Cooking with Caprece - Chocolate Raspberry Torte

Have you ever had raspberries, chocolate and cream together? Holy Moly Batman! It is heaven on a plate and I am ready to share this heavenly dessert with you, right now, but….

First, I have a myth to dispel. See, my family has this idea, understandably, that because I post recipes on my blog that I love to cook! But, let me correct that misconception by stating now, for the record, that I don't like to cook. No, Brooke I look, I don't like to cook. Not in a nook. Not with a book. Not under a rook. Not with a hook. No, Brooke I look, I don't like to cook.

However, there was this little voice instilled in me from birth telling me, "accentuate the positive, make the best of every situation; you know "make lemonade out of lemons", and that kind of thing. My Sister, Caprece, she heard the voice too. I think everyone thinks she loved cooking as well but, her attitude was more like mine. She enjoyed cooking because she absolutely loved, as do I, the results. I don't mean she loved to eat what she cooked. No, I mean she loved the enjoyment others received by what she cooked. She was never happier than when a bite of something she had made prompted sighs of contentment and bliss. I'm pretty much the same way. Thank goodness my Joaquin doesn't disappoint. When he likes something I have made…he stretches his arm to the sky, looks at me, and announces in a very official voice…"YOU ARE THE NEXT IRON CHEF". At that moment all the work I put into planning and preparing a meal for my family is worth every likeable and nearly unendurable moment.

I think we are all mostly that way…you know love to be appreciated J And really who wouldn't like to illicit that kind of response from your own kids/spouse/roommates/parents…"YOU ARE THE NEXT IRON CHEF" J? This torte is sure to do just that. So, don't delay be the next iron chef today!

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. chocolate cake mix – prepared according to directions in 3 round cake pans
  
• 1 - 3oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
  
• ¾ cup milk
  
• 1 - 3.4oz pkg. instant vanilla pudding
  
• 1 – 8oz container of cool whip
  
• 2 cups of fresh raspberries
  
• Conf. sugar
  

Preparation:

Prepare and bake the cake in 3 round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 min. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool on wire rack. Cream the cream cheese. Combine the milk and the pudding and beat until smooth. Then add the cream cheese and blend. Gently Fold in the cool whip and the raspberries. Once cake is cool, place 1 cake layer on cake platter then 1/3 of the cream mixture on that cake layer. Repeat for remaining two layers. Garnish with raspberries and chocolate curls if desired.