Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

     Every year on my birthday Mr. E. is out of town at a work meeting. Luckily, his colleague is going to be attending this meeting on behalf of their office from here on out so I will finally have him back with my on my birthday next year. However, this year we had to hold the celebrations a few days early. I requested a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing but I found this recipe on Epicurious and he decided to give it a try. Even though it is my birthday, I usually try to lighten these recipes just a bit... however, this time around I should have just stuck with the original. The cake tastes okay (I have never met a cake I didn't like!) but it could have been better so next time around I will stick with the original.


Filling (Use half the amount listed below and you will still have leftovers to make truffles)

• 2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter

Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter
• 1 pound golden brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermillk

Frosting

• 1 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• Butterfinger candy bars, coarsely chopped
• Glazed peanuts

Preparation

For filling:
Bring cream and sugar to simmer in saucepan, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in peanut butter. Chill uncovered overnight (we did not have time to chill it overnight so I chilled it in the refrigerator for a few hours and it was fine.)

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides (we only have two pans so we made the recipe with two pans and it worked fine). Line bottoms with parchment paper. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until blended. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. At low speed, beat in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions.

Divide batter among pans and spread evenly. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Turn out onto racks; peel off parchment. Cool cakes completely.

For frosting:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Whisk whipping cream and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in bowl until mixture holds medium-firm peaks. Fold into cream cheese mixture in 3 additions; chill until firm but spreadable, about 1 hour.

Place 1 cake layer, bottom side up, on 9-inch tart pan bottom. Spread with half of filling. Place another layer, bottom side up, on work surface. Spread with remaining filling; place atop first layer. Top with remaining cake layer, bottom side up.

Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before continuing.) Press candy and peanuts onto top of cake. 
 

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Cake-with-Cream-Cheese-and-Butterfinger-Frosting-231746#ixzz1FpxPanCb

Golden Globes Party!

I LOVE the Golden Globes.... the only awards show that even compares is the Oscars and so we decided to have a small group of friends over for a Golden Globes Viewing Party. While the apparel for the evening tends more towards pajamas, we decided to create a menu mostly reminiscent of the Mad Men era... our favorite series of the year. So besides vodka tonics and dirty martinis, I decided to make a very Betty Draperesque coconut cake!

Coconut Cake

Ingredients
* 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
* 2 cups sugar
* 5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
* 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 cup milk
* 4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Frosting:


* 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
* 1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
* 6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line them parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until just smooth (don't whip!).

To assemble, place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting. Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides. To decorate the cake, sprinkle the top with coconut and lightly press more coconut onto the sides. Serve at room temperature.

Courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa at Home, 2006.

Thank you Cake

This afternoon we are having a thank-you lunch for all of our student interns here in the office as they will be finishing up the semester in a few weeks. I decided to make a chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate pudding in the center and decorate the cake to look like a family tree--these students are part of the intern family! I liked how it turned out but it really took a long time to make! However, in the end it was worth it... Onto Cake Decorating 3 later this month--we are learning fondant!

Cake Decorating Continues...

Last evening was my third class of cake decorating and unfortunately I will have to miss the final class next week as I will be traveling for work. As you can see from the photos we learned how to make people and to stripe the icing on the clowns. One of the women in my class refused to make clowns because they freaked her out--she made flowers instead. Now that I have graduated from Cake Decorating 101... onto fondant... yum!

The Final Product..

This is the final product from our second class where we learned to decorate with designs and most importantly.... This was my first red velvet cake and I filled it with Mom's homemade raspberry preserves... I don't think I will ever buy a red velvet cake again... Yes, it was pretty but if you make it the old-fashioned way from scratch--you need to add two bottles of red food dye... that is just not good for the system. I, however, used a box mix this time (I know, sacrilege!) and the cake dyed my tongue red... Hmmm... However, it was mighty tasty and I was so proud of my creation...

Cake Decorating 101

For the last year I have wanted to learn the art of decorating cakes... and I finally found an affordable and local cake decorating class that I am taking with a friend of mine in town. Not to be too modest, but I can make a tasty dessert, however, when it comes to the presentation and appearance, I need some work.

This class is going to do just the trick! We had a homework assignment last week to bake a cake and ice using the techniques we learned in class with our icing bags and try out one or two of the designs we learned last week. I baked a red velvet cake (my first time!) and was psyched at how well the icing and design turned out... Yes, it is fairly basic but to me it looks like something you would find in an actual bakery (at least a grocery store bakery...) Now tonight we are going to dye the icing and learn to make shapes... try to contain your excitement... I will try to post again with the results this week.

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Icing aka the BEST cake EVER!

This cake was so divine... from the creamy frosting to the juicy sweet strawberries to the dense vanilla cake... Unfortunately I did not have the proper pans to bake the cake so I had to use a bundt cake pan which did not work very well with the torting (aka cutting the cake in half to add a layer of filling--which is also why I do not have a photo of the final product. Additionally it left me with about 1.5 extra cups of strawberry frosting... I am sure we can find a use for that!). So this weekend I will be making an investment in our baking future and purchasing two of the 9 inch round pans that the cake was supposed to be made with. Most importantly though, the cake was "licking your plate" good.

VANILLA CAKE WITH STRAWBERRY CREAM ICING

FROSTING
2 x 8 ounce packages of light cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
½ cup seedless strawberry jam (or with seeds if that is all you can find…)
¾ cup chilled heavy whipping cream

CAKE
3 cups cake flour (or if you do not have cake flour then for every cup of cake flour, substitute 7/8 cup regular flour and 2 T cornstarch... Additionally I used whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier).
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
3 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature
7 large eggs
2 T vanilla extract
1 cup light sour cream
6 T plus 1/3 cup strawberry jam
2 ¼ pounds strawberries, hulled, sliced (about 6 cups) divided

Frosting
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in sugar, then jam. Beat cream in a separate medium bowl until peaks form. Fold whipped cream into frosting. Cover; chill until firm enough to spread, about 2 hours.

Cake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 2-inch high sides. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add in sour cream and beat for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating to blend after each addition. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around pan sides then turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely.

Using large serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place one cake half, cut side up on cake plate. Spread 2 T strawberry jam over, then ¾ cup frosting. Top with ¾ cup sliced berries, arranging in a single layer. Repeat 2 more times with cake layer, jam, frosting, and berries. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down. Spread two cups frosting over top and sides of cake in thin layer to coat completely. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Stir remaining jam to loosen and spoon spoonfuls onto top and sides of cake, then use back of spoon to swirl jam decoratively. DO AHEAD—Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Cut cake into wedges and serve alongside remaining strawberries.

RECIPE FROM BON APPETIT MAGAZINE, MAY 2009.