AMAZING chocolate chocolate chip cake

Okay, so I really like to bake. I also like to try new recipes. (Like making lemon meringue puffs... -hint- yours won't look exactly like Martha Stewart's. Mine look more like globs of white goop.) However, this recipe is one I come back to again and again. It was passed down from our beloved friend to my mama, then my mama to me. It {almost} never fails, and -did I forget to mention- it's TOTALLY DELICIOUS. If you don't like don't like sweet, if you don't like moist, if you don't like chocolate, keep on moving, but for the other 98% of us, here is the perfect recipe for you.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake

1 box of yellow cake mix (any kind, you can even use a gluten free one to make it gluten free)
1 box of instant chocolate pudding
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of oil
3/4 cup of water
1 cup of sour cream (or yogurt, either one works fine, plain yogurt is best, but vanilla yogurt is fine, too, it just makes it sweeter)
4 eggs
1 to 2 cups of chocolate chips- depending on how much you love chocolate. you can even make it without them, but I only do that when we forget to buy more chocolate chips. ;)

1) Preheat the oven to 350

2)Mix it all up- I don't really follow any particular order.... usually the dry ingredients first- cake mix, pudding, & sugar, sift them together, then add the other ingredients. I use a kitchen aid, so I just dump all the wet ingredients in and mix it up.

3) Grease and flour a bundt pan- or use spray... what I do is use a paper towel and spread the oil evenly around the pan with it, then sprinkle flour in- to make it easier to get out of the pan. Another alternative is to use a 13x9 pan, then you just have to grease it- not flour it. ;)

4) Bake the cake. If you are doing it in a bundt pan, it takes somewhere between 45-60 minutes. I just made one, and it took exactly 50 minutes to get it perfect. If you are using a 13x9 pan, it usually takes around 30 minutes.

5) Let it cool. Not completely, because this cake always tastes better warm. Then take it out of the pan. (only if you are using a bundt pan. Trying to take it out of a 13x9 pan might be a little tricky) This cake is sweet and moist enough that you shouldn't need icing, but if you think that it does, you can use the glaze from my hummingbird cake recipe.

6) Enjoy! I hope you like this recipe as much as I do. (and by like I mean LOVE)

Summer Stuff

Hello, totally awesome people!
I know you know that I haven't been posting at all this summer, but I do have a reason. It's simple. LIFE. From planning camps to going to camps, from working to playing, from reading to writing, this summer has breezed past me in the blink of an eye.

Here are a few highlights...

Civil War Camp- planned and led by me and our awesome team, we enjoyed three summer days of craziness and fun. We did crafts, games, cooking, history and oh so much more. I'm extremely grateful for days without rain, smiles without tears, and fun without fights.

Yes, we are all VERY serious and responsible at camp!

Fabulous Friends- I am so totally thrilled that some of our closest friends moved within fifteen minutes of us. After 15 or so years of moving around, (for both families) we finally are sort-of-neighbors! I'm grateful for our mamas who met in college, our daddies who talk about politics and outdoors and stuff, and all of us crazy kids who get along fabulously.

Summer Camp- After an amazing week at AHG summer camp, I'm sore, tired, and happy. At the beginning of the week, I don't think we were entirely comfortable with each other, but by the end, we were all completely weird and funny with each other. I'm grateful for CPR training, freezing swimming, late night giggles, and all the amazing girls at camp.

So thankful for these awesome girls!

Though those are just a few highlights since my last post, this entire summer has been filled with blessing after blessing. I'm so grateful for every person God has placed in my life this summer.