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Labor of love, thy name is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake. My dearest work wife Anisa had her birthday lately and to celebrate I made her a cake of epic tastiness. She loves Peanut Butter Cups almost as much as I do so I knew that I was going to have to make a cake with Peanut butter cups. I wasn’t keen on peanut butter icing because I have yet to find anything peanut butter flavored that matches Peanut Butter cups.
To digress, because we all know I love to do that, I recently tried a peanut butter cookie with a Reese’s Peanut butter cup in it. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. The flavors do not match, complement, or enhance each other. I found myself picking the cookie off and eating it by itself- and don’t get me wrong, it was a perfectly lovely cookie by itself- and then eating the PB cup by itself. Perhaps I am a purist, but you can’t match two different levels of PB taste like that.
I look at cakes with peanut butter icing and PB cups and just want to shout NO NO! Pick one and enhance it. With chocolate, of course! The cake simply must be chocolate and this one below is my favorite. It makes two 10-inch round cakes.
Whip up my Buttercream Icing and do a crumb coating. This is when I throw it in the freezer to solidify that crumb coating, you’re not freezing the cake, just the icing. Then when you add the second layer of icing, it literally will keep those crumbs frozen in place.
Now, if you want to make the cake look like this, you need 4 packages of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, large size. After you are done the second layer of icing, smooth the top out. A secret for this is yes, freezing it once again. Remove the cake when the icing is frozen, dip your finger in water and use it to smooth out the top. You don’t want to saturate the top with water, but this works like a charm for a perfect silky smooth look. Once that is done, use half peanut butter cups to surround the edge of the cake like below. For the flower, and I must admit I am impressed what I came up with under pressure that day, surround one whole PB cup with 4 halves. The stem is one PB cup, cut two straight strips right from the middle part, then what you have left actually makes these amazing little leaves in the perfect shape! Who knew?? Let me tell you, I was pretty excited when that happened. By complete blind luck. The cake is rich, luxurious and so easy to make! I have requests lined up for the recipe so here you are girls, enjoy! I am happy to report that the birthday girl enjoyed the cake at work for an evening, then proceeded to eat it for breakfast for the next 5 days straight with a glass of milk. Ah, to be young again and eat chocolate cake for breakfast every morning without worrying about it. Happy Monday everyone, may the week be full of sun and wonderful weather for us all!
Love,
I Want a Piece of Cake For Breakfast Magpie
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cake
Ingredients
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder not Dutch process
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Kick the tires and light the fires to 325 °F.
- Get the chocolate and chop it up.
- Melt the chopped up chocolate in the hot coffee until it is completely dissolved and set aside.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients.
- Beat your eggs for 2-3 minutes, until they are thick and lemon colored. Mix in the oil, buttermilk and vanilla.
- Once those are in, add the coffee/chocolate mixture slowly.
- Take the dry ingredients and slowly add them in and mix at a moderate speed until they are combined completely.
- Grease and parchment line your cake pans. Pour the batter into the pans, dividing evenly.
- Bake at 300 degrees until done, about 35-45 minutes.
- This cake can take a while, so don’t rush it!
- Time to create your filling, Peanut Butter Cup Ganache.
- Once that is done sandwich the entire amount of ganache between your cake layers. Follow the instructions and the photos in the post to create the cake.
Jillian says
All I’m going to say is that my children request this cake for every birthday, every lost tooth, every time they make their bed … I have a feeling they may be playing me. LOL, in all seriousness though, this is such a family pleasing recipe (unless you have a peanut allergy and I’m sorry for you guys) that your kids and yourself (probably more than the kids) will fall in love with this ice creamy, chocolatey PButtery, cake of goodness. If your on the fence, just make it. That’s all I can say.