Yes, I’m serious.
Some days, you just get the urge to bake a cake. That was me, this weekend. And not just any cake — I wanted a chocolate cake. And what goes better than just about anything else with chocolate cake?
Peanut butter frosting.
So I basically made a giant peanut butter cup in reverse: chocolate on the inside, peanut butter on the outside, and decorated with a very generous layer of crushed peanut butter cup candies. If this does not qualify me as a full-fledged genius, I don’t know what would.
So much for that silly vow about only making small portions of dessert recipes (sigh). But in all honesty, we all knew that one wasn’t really going to last.
And this is going to become a very regular birthday cake in our little home, and quite possibly a non-birthday cake, as well. Because there’s something very indulgent about baking a giant cake when it’s *not* somebody’s birthday, isn’t there? I think I will be doing it a lot more often.
In my other exciting news, the video section of Sugarlaws is finally back up any running! So if you’ve only discovered this blog in the last six months or so, take a look at my Podcasts page to see videos of me making a few of the dishes on this site. Hopefully I’ll have another one up for you guys soon!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 vanilla bean, cut in half and seeds removed
2 eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup brewed coffee
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round pans (do not use springform pans for this recipe — they will leak!). Line the bottom of each pan with a cutout layer of parchment.
Mix the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until well combined. Add the eggs, salt and vanilla bean seeds and mix thoroughly. Dissolve the cocoa powder in the cup of coffee and add to the sugar mixture. Meanwhile, sift together the baking powder, baking soda and cake flour. Add half the dry ingredients to the batter, and then add 1/2 cup of the milk. Add the other half of the dry ingredients and then the other 1/2 cup of milk. Mix to combine, and pour the batter into the two cake pans, tapping them to eliminate air bubbles in the batter.
Bake the cakes for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with crumbs attached. Allow the cakes to cool completely, and then freeze them briefly for about an hour (this is a new cake trick I’ve learned and it makes them SO much easier to work with!).
For the frosting:
1/2 cup peanut butter (not the crunchy or all-natural kind)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, mini size, roughly chopped
Bring a pot of water to a simmer on the stovetop. In a separate bowl over the simmering water, beat together the egg yolk and 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar, until the mixture is hot to the touch, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes (or transfer the mixture to a new bowl), and then beat in the peanut butter, and then the butter. Beat in 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream with 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar until the whipped cream forms stiff peaks. Add the whipped cream to the rest of the frosting and beat until combined. Chill in the fridge until the cake is ready to be frosted.
To frost the cake, place one layer on a cake stand, and spread a generous half cup of the frosting on top of it, not allowing the frosting to come quite to the edges of the cake. Place the second layer on top and frost the entire cake with a thin crumb coat. Frost the cake with the remaining frosting, and press the chopped peanut butter cups into the sides to decorate. Serve!
Serves 12-16, depending on how thin you cut the slices.
Maple Cinnamon Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
Birthday Sheet Cake
white chocolate birthday cake
Blueberry Cinnamon Cakes
Coconut Cupcakes
36 responses so far ↓
1 Kristen // Aug 24, 2009 at 5:50 am
Looks fabulous!
2 PARI // Aug 24, 2009 at 6:56 am
Truly, this cake does qualify u as a genius. It’’s absolutely awesome. I have bookmarked.
3 Fearless Kitchen // Aug 24, 2009 at 8:03 am
This is a beautiful cake, it looks absolutely delicious. I’m envious – I tried to make a chocolate cake this weekend, it didn’t come out quite so well :/
4 Heather // Aug 24, 2009 at 8:09 am
You’re right – genius! Love it, can’t wait to try!
5 maris // Aug 24, 2009 at 8:31 am
This is gorgeous. I’m really not one for peanut butter and chocolate together but this cake sounds absolutely sinful! I’d make it with chocolate frosting so it would probably be even worse
6 Michelle // Aug 24, 2009 at 8:59 am
Oh my! A giant peanut butter cup?? Pass me a fork and a cold glass of milk, please.
7 zoe // Aug 24, 2009 at 9:24 am
I love reese’s peanut butter cup! This cake has my name all over it!
8 VeggieGirl // Aug 24, 2009 at 9:30 am
HOLY FREAKING GOODNESS would you look at that cake – perfection!!
Katy, thank you so much for your comments on my blog and for your continued support **hugs**
9 dawn // Aug 24, 2009 at 11:26 am
Oh yes I’ve made this before and it was good. It was an all-weekend-long-eating-the-cake good!
Awesomeness!
10 Erin // Aug 24, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hello Lover!? Now that is my kind of cake.
11 Elizabeth // Aug 24, 2009 at 1:02 pm
MMmmm….my fav combo. I just posted something similar…although in bar form. Great minds think alike!
12 Michelle {Brown Eyed Baker} // Aug 24, 2009 at 1:29 pm
You ARE a genius! I am such a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate and can’t wait to make this!
13 Liesl // Aug 24, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Job well done! Looks fantastic! I made a similar cake for my birthday and it was delicious! Can’t go wrong with anything peanut butter and choclate!
14 Maria // Aug 24, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Great job on the cake. It looks delicious!!
15 Nirvana // Aug 24, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Oh ma goodness this looks soooo fantastic…. I want some NOW…. its past 1:00 am here, you don’t think there’s anything wrong with post-midnight baking do you?
16 Bunker // Aug 24, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
17 Kelbakes // Aug 24, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I am SO going to make this for my BF birthday party this weekend!!
18 Katie // Aug 25, 2009 at 7:58 am
LOVE chocolate and peanut butter. I made no-bake chocolate peanut butter bars last weekend and they were AMAZING.
http://mozzarellaandmerlot.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/peanut-butter-bars/
19 Michelle // Aug 25, 2009 at 2:15 pm
NOW I have to make this!!! OMG droolinggg!
20 Margaret // Aug 26, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I baked my roommate a cake for her birthday, and I think I’ll be having her bake this one for mine…yummm…
21 danielle // Aug 27, 2009 at 3:53 am
Wow. I MUST make this cake. Looks amazing!
22 stephchows // Aug 27, 2009 at 5:58 am
this cake would probably be my favorite ever PB and chocolate.. YUM!!!
23 Rosemaryandthegoat // Aug 27, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I love peanut butter and chocolate also. I just made my peanut butter shadow cookies and used nutella. your pb cake will be the next thing I try.
24 adele // Aug 27, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I never developed a taste for peanut butter, but it’s certainly a contender as a birthday cake for a friend who loves it.
25 Seared Scallop Salad | Sugarlaws // Aug 29, 2009 at 5:14 am
[...] ← Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake [...]
26 Kelbakes // Aug 29, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I just made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for my BF birthday party. This is a PMSing woman’s dream!!
27 Chocolaty Weekend Links : Chocolate Bytes - All About Chocolate – Delicious Chocolate Recipes // Aug 30, 2009 at 9:15 am
[...] Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake from Sugar [...]
28 Hannah // Aug 30, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Wow, that looks fantastic!
29 Ashley M. // Sep 1, 2009 at 12:54 pm
OMG. I absolutely LOVE YOUR BLOG — and I just found it like five minutes ago when searching for Nutella ice cream (another tasty post)!
Aaaaaaaaaaaand this cake looks so incredibly delish!
Thank you!
30 penny aka jeroxie // Sep 7, 2009 at 4:47 am
the cake look so divine. Rich and sumptious! Bookmarked for a naughty weekend with the girls.
31 Bridget // Sep 9, 2009 at 4:27 am
Hi Honey!
What a beautiful recipe, thank you for sharing!
I love it so much I’ve included it the “Top 21 Chocolate Cake recipe posts on twitter”
Keep up the good work!
Love,
Bridge
32 Yvette // Sep 14, 2009 at 7:27 am
I made it this weekend – into cupcakes of course. All I can say is “O. M. G”. And, how do you not eat the entire cake in one sitting?? for variety, I made a mint frosting for half of the cupcakes, and decorated them with andes chips. mmmm.
33 Elizabeth // Sep 24, 2009 at 8:55 am
Oh Katy! That looks just divine.
34 Thoalla // Oct 10, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Great. Now i can say thank you!,
35 Glaveth // Oct 11, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Perfect work!,
36 Molly // Dec 18, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Just wanted to let you know that I tried out this recipe and it was SO incredible! I made it for my father’s birthday and he said that, in the past 53 years of his life, that was (hands down) his number one favourite cake. Ever. Awesome!!!
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