Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Bundt Cake #Christmas #Recipe @PegCochran

 Merry Almost-Christmas!!

Are you done with your Christmas preparations yet?  Still shopping and wrapping? Don't feel bad if you're not ready yet.  We're actually in the middle of a kitchen renovation this week--timing was not our choice.  They were supposed to be done before Thanksgiving but kept having to delay it. If we'd waited till the new year it might have been spring before they had an opening so this week it is--they're ripping out the counters, backsplash and floor--all to be replaced.  

If you haven't finished your baking yet, and are looking for a dessert recipe, this chocolate and peppermint cake combines all the flavors of the holidays!  It's easy to make but festive enough for company.  And don't feel guilty about starting with a box mix--you already have more than enough to do!

Ingredients:

Cake

1 box Devil's Food chocolate cake mix

3/4 cup sour cream

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

4 large eggs

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 tsp. peppermint extract

1/2 cup Andes creme de menthe chips

Chocolate Ganache Topping

1 1/3 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp. peppermint extract

1/4 cup or more Andes creme de menthe chips or crushed candy canes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a bundt pan with cooking spray.

Beat together cake mix, sour cream, pudding mix, eggs, water, melted butter and peppermint extract.  Fold in Andes chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 25 minutes.  Remove from pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache Topping

Pour chocolate chips into a bowl.

Melt butter over medium heat.  When just melted add heavy cream.  Stir with a wire whisk and heat until mixture barely boils. Stir in peppermint extract.  Pour over chocolate chips in bowl and stir until combined and smooth.  Let sit out to cool while cake bakes.

Pour or drizzle ganache over cake and top with Andes chips or crushed candy canes.   

OUT NOW!

Amazon review: "Murder, She Encountered by Peg Cochran is a terrific quasi-cozy mystery and a terrific read for anyone who likes WWII era fiction. One of the outstanding things about this book, which doesn't always happen, is that the author kept us solidly in 1939 New York between speech patterns, history happening in real time, and social history as it was happening....This was an excellent mystery and museum piece, both. I highly recommend it."

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New York City, 1939. A rising star at the Daily Trumpet, Elizabeth “Biz” Adams has been sent to the World’s Fair—billed as the “World of Tomorrow,” a look toward a brighter future even as the drumbeats of war grow louder—to cover a robbery. What she stumbles upon instead is a dead woman, dumped into the Aquacade’s pool with a nylon stocking wrapped around her neck.

Elizabeth snaps a photo as the police arrest Joey Dorman, a gentle young hot dog vendor who made no secret of his obsession with the murder victim. Even though she’s thrilled that her photo makes the front page, the fear and confusion evident on Joey’s face are haunting. So Elizabeth vows to prove his innocence—or his guilt—with her partner at the Daily Trumpet, Ralph Kaminsky. Meanwhile, her romance with Detective Sal Marino is heating up, and Elizabeth is more determined than ever to follow her heart.

But when Kaminsky’s efforts to expose the real killer land him in the hospital, Elizabeth is forced to continue the investigation on her own. And as she tries to narrow down the long list of suspects, she discovers a dark secret running through the Fair—a secret some would kill to protect.