Chocolate Raspberry Cake

For my birthday I decided to make myself a cake.  It might sound silly, but I had seen an episode on the Food Network of Giada de Laurentis making a chocolate layer cake, and I knew that's what I wanted.  Thankfully, her recipe was online, as I couldn't remember the exact ingredients.  This cake is delicious and we will definitely be eating it again. 

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Cake:

1 box chocolate cake mix

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature

1/4 cup raspberry freezer jam {original recipe calls for raspberry puree, but I didn't have any and the freezer jam worked just fine}.

Dump cake mix into a large mixing bowl.  Scoop out one tablespoon of mix and stir it with the chocolate chips in a separate bowl.  {This keeps the chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom of the cake}.  Add oil, water, and eggs to the cake mix and beat at medium speed until well combined.  Mix in the chocolate chips.  Divide batter into two 9-inch round baking pans.  Bake at 325F for 30-35 minutes.  

Cool in pans for 15 minutes, then remove to wire cooling rack until completely cool, about 1 hour. 

To make frosting:

Combine butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, cream cheese and sour cream in a large mixing bowl.  Mix with an electric mixer until well combined and fluffy.  

Remove 3/4 cup of this chocolate mixture and add it to 1/4 cup raspberry jam.  

Place one cake on cake stand or platter and frost with the chocolate/raspberry frosting mixture.  Place second cake on top of this and use remaining chocolate frosting to cover the cake.  Garnish with fresh raspberries.  

Cake needs to be refrigerated, and can be made one day ahead.  Just be sure to store it in an airtight container.  

source:  slightly adapted from Food Network

Disclosure:  Yes, my blog is titled 'Only From Scratch'.  However, there are occasionally recipes that I find that are not completely from scratch, and yet are so delicious that I must share them here.  This is one of those recipes.  You could easily make this cake using a recipe for a chocolate cake from scratch, and just add the chocolate chips and make the frosting as called for above.