Shelly's Recipe

RED VELVET CAKE WITH CHEESECAKE TUNNEL

Category: Cakes

Filling
3/4 cup white morsels
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice and vanilla extract

Cake
1 box white cake mix with pudding
8 tbsp melted butter
3 tbsp unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 ounce red food coloring or more for a darker color
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels or 6 oz good semi-sweet chocolate, cut up
1 tbsp butter

Garnish: 1 cup white morsels (more or less)

Preheat oven to 325. Prepare filling: In a microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt white chips/morsels by microwaving on 70% power for 1 minute, then stirring. Repeat, microwaving at 20 second intervals, until melted, or melt morsels in a double boiler. Beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon into melted white chips. Set aside.

Prepare cake: Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, stir together cake mix, melted butter, cocoa powder, eggs, red food coloring and vanilla. Stir until combined and beat for about 3 minutes, stopping to scrape bowl halfway through.

Pour half the batter into the sprayed Bundt pan. Spoon the cream cheese mixture in a neat ring around the Bundt pan, being careful not to touch sides of pan. Spoon the remaining batter over the cream cheese, covering it completely.

Bake on middle rack for 45-50 or until a wooden skewer inserted in cake comes out fairly clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes; invert the cake onto the rack to cool.

When the cake has cooled, prepare the glaze. Place the cream in a saucepan and heat it over medium just until it starts to bubble around the edges. Turn the heat to low and add chocolate. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Spoon the mixture over the cake.

Prepare garnish. Place white chips in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on 70% power for 1 minute. Stir, then microwave at 70% power for 20 second intervals or until melted. Spoon into a zipper bag. Snip a tiny bit off end of zipper bag (1/16 or less) from edge. Squeeze over cake. Chill until set.