I do not bake. I know one recipe for Chess Cake which I follow by rote and everyone loves it. I bake it for every party, holiday or otherwise, that I go to. It’s very rich and very good, but after 15 years, I’d like to try to add some variety. I’ll still keep the original, but also work in some variations.
Here’s the cake:
yellow cake mix (2 boxes Jiffy, my preference)
1 stick butter
one egg
Mix, press into greased pan (it’s rather “stiff”)
16 oz powdered sugar
2 eggs
8 oz cream cheese (1 package)
Mix and pour over cake in pan
Bake at 375 (preheated) for 45 minutes. It’s actually better when a little under done, it’s gooier.
I’ve been thinking of things like trying a chocolate cake mix, or mixing chips or something in with the top layer, but there my imagination gives out. Any ideas? I’m a little particular with my likes and dislikes (e.g., I don’t care for coconut or nuts), but I’ll entertain all suggestions.
So is this sort of like a cheesecake? I could see doing a couple of easy variations on this. One thought would be to add a mix of spices (cinnamon, with a bit of ginger and nutmeg); alternatively, choose some sort of extract (almond, lemon, orange, etc) to add to the cake mix. If you wanted to go with an almond flavor, you can add a teaspoon of almond extract to the cake mix (while mixing) and sprinkle slivered almonds over the top of the cream cheese mixture about 10 minutes before the cooking time ends.
You might want to try substituting strawberry cream cheese for the regular sometime, or maybe other cream cheeses (don’t they have some kind of banana walnut flavor out now?).
Seems like there are lots of things you could do with this recipe…sorry, just noticed you don’t like nuts, which kills my almond suggestion.
It’s much more cake than cheesecake, although the top layer is perhaps similar, but only a little. I like the spice idea. And one time years ago I couldn’t find my preferred Jiffy cake mix, and, by accident I bought lemon-flavored Betty Crocker. I’m not sure any one noticed. I’ll have to try it again on purpose…
I can handle pecans and macadamia nuts, not sure there’s anything else.
Chess cake?? Uhmm, there’s your problem, wouldn’t that be a little crunchy?
To make a great chocolate cheese cake, melt some chocolate chips and then swirl them through the cheese part of the cheese cake. Or completely mix them in with the cheese portion to make a chocolate cheese cake. Canned pie mix on top of the cheese cake is always good.
Or you can make your own fruit topping by using frozen fruit. Cook the fruit until it comes to a soft boil. Have ready beforehand a few spoonfuls of cornstarch mixed with cold water until smooth. Slowly stir in cornstarch mix (don’t worry, it’ll start out white, but will get clear), this will thicken the “juice” that results from heating the fruit. once it cools you can spread on top of the cheesecake.
Also there are “no bake” cheesecakes that are much easier and yummier than the baked kind. If you do a webferret search you can probably find a ton of recipes. It’s 5 am, and I’ve been awake all night, otherwise I’d go look up some more of mine.
Well, I had a great recipe, but then I looked up and saw the “I don’t like coconut” part.
“Chess cake” was not a typo. It’s not a cheesecake. It’s chess cake. Broadly speaking, it’s like a chess pie, but it’s got cake underneath it instead of a crust. It’s very sweet and gooey when properly under baked and it’s got a layer of cake under the gooey cheese part, and a “crust” around the edges.
(sorry, was only teasing, reference my statement regarding it being 5am, and having been up all night).
Anyway, I’ll bite, what’s Chess Cake, OR Chess pie, for that matter? I mean, where did they get their names? Do they have checkerboard patterns on top, or is it some sort of historical/regional thing?
Otherwise, the melting the chocolate chips part and either swirling them through the "gooey’ part or making it completely chocolate should work.
Since they’re not like a cheesecake, the fruit may or may not work. It might be too rich and gooey with fruit topping added.
Another thing you could try is a coffee flavored one. Use a very strong teaspoon or two of instant coffee, premixed with hot water so that all the crystals are dissolved.
This is a really easy dessert to play around with. You could add flavoring extract (like lemon or almond) to the cake or cream layer.
As you press down the “cake” layer , sprinkle it with toffee chips. Then mix toffee chips in with the “cream” layer.
My aunt puts a layer of raspberry jam between the layers.
Experiment with it. I like to add orange zest to the layers and spread orange marmalade between. After it bakes, I cut it into bars or squares like brownies.
DeVena, is “orange zest” something I can buy, or just your term for some kind of orange flavoring? And I love the toffee idea (I really like toffee ), and the raspberry.
Canvas, I wasn’t trying to be a jerk, just clearer. And coffee is another great flavoring idea.
Orange zest would be the skin of the orange - it’s in very thin strips - I make it using a microplaner and rubbing the orange against it - no pith though (pith is the white part and is really bitter).
You could take the toffee suggestion a step futher and add some chocolate chips to the toffee chips. Make it a sort of “turtle” thing. If you liked pecans or walnuts, this would be a good place for those too. Just crush them up so they’re about the same size as the toffe and chocolate chips. Wow. Now I’m hungry!
there are also blueberry-flavored cream cheeses out there. add some cinnamon and nutmeg as complementary spices to the cake batter.
i’m pretty sure there’s at least one spice company (possibly McCormick [sp?]) that sells bottled orange and lemon zest. it’s a small crumbly dried version of the actual zest from the fruits.
why not try using some different cake mixes for the base? chocolate certainly seems like it should work. a spice-flavored one would save you the trouble of figuring out what measurements of what to add to a plain batter. adding raisans or currents might or might not work, but adding chopped pecans would be a no-brainer (at least half a cup–personally i tend to be generous with the add-ins).
check the spice aisle in your local grocery store. there are usually quite a variety of flavorings to choose from. things like coconut, root beer, almond, lemon, orange, chocolate…
damn this Atkins diet.
Chess cake/pie for those who are asking is a Southern dish. There is some rumor that the Chess is a mispronounciation of Just, but I don’t know that this has ever been substantiated.
I was going to suggest swirling some rasberry jam into the topping, and I see that a similar suggestion has already been made. You could probably successfully use any sort of fruit jam, but berry ones will best offset the sweetness of the cheese/sugar mixture.
Another suggestion would be to separate out half of the topping, and divide that mixture in half again. Mix one of the smaller portions with some orange zest and some orange liquer like Cointreau or Grand Marnier, and blend well. Mix the other small portion with some Dutch process cocoa powder, maybe a tablespoon or two, to get a nice dark chocolateyness to it. Then as you put the toppings over the cake bottom swirl them a bit so that you get a chocolate orange marbling effect.
I’ve made this chocolate chess bars for years, only I use a devil’s food cake instead of a yellow cake mixe. Sprinkle some mini chocolate chips on top and it’s even more rich. I bet mixing heath toffee bits with the chips would be even better. Oh - I also add a teaspoon of vanilla to the cream cheese & powdered sugar recipe.
You could make the chocolate chess bars, with chocolate in the cream cheese, and the white cream cheese chess bars, and then cut them into squares, and then plate them in an 8 by 8 array, and you have…
I’ve made that cake for years under the title “Gooey Butter Cake”. I’ve considered making it with a lemon cake mix or a chocolate one but haven’t gotten around to it yet. (And last week I burnt it. The top layer still tasted good, but the cake part was not gooey at all).
