I certainly see the advantage to box mixes, but they are so much better if you throw in a little something extra, just to make it your own.

This year I wasn't taking any chances. I found the recipe and told Andy what I was making him for his birthday cake. See the difference there? I didn't ask him, I told him. And I told him while he was busy at work, then I went out and bought all the ingredients before he could realize what just happened.

So here is the finished product. One of our friends called it "chocolate cake concentrate."

There is some serious chocolate going on in this thing, but it's really, really good and worth the effort.

I only ran into one problem and that was with the ingredients. The filling called for mascarpone cheese and it turns out that isn't exactly a high priority item around here. So I substituted cream cheese and the result was delicious.

I highly recommend serving it with a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream to help cut the richness. Also, start with a small piece. Trust me!

As far as I know the birthday boy was pleased. I just hope he knows that box cake is not likely to make another appearance in our kitchen.