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| 1 1/2 | cups chopped walnuts |
| 1 1/2 | cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies (38 cookies) |
| 1 | cup packed brown sugar |
| 1 | cup butter or margarine, melted |
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| 2 1/4 | cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour |
| 1 2/3 | cups granulated sugar |
| 2/3 | cup unsweetened baking cocoa |
| 1 1/4 | teaspoons baking soda |
| 1 | teaspoon salt |
| 1/4 | teaspoon baking powder |
| 3/4 | cup shortening |
| 1 1/4 | cups water |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla |
| 2 | eggs |
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| 1 1/2 | cups whipping cream |
| 3 | tablespoons granulated sugar |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla |
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| 5 | to 6 fresh nonpoisonous (unsprayed) leaves (such as lemon, grape or rose leaves) or pliable plastic leaves |
| 1/4 | cup semisweet chocolate chips or 1 oz semisweet baking chocolate |
| 1/2 | teaspoon shortening |
| 1. | Heat over to 350°F. Place cooking parchment paper or waxed paper in bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, mix walnuts, crushed cookies, brown sugar and butter until crumbly. Spread about 3/4 cup mixture in each pan; reserve remaining mixture. |
| 2. | In large bowl, beat all cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour about 1 1/4 cups batter over topping in each pan; refrigerate remaining batter. |
| 3. | Bake about 20 minutes or until tops spring back when touched lightly. Immediately remove from pans to cooling rack; peel off paper. Repeat with remaining topping mixture and batter. Cool completely. |
| 4. | In chilled large bowl, beat whipping cream, granulated sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Place 1 cake layer, walnut side up, on serving plate; spread with about 3/4 cup of the filling. Repeat with remaining layers and filling. |
| 5. | Or place whipped cream for top layer in decorating bag fitted with star tip number 6. Pipe rosettes in center of cake; garnish with chocolate leaves. To make chocolate leaves, wash and dry leaves. In 1-quart saucepan, melt chocolate chips and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Using small brush, brush chocolate about 1/8 inch thick over backs of leaves. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until firm. Peel off leaves, handling as little as possible. Cover and refrigerate torte about 4 hours or until chilled. Store in refrigerator. |
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| Don't have a green thumb for making chocolate leaves? Cruise the cake aisle of your grocery store for chocolate cake decorations and select a topping that suits your occasion. |
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| Simplify this recipe by substituting Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil's food or chocolate fudge cake mix for the cake in the recipe. |
Nutrition Information:
610 ( 350 ); 39 g ( 11 g); 50 mg; 440 mg; 62 g ( 3 g); 6 g 16 %; 0%; 6 %; 12 %