Kathy's Cake

OK, the next cake was requested immediately after I took Megan's cake to work. My boss, Kathy, just had to have a cake. I told her about my blog and asked her if she wanted to choose a cake from the remaining 12. She asked, "Are there any more with raspberries?" There were 2 left with raspberries that I still hadn't made. She chose the chocolate raspberry tunnel cake. Good choice, but lots of work. I didn't taste it, but her hubby called to thank me for the cake and Kathy said, "I put my foot in it." So, according to the Neely's on Food Network that's always a good thing.

Chocolate Raspberry Tunnel Cake

Prep: 50 Min. Bake: 45 Min.

Yield: 12 Servings

Cake Batter:

2/3 cup butter, softenend

1 and 2/3 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup baking cocoa

1 and 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 and 1/3 cups 2% milk

Filling:

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 drops red food coloring, optional

1 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed and divided

1 cup fresh raspberries

Lemon peel and additional raspberries for garnish, optional.

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar til fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beat after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda; add to cream mixture alternately with milk, beat well after each addition. Transfer to a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes til toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to completely cool. Cut a 1 inch slice off top of cake and set aside. * you may want to cool cake in frige or freezer to make cutting easier. Hollow out the bottom portion of the cake ( a small pairing knife works well for this. Remove about an inch and 1/2 space in depth and width.) Save these cut out portions. You'll use them to set back in the filling. Cube the removed cake to measure 1 cup and set aside. Save the remaining cake for another use in this recipe.

Beat cream cheese til fluffy. Gradually beat in milk, lemon juice, extract and food coloring if desired. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping. Set aside 1 cup of cream cheese mixture; fold in berries and reserved cake cubes in to remaining mixture. Fill tunnel with cake cube mixture and replace top of cake. *** I did not fold in the berries and the cake. I thought it may damage the berries and cake shapes, so I layered the bottom of the hollowed portion of the cake with the cream cheese filling and then gently placed the berries and pieces of cake in an alternating pattern through the hollow. This really turned out very pretty.

Spread reserved cream cheese mixture over top of cake to within 1 inch of edge. Frost top edge and sides of cake with remaining whipped topping and garnish with lemon peel and additional raspberries. Chill.