Chocolate Chip Raspberry Cake

The month of January is the time where the snow likes to come out to play in North Dakota. It's typically the time of year where it starts to storm a lot and the snow just keeps on piling up. At least when you live here in this winter wonderland you can easily find things to do with the all the snow. 

Hockey, ice fishing, and riding on snow mobiles are very popular past times here during these snowy months for most people, but for me I prefer to stick to making cake. So I thought I'd bring the snow to me by adding cute little chocolate snow flakes to decorate this cake with, and it's really quite easy and simple to do.

Take a bag of some candy melts, I use Wilton, melt it down inside of a plastic baggie in short 10-15 second increments in the microwave. Have a piece of paper with a snowflake design on it or draw your own design, put a piece of wax paper on top of that and start piping/tracing the design with the chocolate. Add some sprinkles on top and then let it sit for about 10 minutes to dry completely. Carefully peel the chocolate off and place on the sides of the cake or you can even put them on top of cupcakes!

The flavor of this cake is even better then the exterior. It's flavored with mini chocolate chips and raspberries with just a hint of cinnamon for a little extra pizzazz. 

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Chocolate Chip Raspberry Cake

Makes 3 6-inch layer cake

3 sticks butter

1 3/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 c all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1 c buttermilk

1 c mini chocolate chips + 1 tbsp flour

1/2-1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and line 3 6-inch cake pans. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry and the buttermilk to the sugar mixture alternating starting and ending with the flour. In a small bowl mix the chocolate chips and the 1 tbsp of flour until each chip is coated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Split the batter evenly between the cake pans and then sprinkle the raspberries on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, making sure to flip the pans halfway through baking.

Vanilla Frosting

4 sticks unsalted butter

6 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4-6 tbsp heavy whipping cream or milk

Cream the butter until smooth. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until fully combined. Add in the vanilla and then the heavy cream or milk until it's the consistency you want.

NOTE: What I like to do after taking the cake out of the oven is let it cool on the counter for about 10 minutes and then taking it out and double wrapping it in plastic wrap and letting it sit on the counter overnight or until ready to be used. This way it stays more moist and doesn't dry out as much.