Cheesecake-stuffed Dark Chocolate Cake

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• unsweetened cocoa
• 1 (18 1/4 ounce) package devil's food cake mix (not pudding in the mix)
• 1 (3 1/2 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chocolate extract (optional)
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 (1 5/8 ounce) milk chocolate candy bars, finely chopped (hershey's is recommended)
• 3 (16 ounce) cans cream cheese frosting, homestyle
• 3 (7 3/4 ounce) cheesecake, bites frozen, coarsely chopped (sara lee is recommended)
• 1 (12 ounce) jar caramel ice cream topping
• rolled wafer cookie, coarsely broken (pirouline is recommended)

Recipe

• 1 grease 2 (9") round cake pans, and dust with cocoa.
• 2 beat cake mix and next 7 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute; then beat at medium speed 2 minutes.
• 3 fold in chopped milk chocolate bars.
• 4 pour batter into prepared pans. bake at 350° for 32 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
• 5 cool cake in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. wrap and chill cake layers at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
• 6 using a serrated knife or unflavored dental floss, slice cake layers in half horizontally to make 4 layers.
• 7 place 1 layer, cut side down, on a cake plate. spread with 1/2 cup cream cheese frosting; sprinkle with one-fourth of chopped cheesecake bites.
• 8 repeat procedure with remaining 3 layers.
• 9 note: gently press down the middle of each layer a little bit while stacking, so the cake doesn't have too much of a dome at the end.
• 10 frost sides and top of cake with remaining frosting.
• 11 heat the caramel sauce so it pours easily, and drizzle the desired amount of caramel sauce over cake, letting it drip down sides.
• 12 chill until ready to serve.
• 13 decorate cake with rolled wafer cookies.
• 14 store in refrigerator.