I'm taking a break from healthy posting in favor of something fun! Actually, I'm digging into my past for a recipe that I originally shared on my friend Kristin's blog, Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. I am so craving dark chocolate right about now....

Everything in moderation, right? I went a little overboard yesterday on my diet change of lifestyle. A trip through the aisles of Costco will do that. They really need little calorie UPC codes at all of the sample stations to scan into the MyFitnessPal app. On second thought, maybe it's best not to know....

The best part of this Tres Leches Cake is how easy it is....just one bowl.

I first made a Tres Leches Cake a few years ago for a holiday post. It is a Cafe Latte copycat recipe that I use frequently...it's that good! This chocolate version is take on the original and I really like how it turned out. 

Dark Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

Making a Tres Leches Cake even better is no easy task....unless you make a Dark Chocolate version!

Ingredients

• Cake:
• ¼ cup oil
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• ¾ cup flour
• ¼ cup dark cocoa
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ cup buttermilk
• Soaking Liquid:
• ½ of a (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup half/half
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ tablespoons dark cocoa
• Frosting:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark cocoa
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• Chocolate and/or White Chocolate Curls, for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.; grease and flour an 8 inch cake pan (using an 8" rather than a 9" pan will make it easier to split in half).
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
5. Slowly add the buttermilk, mixing until well blended.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
7. Remove from oven and cool for at least ten minutes before removing from pan.
8. Carefully, cut the cake in half, horizontally.
9. Place each half sliced side up on a rack to cool completely.
10. While the cake is cooling, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, the half/half, the vanilla, and the cocoa.
11. Slowly pour the liquid over each half of the cake.
12. Cover and chill for several hours.
13. When ready to assemble the cake, whip the cream until stiff, adding the powdered sugar and cocoa.
14. Place one of the cake halves on a serving plate, cut side up.
15. Spread whipped cream over the top of the cake layer, and then top with the second cake half.
16. Frost the top and the sides of the cake with the remaining whipped cream.
17. Garnish with raspberries or chocolate curls, if desired.

I topped mine with chocolate curls, but raspberries would make a tasty addition, yes?

Don't let the number of steps fool you...it's really quite easy. Now, I just need to figure out the Salted Caramel version........

Café Latte’s Turtle Cake

Who doesn't love a great piece of chocolate cake? Now, add some fudgy frosting, some buttery caramel sauce, and some crunchy toasted pecans and what do you have? Heaven on a plate Café Latte's Turtle Cake! 

Café Latte is a St. Paul restaurant known for its desserts. Wonderful, wonderful desserts. Luckily for me they shared a couple of their recipes with the public, so I didn't have to attempt a copycat recipe. This, my friends, is the real deal.

Several years ago, I found the recipe in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. That version was made in a 9x13-inch cake pan.... it was super easy to make and very tasty. I never in a million years thought that I would attempt the layered version, since it looked complicated. Layers? Yikes! I'm so glad it's really not all that hard. You should try it.

Café Latte's Turtle Cake (from Café Latte)

Café Latte's Printable Recipe

Cake Ingredients:
• 1 Egg.
• 2/3 cup Vegetable oil.
• 1 cup Buttermilk.
• 2 cups Flour.
• 1 3/4 cups Sugar.
• 1/2 cup Good quality cocoa.
• 1 tsp. Salt.
• 1 tbsp. Baking soda.
• 1 cup Hot coffee
Frosting:
• 1/2 cup Milk.
• 1 cup Sugar.
• 6 tbsp. Butter
• 2 cups Good-quality semisweet chocolate chips.
• 3/4 cup Caramel.
• 1 1/2 cups Toasted pecans.

Prepare oven and pans: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
Cover each bottom with disk of parchment paper.

To make cake: In bowl, combine egg, oil and buttermilk. In large separate bowl, mix
together flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Gradually add wet ingredients to dry
until well mixed. Gradually add hot coffee. Scrape batter into prepared pans.

To bake cake: Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes
out clean. Let cake rest in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool.

To make frosting: Mix sugar and milk in saucepan. Add butter. Bring to a boil.
Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips to pan. Using wire whisk, mix until smooth. If
frosting is too thick or grainy, add 1 or 2 teaspoons hot coffee.

To assemble cake: Place one cooled cake layer, top-side down, on cake plate. Spread
with one-third of frosting, pushing it out gently from edges to make a petal effect.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans, Drizzle with 1/4 cup caramel. Add next layer, again
top-side down. Repeat frosting and sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans and drizzle with 1/4 cup
caramel. And final layer top-side up, frost with petal effect and finish with remaining
pecans and caramel.

I actually used 8-inch cake pans and they worked well.

I also used dark cocoa for the cake...it was like a midnight chocolate cake.

My layer cake fear is real...I've had far too many lopsided catastrophes for it not to be. For years, I chickened out and made this cake in the 9x13 pan. I won't lie--it's good that way, too. Plus, it's much easier to bring to a picnic. The last time I tried to make the layer version, it cracked right down the middle. So ugly, but so tasty. This time it was to be for a birthday, so it had to work.

The beauty of this recipe is how the frosting drips over the sides of the cake. This hides many flaws, trust me. The only issue came when I transferred the cake to the cake stand...oops....a chunk came out of the side. I ended up cutting the parchment paper off around the cake and leaving a bit of it underneath. Then, I took pictures strategically....

The kid's helped with the candles and the cake was a success!

A little ice cream and we're good to go. Happy Birthday, Josh!

Tres Leches Cake

Welcome to day #3 of Christmas Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita’s Cocina. Today’s theme for Christmas Week is “Christmas Cakes and Cupcakes”. Make sure you visit all the participating bloggers today to see what special dish they whipped up for you.

One of my favorite cakes of all time is Cafe Latte's Turtle Cake. You know the one--a rich chocolate cake topped with  chocolate ganache, caramel sauce, and plenty of toasted pecans. Cafe Latte is located in St. Paul, MN., and I have been lucky enough to have had the original Turtle Cake. To. Die. For. What's really cool, is that everyone can make this Turtle Cake at home, since Cafe Latte shared the recipe with the public several years ago. I'll admit it--it was my favorite cake--until I met Cafe Latte's Tres Leches Cake.....

My favorite cake--until I met the Tres Leches Cake...

Tres Leches Cake, literally "three milks" cake, is just that. A spongy vanilla cake soaked with a mixture of cream and sweetened condensed milk, then topped with whipped cream...it's like eating clouds. Vanilla clouds. Whereas the Turtle cake is dense and rich, the Tres Leches cake is light and....rich. The only problem? There was no recipe. This one was not shared with the public. I was pretty sure the secret was locked in a vault. Oh sure, recipes for Tres Leches cake are everywhere...but not that one. Cafe Latte brilliantly shared the Turtle Cake Recipe, lured me in, tempted me with the Tres Leches Cake, and then kept it a secret. Or so they thought.

The other day, I did another quick search of the Internet for the recipe and there it was! The caption definitely made reference to Cafe Latte, but on closer inspection, the recipe actually came from someone named Joe. Now, whether Joe really had his hands on Cafe Latte's recipe (could Joe, or Joe's wife, be an employee?), I don't know. I do know that whoever wrote down the ingredients must have halved the recipe. It was all good though-- and with a little tweaking--dare I say it?--I made a Cafe Latte Tres Leches Cake!

Tres Leches Cake (inspired by Cafe Latte, adapted from Joe's Email)
Printable Recipe

Cake Layer:

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

Soaking Liquid:

1/2 of a (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup half-and-half

1/4 tsp vanilla

Frosting:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Raspberries or Sugared Cranberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.; grease and flour an 8 inch cake pan (using an 8" rather than a 9" pan will make it easier to split in half).

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Slowly add the buttermilk, mixing until well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and cool for at least ten minutes before removing from pan. Carefully, cut the cake in half, horizontally. Place each half sliced side up on a rack to cool completely. While the cake is cooling, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and the half/half. Slowly pour the liquid over each half of the cake. Cover and chill for several hours.

When ready to assemble the cake, whip the cream until stiff, adding the powdered sugar. Place one of the cake halves on a serving plate, cut side up. Spread whipped cream over the top of the cake layer, and then top with the second cake half. Frost the top and the sides of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Garnish with raspberries or sugared cranberries, if desired.   

Can you believe how easy this is? Just whip up the cake in a large bowl....

You can see from the indent that I used one of those pans with the whatchamacallit scrape thing on the bottom. It made getting the cake out in one piece really easy. 

Don't the cranberries make it look all holiday-like?

Making the sugared cranberries is a piece of cake. HeHe. Simply bring 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to a simmer (make sure the sugar is dissolved, but don't boil...simmer). Place 1-2 cups of fresh cranberries in a bowl. Pour the hot sugar/water over the cranberries. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.

When the cranberries are chilled, drain the liquid (save it, if you use simple syrup in your drinks), and roll the cranberries in fine sugar. Let them dry on a cookie sheet for at least one hour.

Store extra cranberries in an airtight container.

Yes, I believe the code has been cracked.

Now take a look at what everyone else is making! :)

Christmas Coconut Cake by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic

Cranberry Coffee Cake by Jen of Juanita's Cocina

Holly Topped White Cupcakes by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Eggnog Pound Cake with Rum Glaze by Anuradha of Baker Street

Christmas in the Tropics Cake by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker

Cranberry-Walnut Coffecake by Isabelle of Crumb

Pumpkin Dream Cake by Erin of Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

Christmas Red Velvet Mug Cake by Erin of The Spiffy Cookie

Reindeer Cupcakes by Ramona of Curry and Comfort

Whiskey Nut Fruitcake by Heather of Girlichef

Tres Leches Cake by Cathy of The Dutch Baker's Daughter

Monkey Bread Cupcakes by Chung-Ah of Damn Delicious