Aftershock Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease and flour selected pan (see below).

Start with:
1 chocolate cake mix + its ingredients, prepared loosely as directed
- devil's food with pudding in the mix works very well
- use milk instead of water
- replace half the oil with applesauce

Then stir in:
- 1c. chocolate chips
- 1c. flaked coconut
- 1c. chopped nuts

Pour into prepared pan, then use a hand mixer to beat together:
- 8 oz. softened cream cheese
- 2c. powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese first to loosen it up, then add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Be sure to start on a low setting so the powdered sugar doesn't fly out of the bowl, and scrap the sides regularly because the cream cheese likes to stick. The end mixture should be smooth and moderately thick. Spoon this over the chocolate cake mix in an irregular pattern; go all the way to the edges.

There are two tested pan sizes for this cake, and both are great for different things.
- 9x13 bakes for 45-50 minutes. It comfortably feeds 15-18 people, and gives everyone lots of topping.
- 12x18 bakes for 30-35 minutes. It feeds a large number of people, and there is variation for people to select if they want more chocolate cake or more topping.

The top picture shows the cooled cake, but as you can see just above it doesn't start to fall until after it comes out of the oven. It had actually started to collapse already in the 60 seconds or so between the cake leaving the oven and the picture being taken. The obligatory closeup is below.

This recipe is derived from the Earthquake Cake made by my great-grandmother Scelena Brown. Enjoy.