"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
> Upcoming in about a month or so my young nephew is having a birthday, and
> I'd like to bake him a cake. He'll be 4. Having observed his current
> eating
> preferences, I have some requirements.
>
> First, it must either be able to be cut up into small, bite-size pieces
> (i.e. not slices but pieces - about the size of a pea) without affecting
> the ability to get the total experience of the cake in one such piece, or
> it must be able to be picked up with small hands and eaten as is, such
> that
> one entire dimension will fit into a small mouth (for example, a large
> roll
> doesn't work - you can't fit it in your mouth, but a large breadstick does
> - it's easy to get the thin axis in your mouth and bite off a piece). A
> cake that you could slice into parts of this shape would also be fine, as
> long as the slice would not then crumble once picked up or bitten into,
> nor
> have to be held in a specific way (such as, for instance, carefully
> horizontal and icing-side up). The general concept is that it should not
> be
> in some way unwieldy to eat with hands.
>
> Second, it shouldn't be excessively messy to eat. Believe it or not, this
> is a desire of the nephew as much as the parents - he hates getting messy
> or sticky.
>
> Third, it should be powerfully chocolatey - of the same level of
> chocolatiness as desserts I typically make (see various recipes I've
> posted
> to get the idea). In other words, intense. And it mustn't be dry at that
> intensity level.
>
> If it features blueberries, or goes great with blueberries on the side,
> that'd be a huge plus as well.
>
> What suggestions do you have?
> --
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
This isn't a fancy cake, but it goes over very well with little kids...and
much bigger kids, too! :-)
Karen
Triple Chocolate Cake
1 18.5-ounce box devil's food cake mix (I use Pillsbury Plus)
1 4-serving size box chocolate pudding (the kind you cook; instant pudding
won't work at all with this recipe)
1 12-ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips Note: I prefer Ghirardelli
to Nestle or Hershey chips; Ghirardelli results in a much smoother taste
without the acid bite that the other two have.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare and cook pudding according to box
directions. Pour dry cake mix into hot pudding; mix well. Spread batter in
13x9x2-inch pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle
chocolate chips evenly over top of batter. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until
toothpick inserted in center of cake (avoid chocolate chips during testing)
comes out clean. Cool several hours (overnight is good). Cut into squares
to serve. May be topped with ice cream if desired.