Macadamia Fudge Torte

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I was going through pictures on the camera and found some photos of a cake I just realized I never posted. Rachel, one of my student employees, had a birthday in December, and I made this Macadamia Fudge Torte. We celebrated Rachel's birthday appropriately by singing "Happy Birthday" in our best opera voices, as is our custom, and all enjoyed the cake, Then, Christmas happened...

Now, I'm getting caught up. This is a recipe I wanted to make sure I posted because it's been a family favorite for about fifteen years. In 1996, it was the Pillsbury Bake-Off million dollar grand prize winner. You do have to use a box cake mix, which I am generally opposed to; however, this cake is worth every penny of that million dollars. I've also modified the recipe just slightly. For desserts, I never use "low fat" or "light" ingredients, and I topped the cake off with dulce de leche.

Interestingly, this cake uses pureed pears in the batter. I have no clue why. For all I know, you could easily use applesauce. However, this last time I made the cake, a student came to me and said, "What's that flavor? I think I taste pears." Wow, those are some highly developed taste buds.

This cake is always a showstopper, and it's very easy to make. If I received a dollar for every compliment for this cake, I could actually someday become a millionaire.

Give it a try, and enjoy!

Rachel, the birthday girl, who is also worth a million

I'm salivating. I think I need to make this again.

Macadamia Fudge Torte

Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
  
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, high quality
  
• 1 pkg. Pillsbury devil's food cake mix (18.5 oz.)
  
• 1 ½ tsps. cinnamon
  
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  
• 1 16-oz. can pears, drained
  
• 2 eggs
  
• ⅓ cup chopped macadamia nuts
  
• 2 tsps. water
  
• Dulce de leche
  

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-in. springform pan.

To create filling, combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a small pan. Cook over medium-low heat and stir until chocolate is combined. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, cinnamon and oil. Stir until crumbly, yet still somewhat dry.

Place pears in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 ½ cups of the cake mix mixture, pureed pears and eggs. Mix on low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Spread batter evenly in pan. Drop filling by spoonfuls over batter.

Stir nuts and water into remaining cake mix mixture. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until top springs back when touched light in center. Cool 10 minutes. Remove sides of pan Cool completely.

Serve wedges with warmed dulce de leche drizzled over cake. Also, this cake goes great with vanilla ice cream.

Dulce de Leche

Ingredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  

Place unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a large pan and cover with water. Boil for 3-4 hours making sure that can stays covered with water. Cool.