Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It's a hot mess. If you love chocolate, caramel and nuts, literally buried in a mound of creamy snow, fasten your seat belts 'cause we're heading to paradise. If your tastes, like mine, tend toward the spare and barely sweet, I beg your indulgence and promise, that later in the week, there'll be something here for you as well. I've had this cake several times this summer, so, it's fair to say it has fans in this small community I call home. My first bite came from the, not so meager, piece the Silver Fox had claimed for himself at a block party. He was in paradise and had already extracted the promise of a recipe from its very flattered baker. I noted the cake quickly disappeared from the table and my husband's plate, but I foolishly thought that would be the end of it. I was certain that with all the other good things served that day, the cake would surely fade into memory. You know how things don't always work the way you think they will? Over the course of the next week, three copies of the recipe were tucked into our mailbox and a quarter of the cake miraculously appeared at our door. The Fox is obviously a charmer. The cake we were given disappeared in an embarrassingly short time. The Fox began to cajole and before I knew it, I was at the counter throwing the cake together. He believes his low-fat argument has swayed me. I'm a great actress. I also have a sense of humor and know the best way to stop an itch is to scratch it really hard. He tired of the cake half way through it 9 x 13-inch excess. It was too much of a good thing and I had to send the remains down the hill. I'm told by the mother of that clan, who, by the way, asked for the recipe, that the boys scorffed it up. If you asked me to describe the cake, the words ooey,gooey come to mind. It is not a cake I would choose for myself, but an awful lot of people love it. I learned a long time ago that I'm not an arbiter of taste, so here's the recipe for those of you who love things that are ooey, gooey, soft and chewy.

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) devil's food cake mix

1-1/3 cups water

5 egg whites

1 can (14 ounces) fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fat-free caramel ice cream topping

5 fun-size Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2) Combine cake mix, water and egg whites in a largebowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan.

3) Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

4) With a meat fork or wooden skewer, poke holes about 2 in. apart into cake. Slowly pour condensed milk and caramel topping over cake; sprinkle with two-thirds of the crushed candy bars. Spread with whipped topping; sprinkle with remaining candy bars. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 18 servings.