Let's Eat!

Chocolate and peanut butter! What's a better combination? Actually, I could probably think of some things that are better than that, but when I found this beauty on pinterest, I was set on making it one day.

Okay, maybe not that extravagent, but something close to that. Doesn't it look amazing?!

So imagine how disappointed I was when I clicked on the picture and instead of it taking me to the recipe, it took me to google. GAH!

I decided to try and find a different recipe that I could use and found a recipe for Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake. This cake was good! It was fun to make and see people reactions.

This is what mine ended up looking like. The recipe called for using three 8 inch pans, but I used two. And it's really rich, so have a glass of milk handy ;)




Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Cake:
1 Cup Boiling water
2 Cups sugar
1 3/4 Cup all purpose flour
3/4 Cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 Cup buttermilk OR 1 Cup milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
1/2 Cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Line the bottoms of three 8 inch round cake pans with wax paper. (I used alot of crisco instead) and grease the sides. Bring a small pan of water to a boil and keep it simmering while other ingrediants are mixed.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer until combined. Add 1 Cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Batter will be thin. Pour into pans and bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted is clean.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 Cup butter, softened
2 cups creamy peanut butter
4 cups powdered sugar
approx 1/3 cup milk

In bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar. When it gets thick, add a little milk at a time until it's spreadable. Beat for 3 minutes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place chocolate chips and peanut butter in metal bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan over medium heat. Watch closely and remove when it starts to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Let sit for 2 minutes. Slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted and it is thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla and corn syrup. Let cool if you prefer  a thicker consistency.



Assembling
You will need a 12 ounce bag of Reese's Minatures. Go ahead...eat a couple :) Save a couple whole ones and chop the rest. I had big chunks and smaller chunks. You will need to level the cakes and place one of the cakes on a cake stand. Spread some of the frosting on top. Sprinkle with some of the reese's cups. Add the second layer of cake and cover the whole cake with frosting. Pour ganache on top and smooth allowing some to run down the sides. Garnish with the rest of the peanut butter cups.


Enjoy!