JOPLIN, Mo. —
Brandi Metoyer had a quick answer when asked what makes double chocolate gooey butter cake with bourbon hot fudge sauce an award-winning dessert.
“Well, the gooiness, of course, and the bourbon in the chocolate sauce,” Metoyer said.
Metoyer is the program director at College View Manor, 3828 College View Drive, and the award the double chocolate gooey butter cake won was first place in the Chocolate Extravaganza, a contest designed to find the best chocolate creations in the Joplin area.
The Chocolate Extravaganza, held on Oct. 11 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, was a benefit for the Dream Team of Hospice Compassus.
Borrowing from one of baking’s best
Metoyer said the recipe for the butter cake belongs in part to Paula Dean and in part to her. She said when the staff at College View Manor decided to enter the contest, its members culled through a host of family recipes, cookbooks and online sites before settling on a Paula Dean recipe they found on the Food Network’s website. But the online recipe did not include the sauce.
“I put that together. I couldn’t find a recipe that I liked, so I experimented with a few things and came up with something that I did like,” she said.
The gooey part of the chocolate butter cake likely comes from the combination of butter and cream cheese in the recipe. Mix in cocoa powder and chocolate cake mix, and you’ve got yourself the makings of a chocolate-induced euphoria.
Metoyer said the staff members at College View Manor suspected they had stumbled onto something special. But when staff baker Vicky Sorensen took the cake out of the oven, topped it with sauce and gave everyone a sample, their suspicions were confirmed.
“We absolutely knew then. We considered it to be the winning recipe, but after we tasted the cake we just knew it. It was a no-brainer,” she said.
The Dream Team of Hospice Compassus is made up of volunteers who work to turn dreams into realities for hospice patients. It operates much like the Make-A-Wish Foundation operates.
College view residents proud
The first-place trophy also thrilled the residents of College View Manor, Metoyer said.
“The residents think it was the neatest thing that we brought the trophy back. Many of them have brought their family members in to see the trophy,” she said.
We have included both the recipe for the butter cake and Metoyer’s recipe. The alcohol in the sauce is boiled off during the cooking process.
Paula Dean’s double chocolate gooey butter cake
2 sticks melted butter
1 (18.25-ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 egg, plus 2 eggs
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 egg and 1 stick melted butter; stir until well blended. Pat mixture into prepared pan and set aside.
In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining two eggs and cocoa powder. Lower the speed of the mixer. Add the powdered sugar. Continue beating until ingredients are well mixed. Slowly add the remaining stick of melted butter and the vanilla; continue beating mixture until smooth. Stir in nuts with a rubber spatula. Spread filling over cake mixture in pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking. Let cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.
Source: www.foodnetwork.com
Chocolate sauce
8-ounce bar of semisweet chocolate
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of bourbon
Put all ingredients, except the chocolate, into a double boiler and whip until it starts to boil. Add chocolate and stir until it becomes really smooth, just a couple of minutes. It should be served over the cake immediately.
Source: Brandi Metoyer
