behomeforT: Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosted Cake

We had a dinner party at our place yesterday and I wanted to make a cake which looked impressive, but wasn't too difficult to make and not too time consuming. One of the major mistakes I have made in the past when organising dinner parties is not preparing dinner during the day. Because I had to do everything when our guests had already arrived, I had no time to sit down and have a chat. That's the whole idea behind a dinner party, right? Also, dinner was served late, too late. 11pm or sometimes even midnight, resulting in hungry and frustrated (and drunk) guests.

I won't let that happen again I decided, so I spent all Saturday in the kitchen doing all the prep work. I wanted this cake to be finished before our guests arrived. And I did. Actually, I had to restrain myself from eating a slice during the day. I didn't. I had a slice for breakfast this morning. Because it was Sunday morning. And because I could.

This recipe has been adapted from Pastry Affair

Ingredients

The Cake
-120 grams vegetable oil
- 170 grams creamy peanut butter (the original recipe says 130 grams - however, even with 170 grams of peanut butter the cake wasn't very peanut-buttery)
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 280 grams all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 260 ml milk
- a bit of milk chocolate, for garnish

Chocolate Buttercream
- 170 grams butter, room temperature
- 43 grams unsweetened cocoa powder (or Dutch processed) - and you can use more!
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 375 grams powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk

The recipe
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and properly grease two cake pans (the same size). In a large bowl, mix the oil, peanut butter and sugars. Then add the eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and milk. Make sure you mix everything properly so there are no lumps.

Transfer the batter to the cake pans and bake for 35 minutes. If you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean the cakes are done. Cool before frosting. I cut of some of the brown top of both cakes, which was a bit chewy. Also make sure the cakes are flat so you can easily put them on top of each other.

To make the frosting, beat the butter until smooth. Then add the cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Slowly add the powdered sugar and the milk until the frosting has a smooth consistency and there are no lumps. If the mixture is too thick, add some milk. If the mixture is too watery, add some powdered sugar.

Place one cake layer on a cake stand. Although the original recipe did not state this, I added a thick layer of peanut butter on the cake. On top of that, add a layer of the buttercream. Be generous. Then add the second cake layer and do exactly the same. Cover the whole cake with frosting (both the top and the sides). Use a grater to grate the milk chocolate op top of and around the cake.

The review
Ohmygosh this cake is so good! The cake may look dry but is so moist and peanut buttery and chocolate-ey and smooth. I had a piece. And then I had another piece. And another one. YUM!