The Mom Weekly Volume 5: Tuesday, August 22
What Could Be Better Than Tunnel of Fudge Cake?
Nothing, that’s what.
Sunday would have been Grandpa’s 96th birthday, and some years, including this one, I make a chocolate cake to celebrate.
Almost always, Grandma would make his favorite cake—a chocolate devil’s food layer cake with a cooked frosting, kind of like pudding. I have made that one in the past, and I don’t know if you remember having it. But yesterday, I decided to make the chocolate cake that I wanted, and that I’m sure Grandpa would have loved: my version of Tunnel of Fudge Cake.
Initially, I didn’t intend to share recipes in The Mom Weekly, but then I thought, why not? Let me know if you like this, or would like more recipes.
Love,
Mom
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Tunnel of Fudge Cake is one of the most famous cakes associated with the Pillsbury Bake-Off, and it didn’t even win! It won second place in 1966, but it was an instant classic and pretty much single-handedly popularized bundt pans.
Here’s a story about the history of the Tunnel of Fudge cake, and an adapted recipe.
One of the things that many Tunnel of Fudge recipes call for is nuts, but I’ve never included them. I adapted my recipe from one of Ann Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor cookbooks. Cake mix “doctoring” is a tried and true strategy, especially in the South.
I’ve changed this recipe so much over the years, that I’m not sure how similar it is to the Ann Byrn recipe. But it’s always delicious.
Mom’s Tunnel of Fudge Cake
Tunnel of Fudge Cake has three components: the cake, the fudgy pudding filling, and the thick icing.
Procedure:
Butter and flour a bundt pan, or use “cooking spray with flour” product like Baker’s Joy.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make the Filling (this is my homemade chocolate pudding with less milk to make it fudgier):
Filling:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon butter
In a pot, whisk together all ingredients except for butter, chips & vanilla.
Cook on medium-low until it thickens. After it thickens, add in chocolate chips, vanilla, and stir until smooth.
The Cake:
Put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl:
1 box Duncan Hines chocolate devil’s food cake mix
1/2 cup melted and cooled butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
Blend ingredients with a hand mixer for 2-4 minutes.
Put all but two cups of batter into the prepared bundt pan.
Spoon filling on top of the cake batter in the bundt pan, make sure it doesn’t touch sides.
Evenly spread remaining two cups on top of filling center. (Don’t worry if it seems really close to the edge of the pan—it will sink while it bakes, and the fudge layer will be almost at the top, instead of the bottom.
Bake about 35-45 minutes, until the cake springs back, or when a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out with crumbs or clean.
Cool for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto cake platter.
After completely cool, make Martha’s Chocolate Icing and pour slowly over the cake.
Martha’s Chocolate Icing (also adapted from Ann Byrn)
Combine in a small saucepan:
1 cup sugar
5 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup whole milk
Put sugar, butter, and milk in small pan. Let it come to a boil, about 3-4 minutes. Boil until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute more. Remove from heat.
While mixture is still hot, stir in until smooth:
1 cup semisweet chips
Pinch salt
1 Teaspoon vanilla
An interesting read:
Actually, two:
This review of Oppenheimer from Claire Swinarski of Letter from a Catholic Feminist.
Claire also refers to this letter that Sinead O’Connor wrote to Miley Cyrus. It’s worth a read. The article about it came out when Sinead O’Connor died several weeks ago. It makes me wonder who she might write to today, and what she would say.
Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you. I needn’t even ask the question … I’ve been in the business long enough to know that men are making more money than you are from you getting naked. It’s really not at all cool. And it’s sending dangerous signals to other young women. Please in future say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself. Your body is for you and your boyfriend. It isn’t for every spunk-spewing dirtbag on the net, or every greedy record company executive to buy his mistresses diamonds with.
An interesting listen:
“Oppenheimer” on Ben Wilson’s How to Take Over the World podcast.
How to Take Over the World is a well-produced podcast profiling different people from history, both recent and long ago. I listened to the Oppenheimer episode the other day, and it was a great addition to the Claire Swinarski letter above.
An action item: Plan your next birthday
Grandpa’s birth anniversary made me think about birthday planning, something I started later in life, but has made my birthdays much happier.
Maybe this is an action item for me, since I have a big birthday coming up in a few months. But I it’s worthwhile for anyone to decide how you want your birthday/birthday weekend/birthday week to look: what you would like to do, what kind of cake you want, and how you’d like to celebrate.
The years that I have done that or really gotten a family member to do this, the birthdays has been much more enjoyable. Even if your birthday is far away, jot down some notes on your phone or computer, and refer back to it.
I may want to make Tunnel of Fudge Cake again for my birthday, but we shall see!
What are you doing this weekend?
The Mom Weekly schedules to post on Tuesdays. One of the reasons for this is to encourage you (and me, too!) to think about weekend plans. All too often, I have let that go until Friday, and then it’s hard to get people together, or make plans for coffee, or figure out when you go to Mass (other than the default, which is what we typically do).
So, now that it’s Tuesday, what are you planning for the weekend? I’m going to suggest trying to cover four “F”s to get ideas flowing:
*faith—when are you going to Mass?
*friends—what friends will you see or connect with?
*food—any fun recipes you plan to try, or restaurants you plan to visit?
*fun—anything interesting you are going to play, watch, or do this weekend? Now’s the time to think it through, and put it on the calendar (even informally).