Description
From the Best of Relish Cookbook: Celebrating America's Love of Food from the Editors of Relish Magazine. This cake is a glorious combination of not dry, dark chocolate cake and a fluffy and soft peanut butter frosting. It is the perfect classic combination made for a cup of coffee or a glass of cold milk.
Natural peanut butter or off-brand peanut butter can sometimes be a little weird in recipes. That's not the case here. This isn't a chocolate peanut butter cake, but a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Use whatever peanut butter brand you prefer.
Plan ahead and soften the butter. This is not a frosting recipe that uses melted butter. You'll want to give the butter a good half hour to a full hour to get to room temperature. That way, it'll better combine with the rest of your ingredients for a frosting sure to make any peanut butter lover swoon.
Note that this recipe uses all-purpose flour in the cake and not cake flour. If you haven't used your baking powder in three months, according to the USDA, it's time to break out a new one.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar (Packed)
- 2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 12 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 cup Buttermilk (I use Buttermilk Powder because I cannot find full-fat buttermilk in my area. Follow the directions on the package if you do the same.)
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil or Canola Oil
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Boiling Water (or Hot Coffee )
For the Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
- 5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Softened (I use Salted Butter, FYI))
- 1 1/2 cups Plus 2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar (If your powdered sugar is lumpy, use a whisk on it first to break up the lumps and chunks. Off-brands tend to be chunkier than name-brands of powdered sugar.)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 2 to 5 Tablespoons Milk (2% or Whole Milk is best)
Instructions
- 350* oven.
- Spray the 13 x 9-inch cake pan with Baker's Joy or Pam for Baking with Flour. Set the pan aside.
For the Chocolate Cake
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of your electric mixer.
- Add the Eggs, Buttermilk, Oil, and your Vanilla Extract. Whisk until smooth.
- Stir in Boiling Water (or Hot Coffee — it will not make the cake taste like coffee, but it does amp up the chocolate flavor).
- Pour the cake batter into the greased 13 x 9-inch pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center is clean. If you lightly press the top of the cake, it will bounce back.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack (expect at least an hour of waiting) before topping with the frosting. If you rush this cake cooling process, you risk melting the peanut butter frosting.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- Combine the Powdered Sugar and Vanilla Extract in the bowl of your electric mixer.
- Add the Peanut Butter and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of the Milk. Beat well.
- Check the consistency of your peanut butter mixture. Does it feel like you could spread it over your cake easily? Is it too firm for spreading? If it is too firm, add another Tablespoon of Milk. Mix and try again.
- Spread the Peanut Butter Frosting over the top of the COMPLETELY cooled cake.
- Jazz up the chocolate peanut butter cake with a sprinkling of chopped peanuts, or a couple of chopped-up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, or leave it "as is" as I do. Heck, you could just sprinkle some jimmies over the top to make it festive.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American