How To Make An Ugly Cake

You may be wondering what is an ugly cake? Well, the answer is that it’s a deliciously buttery and crumbly yellow boxed mix cake with a few alterations and the addition of a creamy cream cheese layer.

It’s called “ugly cake” because it’s not as beautiful as most other cakes, but don’t let this deter you from trying it! 

This ugly cake recipe is kind of like butter cake but with an easy boxed cake mix ingredient and a cream cheese layer that’s to die for.

Funfetti® Ugly Sweater Cake

When the cream cheese layer bakes it bubbles up and adds to the seemingly unattractive appearance. That’s because the color isn’t exactly beautiful and the bumps are… well, bumpy! But let’s focus on what's important -- the FLAVOR!

It’s sweet, buttery, crumbly, moist, soft, and scrumptious. If you follow the Weight Watchers program, save this for a special occasion as it's 18 WW points.

There are many brands of yellow box cake mix you can use for this recipe. Here are some popular ones that are widely available

Luau Photo I

When preparing to store your ugly cake recipe it’s good to know that if you’re planning on finishing it within a day or two, you can store it at room temperature in an airtight container or cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Make sure the cake is completely cool before wrapping it to prevent condensation from forming.

If you need to store the cake for longer than two days, or if your kitchen is extra warm, it's best to store the cake in the refrigerator.

Wrap the cake tightly with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. Note that refrigeration can dry out the cake, so consider adding a damp paper towel or a slice of bread to the container to help keep the cake moist.

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To freeze your ugly cake recipe, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and then place it in an airtight container or freezer bag. When you're ready to serve the cake, let it thaw at room temperature before unwrapping it.

Serving: 100 g Calories: 328 kcal Carbohydrates: 30 g Protein: 4.2 g Fat: 21 g Saturated Fat: 13 g Cholesterol: 97 mg Sodium: 359 mg Potassium: 76 mg Sugar: 20 g Calcium: 98 mg Iron: 0.5 mgChocolate ugly cake is a flourless cake that you have to see and taste to believe. Trust me, chocolate cake lovers… you won’t regret it.

Let me tell you up front that if you’ve made all sorts of New Year’s Resolutions to stay away from sugar, chocolate, or desserts, then you might want to click away from here and come back another day.

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Don’t get me wrong, I love that y’all stopped by and I definitely want you to come back. But the dessert that I am sharing today is very decadent, very chocolaty, and very, very tempting. Far be it from me to tempt you if you are trying to make a lifestyle change.

Bacon Slayer and I used to frequent this great, old Victorian mansion-turned-restaurant in the city. The Whitney restaurant. A gorgeous place with warm, period decor. The food was good, but the dessert was nothing short of amazing. And the desserts always came with coffee with a dollop of whipped cream on the side. I thought that was so sweet. Our favorite dessert was a flourless chocolate cake called Chocolate Ugly Cake; a thin wedge of creamy chocolate without adornment. It was ugly, but delicious.

Fast forward several years, several children, and a whole lot less discretionary income. Dining at former mansions was no longer on my radar, which I really don’t mind a bit. But I did mourn the Chocolate Ugly Cake. I called once to see if they would share the recipe, which of course they wouldn’t.

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So I played around a bit with various recipes, and came up with my own version of Chocolate Ugly Cake. And you know what? I like it better. Take that

This recipe calls for a 9-inch spring form pan which has removable sides. If you don’t have one, you can use a 9-inch deep dish pie plate, but you’ll have to adjust the baking time and serve it straight out of the pie plate.

To prep the spring form pan, cut a piece of parchment paper to fit inside. Grease the bottom and inside of the pan. Place the parchment circle on the bottom of the greased pan, then grease the top of the parchment.

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On to the butter! You knew that butter had to be involved, right? It is. In a big way. Unwrap 2 sticks of unsalted butter. Cut one stick lengthwise with a sharp knife.

Grab the chocolate. I like to use Baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate. It’s tasty, and it isn’t processed with peanuts or tree nuts. (I don’t bake or cook anything that isn’t safe for Son #2 to enjoy.)

Put the butter cubes, chopped chocolate, and the sugar in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat on low, and stay close. We do not want to risk ruining our ugly chocolate cake.

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Go back to the sauce pot and see how everything is progressing. Once the butter and chocolate are about half melted, start stirring. Stir constantly until the mixture seems completely melted and well combined.

Stirring constantly during the melting process will help the sugar crystals to dissolve. Once the butter and chocolate have melted, turn off the heat. Check to see if the sugar has melted completely. Look for granules on the spoon. You can see a few specks on my spoon. If that happens, just stir the melted mixture for another minute.

Stir in the vanilla extract, OR the adult beverage of choice. Since I was taking this cake to a party, I stirred in a bit of Chambourd, which is a raspberry liqueur. Most of the time, I just use vanilla extract.  Set the chocolaty goodness aside to cool for about 10-15 minutes. Set a kettle of water to boil–you’ll need it in a minute.

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While you are waiting for the chocolate mixture to cool off a bit, whip the eggs for about a minute until they are light and fluffy.

I know that I have told you before that I never sift flour. Ever. Well, this is one of the few exceptions. Sift the flour into the eggs, and whip it in until incorporated.

Pour in a spoonful or two of the semi-cooled chocolate mixture, stirring constantly as you do so. This will temper the eggs so that you (hopefully) don’t end up with scrambled eggs in your cake. Starting with eggs that are at room temperature will help the tempering process along.

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Slowly pour the tempered eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring swiftly and constantly as you do so. Again, we don’t want scrambled eggs, so this has to be done fairly quickly.

Place the roasting pan with the cake in it onto the rack in the preheated oven. Carefully pour the boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes 1 inch up the sides of the spring form pan. (We don’t want any water splashing on the cake or in the foil.)  This is called a

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges of the cake are beginning to dry, but the center is still pretty soft. This photo was taken after 25 minutes in my oven. The edges are perfect, but the center is still too soupy. I left it to bake for another 5 minutes.

Chocolate Ugly Cake

This is the cake after 30 minutes in the oven–a little over baked. A few cracks around the edges is normal, but this one cracked a bit in the middle. I should have taken it out after 3 minutes. No worries! It’s supposed to be Chocolate Ugly Cake! And it will taste just fine.

Remove the cake from the water bath, and allow it to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then carefully remove the foil. Stand over a sink so that any water will drain into the sink, as opposed to running all over the counter. The water will be hot! Then release the sides of the pan.

Invert the cake onto a lined cooling rack. Here’s a little trick. Place the parchment on top of the cake, and the rack on top of the parchment. Pick up both sides of the pan and the rack at the same time and give it a quick flip.

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If a little water seeped into the pan during baking, gently blot it away with a paper towel. Allow cake to cool completely on the wire rack. It’ll take a few hours.

Once cake has completely cooled, place your serving plate on top, and grasp both sides of the rack and plate. Then do a quick flip.

But that just goes against any sensibilities that I have about serving food that is visually appealing, so I sifted some powdered sugar and sprinkled some yellow raspberries on top. Red raspberries work too.

Ugly Cake Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty Free Images

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