Crunchy and Creamy Chocolate Cake Bars

These Crunchy and Creamy Chocolate Cake Bars make the perfect dessert for this holiday season. These are decadent, indulgent and so pretty looking making them apt for holiday parties and gathering. Made this yummy dessert for this year's thanksgiving dinner and simply loved it. Holiday Entertaining couldn't be easier.

This Easy Holiday Dessert is made up 4 layers starting with a crunchy chewy base made with crushed Rice Chex followed by a thick layer of spongy and moist cake made with Devil's Food Betty Crocker Cake Mix, topped with whipped cream frosting and final layer of chocolate covered Chex to complete this pretty looking dessert. It may look like a lot of work, but believe its as simple as mixing and layering and not at all time consuming.

For this post, I shopped at Winco for all the supplies needed for my this recipe.There are great deals available on the Betty Crocker and Chex products at Winco, so plan your shopping trips while supplies last. The coupon offers are:

• Save $1 on Bulk Foods when you buy four Better Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix or Ready to Spread Frosting (any flavors / varieties)

• Save $1 on Bulk Foods when you buy any two boxes of Chex cereal (any flavors / varieties)

Now to the recipe...

Ingredients:
For chocolate covered Chex:
2 and ½ cups Rice Chex
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup butter
1-2 tablespoon milk (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Chex Crust:
3 cups Rice Chex
3 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoon sugar

For Chocolate Cake:
1 box Devil's Food Betty Crocker Cake Mix,
3 eggs
1 and ¼ cup water
½ cup oil

For Whipped Cream Frosting
1 and half cup of heavy whipping cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

White chocolate drizzle
¼ cup white chocolate (microwavable)
piping bag
1 tablespoon milk (optional)

Method:
For chocolate covered Chex:

Melt the butter and chocolate in a microwave safe container or using a double broiler method until smooth. Add milk if needed to adjust the consistency. I added 2 tablespoon of milk.
Now add the Rice Chex to it. Mix with light hand and spread on a parchment lined baking sheet to set. Keep aside.

For Chex Crust:

Preheat Oven to 350F. Crush Rice Chex in a zip-lock bag. Line a 8X8 baking tray with parchment paper. Add the crushed chex, melted butter and sugar in this pan. Mix ingredients and press into pan evenly with hand or spatula. Bake at 350 for 10-12 mins. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Keep aside.

For Chocolate Cake:

Bake the cake as per package instructions. Whisk the eggs, add the oil and water and whisk again. Add Devil's Food Betty Crocker Cake Mix and whisk till smooth. Pour half of the cake batter over the crust. Bake at 350F for 40 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely. You can bake cupcakes of the remaining cake batter or make a bigger batch of this dessert.

In the meanwhile prepare the whipped cream frosting. You can check the detailed steps for whipped cream frosting here. Refrigerate the frosting till cake is ready to be frosted. Also melt the white chocolate in microwave for 30 second and stir till smooth. Transfer to piping bag and keep ready.

For assembling the dessert :

Once the cake has cooled completely, layer it with whipped cream. One after the other, layer the whipped cream and smoothen it out using a spatula. Top with chocolate coated Rice Chex and top with drizzle of melted white chocolate. Allow to set in refrigerator or until ready to serve. Slice in bars and serve (Allow to set completely and use a sharp serrated knife to cut for those perfect shaped bars)