Chocolate-Caramel Butterfinger Cake

I received a phone call from my little sister the other day.  Her name is Lorna and she is a wonderful mommy to four kids, three of them being actual children, and the fourth being her man-child husband, Casey :)  Of course I say that in the most loving way possible!

Lorna has a unique way of asking for things, just like my Mother (I'm sure that is where she got it from).  Instead of straight up asking a question or asking for something, she makes suggestions.  This time around her "suggestion" went like this.. "So, I thought that I would call you and let you know it would be great if we could work together on a surprise cake for Casey's birthday over Memorial Day Weekend."  I smiled on the other end of the line, knowing exactly what she meant, and replied "So, just to clarify, your asking me to bake a cake for your husband's birthday?"  To which she swiftly and excitedly replied, "YEP!" with a giggle.

In the past 10 years, I don't think I have ever said "no" to my sister.  Now, prior to that is a different story, there were a number of instances where I would say "NO, you can't wear my clothes!" or "NO, you can't drive my car!" or "NO, get out of my room!".  Both my sister and mom know now that if they ask me to do something, of course I am going to deliver.  So, this situation is no different, I would LOVE to make a cake for her husband's birthday for a plethora of reasons, most notably a) Everyone deserves a surprise cake on their birthday, b) I enjoy baking and decorating cakes, c) I can't say no to my sister, and d) I get to eat some delicious cake, too!  After discussing what his favorite cake flavor and candy flavor are, we decided that a chocolate cake featuring Butterfingers would be a winner.  Perfect!  I have the most yummy recipe in my messy cook book cupboard, now just to find it...

Found it!  You know a recipe is a good one when you pull out the piece of paper you printed off from the internet and it is smeared with sticky chocolate and caramel.  This recipe comes from allrecipes.com and is straight from the makers of Butterfinger.  Only adjustment I made was I used cool whip topping instead of whipping up my own because I prepared this at my cabin and didn't have my mixer along.

Another funny story to this cake making madness, I sent my husband to the grocery store for the ingredients, he came back with "Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk".  I had to inform him that he got the wrong thing and failed to read what I had specifically listed out for him as "Nestle Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk".  His response, "No! I swear that was the only kind of canned milk they had! You need to be more specific!" (but he pronounces specific like Pacific Ocean).  I don't know how I could have been more "Pacific" than that, next time I will have to text him pictures!

Gather Your Ingredients:
*1 box of chocolate cake mix & ingredients - Any brand you prefer, I used Pillsbury Chocolate cake because that is what the hubby brought back from the store
*1 (14oz) can of NESTLE CARNATION Sweetened Condensed Milk
*Bag of Nestle Butterfinger Bites
*1 jar or bottle of caramel ice cream sundae topping - You don't use the entire thing, so if you have some in your cupboard, no need to go out and get another bottle
*2 containers of Cool Whip - you can whip up your own topping if you'd like with 1 pint of whipping cream
*NOTE: Make this cake 1-2 days in advance of consumption for optimum taste

Get to baking!

1. Preheat your oven to the temp indicated on the box's directions (in my case 350 degrees) and mix your chocolate cake ingredients.

2. Bake your cake for the time indicated on the box's directions (in my case it was 30 minutes) and remove to cool completely.  In order to let the cake cool completely, I took a break and attended our Lake Association's Annual Meeting, where I enjoyed a delicious Bloody Mary at 8:45am, and we talked about fishing, weed harvesting, and lake studies. My brother and I own the cabin together and he guilted me into attending on our behalf, he was quite disappointed to find out later that the meeting was at a bar with bloody's and breakfast.  Oh the joys of owning a cabin :)

3. Chop up the Butterfinger Bites, I used about 3/4 of the bag and snacked on the remainder!

4. Poke holes in your cake one inch deep and one inch apart with the end of a wooden mixing spoon or other utensil that would be similar in width. If you would like your cake to be more saturated, poke more holes closer together, every 1/2" to 3/4" apart.

5. Pour the Nestle Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk over the entire cake.  Make sure it is covered evenly.

6. Sprinkle half of the chopped Butterfinger over the top of the condensed milk and drizzle Caramel Sauce over the top of the Butterfinger.

7. Spread the two containers of Cool Whip over the top of the cake.  I know it seems like a lot of Cool Whip, but it is great with the chocolate cake.

 

8. Sprinkle the remaining half of the chopped Butterfinger and drizzle Caramel Sauce over the top of the Cool Whip topping.  What is great about this cake is that the topping can be as messy as you want it to be, no need to be perfect when decorating.

9. Keep refrigerated over night before serving.  I actually made this cake in the morning, refrigerated it, and then served it that same night.  Although everyone thought it was delicious and almost ate the entire cake that night, when the leftovers were consumed the following day everyone thought it tasted better after sitting overnight. The extra time in the fridge allows the condensed milk and caramel sauce to better saturate the chocolate cake.

I hope you all enjoyed Memorial Day Weekend, hope you got to spend some quality time with family and/or friends while honoring those military personnel who have died protecting and fighting for our country.  Be thankful for everyone in your life and the time you have with them.