Midnight Dark Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter Frosting Food

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER SHEET CAKE

Steps:

• Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush a 9-by-13-inch or 8-by-12-inch baking pan with butter. Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Butter parchment.
• Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Combine eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Add flour mixture; beat just to combine. Add butter and vanilla; beat to combine. Add sour cream; beat until smooth.
• Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with a spatula. Bake until top springs back when lightly touched and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes (for 9-by-13-inch) or about 40 minutes (for 8-by-12).
• Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Using parchment overhangs, lift cake out of pan and let cool completely on rack. (Cake can be made to this point and stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic, up to 1 day.)
• Frosting: Beat butter and peanut butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in confectioners' sugar until thick and fluffy. Remove from mixer; stir in sour cream by hand until frosting is silky and dense. Spread over cake; sprinkle top with peanuts. Frosted cake is best the day it's assembled, but can be refrigerated, wrapped in plastic, up to 1 day. Return to room temperature before serving.

CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE WITH PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sour cream, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
• In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder, and hot water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then remove from the heat. Cool slightly, and incorporate the cocoa mixture with the dry ingredients, mixing just until blended.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
• For the frosting:
• In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the peanut butter and mix until smooth. Remove from the heat. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the milk, and powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla, and slowly incorporate the peanut butter mixture, blending well after each addition.
• Frost the cake while both the frosting and cake are still warm. Top with nuts, if desired.
• Cook's Note: Making a sheet cake is the best bang for your buck when it comes to dessert for a group. To vamp it up, take small biscuit cutters and create tiered cakes that can be dusted with powdered sugar. Cake scraps can be saved for a delicious trifle the next day.
• Sheet Cake Variations:
• Chocolate Fudge Frosting: instead of peanut butter frosting, replace peanut butter in frosting recipe with 1/3 cocoa powder. Prepare the frosting the same way.
• Toasted Coconut: In addition to topping with nuts, top cake with toasted coconut.
• Caramel/Fudge Cake: Drizzle warm caramel sauce and/or fudge sauce over frosting just before serving.
• Sheet Cake Variations, follows.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 13x9 inch baking pan.
• 2. Mix the flour sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl.
• 3. Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until they are bright yellow and slightly thick.
• 4. Add the oil, coffee, and vanilla to the eggs. Mix until well incorporated.
• 5. Add the flour to the mix, alternating with the buttermilk, mixing after each addition until just incorporated.
• 6. Start with the flour first, then buttermilk, flour, buttermilk and end with flour.
• 7. Mix well.
• 8. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. I always hold the pan up a few inches from the counter and let it fall to get rid of air bubbles in the batter.
• 9. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.
• 10. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Allow to cool.
• 11. Once cake is cooled, place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer.
• 12. Gradually mix in the sugar.
• 13. When it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable.
• 14. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.
• 15. Frost cake after it has cooled completely.

FLUFFY PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

PEANUT BUTTER CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
• In a saucepan, melt butter. Add peanut butter. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
• In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan (I use an 18x13 sheet cake pan) and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
• While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.
• Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you've just made the best peanut butter sheet cake. Ever.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Mix powdered sugar and peanut butter in medium bowl.
• Stir in vanilla, milk and chocolate.
• Beat until smooth and spreadable (start with 1/4 cup of milk and add a bit more if you need to).
• Frosts 13x9-inch cake.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• Mix together crisco, coco, salt and vanilla.
• Then stir in milk.
• Add the peanut butter.
• Mix together well.
• Add con.
• sugar one cup at a time.
• Use more milk if needed.
• Is better if it is thick.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE & PEANUT BUTTER LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base of three 19cm sandwich tins. Mix the flour, cocoa, bicarb and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and beat in the syrup, eggs, oil and milk with an electric whisk until smooth.
• Divide the mix between the tins, and bake for 25-30 mins until the cakes are risen and firm to the touch. Cool in the tins for 10 mins before turning out onto a cooling rack and cooling completely. At this stage, they can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to eight weeks.
• Make the bark while the cake is cooling. Melt the chocolate in short bursts in the microwave, stirring every 20 secs, until smooth. Spoon onto a parchment-lined baking tray and smooth over with a spatula to make a thinnish layer, around 35 x 20cm. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips along with the pieces of pretzel and honeycomb, then chill until solid. Remove the bark from the fridge and leave for a minute to come to room temperature before using a sharp knife to cut it into shards (if it's fridge cold, the chocolate will snap rather than cut). Chill again until you're ready to decorate the cake.
• To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring between short blasts, then leave to cool a little. Meanwhile, beat the butter, icing sugar and 1 tbsp boiling water with an electric whisk or stand mixer, slowly at first, then turn up the speed and beat until you get a pale, fluffy icing. Spoon out a third of the mix into a separate bowl and stir in the peanut butter. Whisk the melted chocolate into the remainder of the icing, then beat in the cocoa if you want a darker, more chocolatey-coloured icing.
• Sandwich the three cakes together with the peanut butter icing. Use half the chocolate icing to coat the sides and top of the cake and fill in the edges between the layers, scraping off any excess. Chill for 20 mins. This is called a crumb coating, allowing you to get a really smooth finish when it comes to the final icing.
• Spread the remaining chocolate icing over the lightly chilled cake, smoothing over the sides and top so you get a neat finish. Chill again for 20 mins.
• To make the ganache, heat the cream in a small pan until steaming. Tip the dark chocolate into a bowl, then pour over the cream. Mix well until smooth and shiny. Transfer to a piping bag and leave to cool for a few mins at room temperature.
• Pipe the ganache on top of the cake, nudging it over the edge and allowing it to drip down neatly. Do this all the way round the cake, then fill in the centre with more ganache. Smooth the top with a knife. Chill for 1 hr for the ganache to set.
• Press the bark shards into the cake, sticking up. Add lots of chocolate eggs, popcorn and pretzels in and around the shards. Cut into slices to serve. Will keep for up to three days kept in a cool place in an airtight container.