Caramel cheesecake swirls, a little coffee, and caramel buttercream frosting take a plain box cake mix to the next level. Enjoy this Caramel Cheesecake Swirl Chocolate Cake with a cup of coffee or as dessert for your family dinner.

It’s amazing when your kids grow up. I look at my three and am so pleased about the kind of humans they’ve become.

My sons went through really rough patches during their teenage years. There were times when I seriously wondered what crazed alien was possessing them. They still have a lot of growing up to do but it’s great to see the kind, gentle side come back after the raging hormone years.

Becky never went through the awful teenage mutant stage. I guess she watched her brothers and decided not to go that route. Thank goodness.

None of my kids was very into cake when they were younger. I’d make birthday cakes and invite as many kids as possible to eat them because I’d be the only one eating the left overs.

So why didn’t I just make birthday cookies or brownies? Even though they weren’t huge cake fans, my kids always wanted one for their birthdays. Maybe it was peer pressure or just a wish to fit in or maybe they thought cakes should be for birthdays.

Now that I’m living alone, small cakes are really attractive. This is the second recipe using Duncan Hines Perfect Size cake mixes. You can use any cake mix for this if you just double the ingredients or just use half the cake mix and bake in a 6 inch round pan.

I’m not a coffee drinker but coffee really brings out the flavor of dark chocolate. Substituting strong coffee for the water in the chocolate cake mix gives this Caramel Cheesecake Swirl Chocolate Cake rich chocolate flavor.

I used pre-made caramel sundae topping for the caramel flavoring in the cheesecake swirl and in the frosting. Because caramel topping is sweet by itself, I reduced the sugar in the frosting by replacing some of the powdered sugar with non-fat dry milk powder. Rolos are a fun, easy way to decorate the cake.

Yield: 1 6 inch cake

Caramel Cheesecake Swirl Chocolate Cake

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Ingredients

Cake

• Duncan Hines Perfect Size Chocolate Lover's Cake mix
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons strong coffee

Caramel Cheesecake swirl

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon caramel topping

Caramel Buttercream Frosting

• ¼ cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons caramel sauce
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup nonfat dry milk

Decoration (optional)

• 7 Rolos candies

Instructions

1. Make cake batter according to directions except substitute strong coffee for water. Pour batter into pan.
2. Mix cream cheese and caramel together until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls on top of chocolate batter. Then use a knife to swirl into batter.
3. Bake at 300°F for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
4. Cool and then remove from pan.

Caramel Buttercream Frosting

1. Beat the butter until smooth.
2. Add caramel sauce
3. Pulse nonfat dry milk in food processor to remove all lumps then add it and the powdered sugar to the butter mixture. Mix until smooth and spread on prepared cake.
4. Refrigerate cake.
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Notes

You can use a regular size box mix. You will need to double the ingredients and bake in two 6-inch pans.