Stake Visitor's Cake...What? You've never heard of it?

Stake Visitor's Cake is a family recipe that I think originated with my Grandma (Bonga) Eastin. I don't know the whole story behind the recipe but I know that when she lived in downtown Salt Lake City on the same block with many of the Apostles at the time, she served this anytime they or any other stake visitors came over. Hence the name 'Stake Visitor's Cake'. My mom made this all the time growing up and us kids always loved it. It's basically a chocolate snack cake, but calling that doesn't seem to explain just how yummy it is. Any time I make it, it gets gobbled up in a day, easy. I suppose I only have myself to blame there.

Stake Visitors Cake

1 1/2 C Boiling water

1 C oatmeal (not quick)

1 C brown sugar

1 C white sugar

1/2 C butter or margarine

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 T cocoa (I often throw in an extra Tablespoon)

1 1/2 C Flour

1/2 C chocolate chips (plus extra to sprinkle on top)

In a large mixing bowl pour the boiling water over the oatmeal. Add sugars and margarine or butter and let sit for ten minutes. Stir to combine well. Stir in eggs. Combine remaining dry ingredients and then stir into oatmeal mixture. Stir in 1/2 C chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9x13 pan then sprinkle some extra chocholate chips over top.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until cake just comes away from edges and springs back in middle when you touch it. It can be hard to toothpick test this cake because of the chocolate chips.

I dare you to make it and not love it!

Molten Lava Cakes

Jared bought me a set of ramekins for Mother's Day last year, but because we moved just a couple weeks later I didn't get the chance to use them right away. Unfortunately they sat in a box for a while and finally emerged recently after Jared pointed out that I had never used them. So I decided to try out these cakes. I've always wanted to make these, but put it off because I didn't realize how easy they were. I decided to test out a few recipes so I could keep one in my regular recipe rotation. I tried one from Paula Dean, one from the internet, and one from a cookbook. Each recipe is surprisingly easy and quick to throw together, for awesome results. yum! Who doesn't love a molten lava cake?
2 sticks butter
4 t sugar
12 oz bittersweet chocolate (use semisweet if this is too rich for you)
1 C flour
2 1/2 C powdered sugar
6 eggs
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and flour 8- 6 oz ramekins. Melt butter and chocolate togehter. In large bowl combine dry ingredients wiht eggs, yolks, and vanilla. Stir in chocolate until smooth. Pour evenly into ramkeins.
Bake 12-14 minutes. They will look puffed on the edges but still jiggly in the middle. Let sit for 5 minutes before turning out onto plate.
This recipe is very easy to half as well.

The cool thing about ramekins is that they create a nice individual dessert, and they're perfect portion control! This way I don't just eat and eat and not realize that I've eaten half a pie or something. I also used my ramekins also on Mother's Day this year and made some awesome little berry crisps. Everyone loved them, so check out the recipe here... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/individual-berry-crisps-recipe/index.html