Джоанна Флюк: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder

Give the bowl a stir by hand with a mixing spoon.

Sprinkle the white chocolate or vanilla baking chips and stir them in by hand.

Use the rubber spatula to transfer the cake batter to the Bundt pan you prepared.

Smooth the top of your Tropical Vacation Bundt Cake with the spatula and put it into the center of your preheated oven.

Bake your cake at 350 degrees F. for 55 minutes.

Before you take your cake out of the oven, test it for doneness by inserting a cake tester, thin wooden skewer, or long toothpick. Insert it midway between the outside edges of the pan and the metal protrusion that makes the crater in the center of the pan.

If the tester comes out clean, your cake is done. If there is still unbaked batter clinging to the tester, shut the oven door and bake your cake in 5-minute increments until the tester comes out clean.

Once your cake is done, take it out of the oven and set it on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack. Let it cool in the pan for 20 minutes and then pull the sides away from the pan with the tips of your impeccably clean fingers. Don’t forget to do the same for the sides of the crater in the middle.

Tip the Bundt pan upside down on a platter and drop it gently on a folded towel on the kitchen counter. Do this until the cake falls out of the pan and rests on the platter.

Cover your Tropical Vacation Bundt Cake loosely with foil and refrigerate it for at least one hour. Overnight is even better.

This cake is very rich. If you don’t want to frost it, an alternative is to sprinkle it with powdered sugar and call it good. You can also dot it with sweetened whipped cream and decorate with seasonal fruits. Strawberries cut in half and raspberries are pretty on top of the whipped cream, and so are peach slices. If you like, you can get more exotic and decorate with mango, papaya, and kiwi.

If you want to frost your cake, try Neverfail White Chocolate Frosting. (Recipe and instructions follow.)

Yield: At least 10 pieces of sweet and rich cake with more than a hint of the tropics.

Hannah’s Serving Note: This cake is very rich and filling. Do not cut it into large pieces, or no one will be able to finish their portion. If it’s thoroughly chilled, you can cut it into narrower slices and get at least 20 slices from each Tropical Vacation Bundt Cake.

NEVERFAIL WHITE CHOCOLATE FROSTING

(A cooked frosting made with white chocolate or vanilla baking chips)

½ cup (1 stick, ¼ pound, 4 ounces) salted butter

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

⅓ cup heavy (whipping) cream

½ cup white chocolate or vanilla baking chips

1 teaspoon coconut extract (you can substitutevanilla extract, if you don’t have coconut extract)

Place the salted butter, sugar, and heavy cream in a medium-size saucepan.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.

Turn down the heat to MEDIUM and cook for 2 (two) minutes.

Add the half-cup of white chocolate or vanilla baking chips.

Stir them in until they are melted, and then pull the saucepan over to a cold burner.

Shut off the burner you used.

Stir the coconut extract into the frosting in the saucepan. (Be careful—it may sputter a bit when you stir in the extract!)

Let the frosting cool a bit, but be careful not to let it thicken too much. You can tell this by giving it a stir to check the consistency.

Drizzle the frosting over the top of your Tropical Vacation Bundt Cake and let it drip down the sides.

If you plan to decorate with nuts or fruit, put them on before the frosting hardens all the way.

Once the frosting has hardened, refrigerate your Tropical Vacation Bundt Cake until 15 or 20 minutes before you want to serve it.

Cover the leftover cake (there probably won’t be any!) loosely with foil and store it in your refrigerator.

Baking Conversion Chart

These conversions are approximate, but they’ll work just fine for Hannah Swensen’s recipes.

VOLUME

U.S.Metric ½ teaspoon 2 milliliters 1 teaspoon 5 milliliters 1 Tablespoon 15 milliliters ¼ cup 50 milliliters ⅓ cup 75 milliliters ½ cup 125 milliliters ¾ cup 175 milliliters 1 cup ¼ liter

WEIGHT

U.S.Metric 1 ounce 28 grams 1 pound 454 grams

OVEN TEMPERATURE

DegreesDegreesBritish (Regulo)FahrenheitCentigradeGas Mark 325 degrees F. 165 degrees C. 3 350 degrees F. 175 degrees C. 4 375 degrees F. 190 degrees C. 5

Note: Hannah’s rectangular sheet cake pan, 9 inches by 13 inches, is approximately 23 centimeters by 32.5 centimeters.