Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

It's always been difficult to shop for my parents' birthdays.  You see, they're both in January--my dad's is on the 5th (and he never needs anything when you ask him what he might like to have for his birthday) and my mom's is this Saturday the 22nd.  Oh, and then I got married.  My MIL's birthday is today.  At least we're getting them all over with this month!  We had my parents over for dinner for my dad's birthday since my mom didn't plan anything (that's not like her--I wonder if they had an argument or something?), so J decided that we should do the same for my mom.  So, they're coming over tomorrow night for dinner.  No problem. 

The issue is with dessert.  For as long as I can remember, my aunt made my mom this yummy dessert for her birthday.  It's not a cake, yet its name is "Chocolate Dream Cake."  If you have read this post, you may remember that my aunt died quite suddenly back in 2001.  After that, my mom stopped having it on her birthday because nobody made it.  One year, after I had already moved out, when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she responded, "I want chocolate dream cake."  She gave me the recipe and I gave it a try.  It really is delicious--except for the crust.  (Yes, that's just my opinion.)  It has pecans in it, and I don't really like nuts in things.  J says I'm weird, but I just don't.  I think it's a texture thing.  There are other issues with the crust as well--the recipe says you are to spread the mixture over the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch dish.  Yeah, well, it doesn't "reach" that far.  If I make it go all the way to the edges, there are holes all over from stretching.  Besides, that isn't mom's favorite layer, anyway. 


So, this year I've decided to combine a couple of recipes to attempt to "improve" mom's chocolate dream cake.  The fam (mom, dad, and bro) are coming over tomorrow night for dinner, so I'm about to start on this sinful concoction.  I'm going to use my favorite cookie recipe for the crust.  I'll be sure and let you know how (if) it turns out!

In case you're interested, here's the recipe.  I'm including both the original and the "new" crust. 

Chocolate Dream Cake

Step 1


1 cup flour
1 cup pecans, broken
1 stick margarine, softened

Mix well and pat in bottom of a 9X13 inch baking dish for crust. Bake at 350 degrees until light brown (20-25 minutes). Cool.

Step 2

1 (8oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup Cool Whip
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix these three together and spread over cool crust.

Step 3

1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
3 cups cold milk

Mix 2 cups cold milk with chocolate pudding. Spread over second layer. Mix 1 cup cold milk with the vanilla pudding and spread over third layer.

Step 4

Take the remaining Cool Whip of a 16 oz. size and whip together with 1 (8oz) Hershey Candy Bar melted. Spread over fourth layer.

2011 Crust change
Instead of following the original directions for step 1, this year I'm using this cookie recipe to make a crust:

1 pkg. cake mix (yellow or white)

½ cup cooking oil
2 Tbsp. water
2 eggs

Blend cake mix, oil, water, and eggs.  Press into bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes.  (The time may need to be increased--this was for cookies.  I'll just have to test it and see.)

By the way, this is a GREAT cookie recipe.  You can use different cake mix flavors, if you'd like, and mix in any kind of chips--chocolate, butterscotch, etc.--as well as coconut or nuts of any kind.  Yummy!

Happy Thursday!  I'm stuck at home with another snow day.  Perfect day to whip up something gooey!

Hugs and love,