Chocolate Bar Bundt Cake

I've had eight Hershey's bars in my fridge for a month.  They stare at me and ask me what I'm going to do with them and then I shut the refrigerator door and forget about them. 

Treats don't usually sit around my house that long, I typically find excuses to wander by any idle treats and break off a little piece for myself.  That or I remove them from the house as quickly as possible to avoid the aforementioned wandering.  However, leftover candy is the exception to that rule.  I end up throwing out leftover Halloween candy (except Twix and those Peanut Butter Snickers which you can't throw away - they're too good).  I have a few bags of Gummi Bears that have been around for way too long - in fact, it's probably time to get rid of those.  I think this has everything to do with me being better at hiding leftover candy from myself so I don't just wander by it.  It's a bit more obvious when I "wander" past the china cabinet in the dining room and reach all the way into the back than it is to "wander" past the cookies sitting in that see through container on the kitchen counter.

There is another exception to the candy exception and that is mellowcreme pumpkins.  They are the reason I can't walk down the candy aisle during the entire Fall season.  I swear if those enter my house, they are GONE in about sixty seconds.  These are entirely different than candy corn which I don't like and people try to tell me are the same but they are not.

That was quite a digression to tell you that I made this cake on a random Wednesday night when I opened the fridge and saw those eight candy bars staring at me.  This particular Wednesday also happened to be a day when CA's coworkers had asked him if he brought in any treats (please note, they got treats on Monday but were ready for more on Wednesday).

This recipe happens to call for exactly eight candy bars which is exactly the number I had which is exactly amazing.  The batter comes together really easily - you cream butter & sugar together, add eggs, add melted chocolate and vanilla, add some flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda, then add buttermilk and some walnuts.  I didn't have buttermilk - but made it myself with regular milk and a little bit of vinegar (you guys know you can do that right?  You can do it with either vinegar or lemon juice - just go here and Emeril will tell you how).

I haven't busted out my bundt pan in a while so I was excited to dig it out.  Unfortunately, this cake made a giant mess when it oozed all over my oven because it overflowed the edges of the pan while it baked.  Oops.  Halfway through I stuck a sheet pan under it to catch the remaining overflow which worked OK.  I may have also scraped the overflow off the sheet pan and eaten it.

I had a hard time getting it out of the pan even though I sprayed and floured it.  Once it did let go, it looked like it was molting. 

My solution to that was to pick off all the outsides that it was trying to shed and eat them.  Once the evidence was disposed of, I sliced it up and no one was the wiser... except CA because I always yell at my baked goods when they don't cooperate.  I know he can hear me even if he does generally ignore me.

Despite the mess and slightly hideous appearance, this cake was actually pretty delicious.  It was like a giant brownie, especially with the nuts mixed in.  CA liked it and so did his coworkers who received it on Thursday.

I got the recipe on Food.com and followed it exactly - except for the milk substitution.  I would recommend using two loaf pans instead of the bundt pan to avoid making a giant mess in your oven.

Enjoy!
Julie