My mom didn’t enjoy baking, but occasionally she’d find a recipe so tempting it would lure her to the kitchen. One of those recipe was the Double Fudge Fancifill Cake, a plain chocolate cake with a ribbon of cheesecake running through the center.
I vaguely remember the cake from childhood and am thinking my mom made it only once. Still, I never forgot its kookie name where the “ful” in “Fanciful” is spelled “fill” to denote the cake’s filling. Wouldn’t you like to have been in the room when someone proposed that name?
Okay, so on to how it tastes now that I’ve become a (slightly) pickier consumer. The filling was quite good as is and I loved how it made a slightly wavy ribbon all through the cake. As far as presentation, this was simple and cute and could easily become someone’s favorite birthday cake. For the cake base, I followed the directions on the back of the box. I’d considered making it from scratch, but wanted to test the convenience way first since that’s the way it had been developed originally. The frosting, of course, had to be scratch!
Recipe
Fudge “Fancifill” Cake
Ingredients
Filling:
- 8 ounce cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Cake:
- 1 box chocolate cake mix plus eggs oil and water as directed on the box
Frosting:
- 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter softened
- 1 tablespoon of sour cream
- 2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup natural style cocoa powder
- 1 tiny pinch of salt
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 6 tablespoons of heavy cream or half & half plus more as needed.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a 9x13 inch metal pan with flour-added baking spray.
- Make the white filling first. In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, cornstarch, milk and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and beat just until mixed. Set aside.
- Prepare the cake mix using the directions on the side of the cake mix box. Pour half of the cake mix into the pan, spoon the white mixture as evenly as possible over the top, the pour the rest of the cake batter over the white. Bake on center rack for 30 to 33 minutes (or time given on the box) or until cake appears set. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- Make the chocolate frosting. In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter, sour cream, sugar, cocoa, salt and 2 tablespoons of the cream as well as you can, then beat with a hand-held mixer until pasty and thick. Continue adding remaining cream until you get a nice, smooth, spreading consistency. Spread over the cake and chill.
Anna
Glad you remember the cake, Lisa!
Lisa
Thanks so much for posting this! I’ve been looking for it. I have the original Pillsbury Plus Golden Fudge Fancifill recipe…yellow cake, with chocolatey cream cheese filling and chocolate fudge (canned) frosting. But the black and white version was always my favourite and I used to know it by heart! The filling for the golden version is the same with the addition of 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted, and changing the milk to 1/4 cup.
Anna
Hi Jean,
Hmm, it’s possible it could be the new cake mix size, but I think you should still have enough batter to cover the filling. The next time you make it, try using a very, very, thin bottom layer. It will puff up anyway, so even if it seems thinner than it should be, it will probably be fine.
Jean Moreau
I love this cake and want to know if you can double the filling.
Will it still bake same amount of time?
Just baked last month and almost ran out of batter to cover the filling, is this due to new size of boxes as mentioned in one of the above comments.
Appreciate your answer as want to bring for Easter dinner
Thanks
Katrina
Sue–I thought of those filled Hostess cakes, too. Looks like a whole cake would be nice and less work than individual cakes/cupcakes.
Looks like a great cake I’ve never seen or heard of before, Anna.
Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy
yum!!! that sounds ((and looks)) so delicious! cheesecake is just luscious! uh ohhh….midnight chocolate craving!! haha thanks for sharing! love your blog!
Gloria
I am craving chocolate now!!! The cake looks almost like a delicious brownie!
Sue
The looks of this cake make think of Hostess Suzy Q’s but with frosting. I know it’s just me. 🙂 Looks YUMMY!
Anna
Hi Martha,
I didn’t think of lemon. That would be great! Or red velvet, or banana. I was thinking red velvet might be fun because you could have a cheesecake stripe and add the traditional boiled fluffy frosting.
Martha in KS
Thanks for sharing! I love brownies with a cream cheese swirl (actually anything with cream cheese), so I bet this cake is delicious. It’s going in my “to-try” file. I’m thinking that you could use the same idea with other flavors of cake, such as lemon.
Anna
Lisa, if you plan on doctoring the mix, try 2 T. cocoa powder, 1 1/3 cups buttermilk, 1/2 cup oil, 3 large eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla added to an 18.25 oz of cake mix. Those are the additions to CMD’s Old Fashioned Devil’s Food Cake. Bake time might change a bit, but you’d definitely get a richer base. My worry was that might make the cake too rich, but now that I’ve sampled the original, I think a slightly richer base cake would be fine and that it probably wouldn’t mess up the stripe. And make sure to check the weight on the cake mix box because some brands are now 16.25 ounces instead of the usual 18.25 ounces.
Lisa Ernst
This immediately caught my eye! I don’t think it would tempt me without the chocolate frosting though — that adds that extra chocolate hit I always seem to crave. The recipe for doctoring the chocolate cake also looks good, making it richer and chocolatier. (I’ve gotten to where cakes made from regular mixes without any changes aren’t worth the calories or sugar grams for me any more, they need to be doctored. ;-))