Decadent Peanut Butter Cup Cake!

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

 

One of my Stacey Cakes clients has ordered my peanut butter cup cupcakes many times.  She, and especially her daughter, love them. So she asked me to make a peanut butter cup cake for her daughter's 12th birthday.  I decided to have some fun with this one and I created the above tiered cake.  The cake itself is chocolate and baked into it are Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped in quarters.  Each double layered cake is filled and frosted with peanut butter buttercream frosting, and between each layer are chopped up miniature peanut butter cups.  Ganache is poured over the top of each tier.  More miniature peanut butter cups are used for garnish and decoration.  If you'd like to make this yourself, here's the recipe.  

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

 

Serves about 20

 

Cake

 

3  cups flour

2 cups granulated sugar

2  teaspoons baking soda

2  teaspoons salt

14 tablespoons (or 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) cocoa powder

½  teaspoon instant espresso powder

1  cup oil

2  cups milk

2  teaspoons vanilla extract

2  tablespoons cider vinegar

12 snack size Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, cut into quarters



Equipment:

2 - 9" round cake pans
2 - 5" or 6" cake pans
4 or 5 plastic drinking straws
clean corrugated cardboard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Trace the bottom of the small pan on the cardboard and cut out a cardboard round.  Set aside for later.  Prepare the cake pans: grease (spray with cooking spray), line the bottom of pans with wax pan, grease bottoms. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.  Then add the wet ingredients and blend thoroughly.  May be done by hand or in electric mixer.  Pour batters into pans.  Use about 3/4 of the batter for the larger layers, and remaining quarter for the smaller pans.  (I weighed the batter to measure it out, but you can eyeball it.)  Distribute 16 pieces (quarters) of the peanut butter cups around in the batter of the each large pan and 8 pieces around in each small pan.

Bake small layers for 16-20 minutes and large layers for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from oven, cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes, run a thin sharp knife around the inside edge of the pans then invert pan to remove cake.  Continue cooling on rack. 

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup peanut butter
6 tablespoons soft butter
 4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3/4 cup milk

In electric mixer, beat together peanut butter and softened butter until smooth.  Add confectioners sugar 1/2 cup at time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  Blend in milk and mix until smooth.

Ganache

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups heavy cream

Put chips and cream in a microwave safe mixing bowl.  Heat in microwave on high for 1 minute.  Whisk mixture and return to microwave for 10 seconds.  Whisk again.  If chocolate and cream mixture is smooth and well-blended, you're done.  Otherwise, return to the microwave for 10 more seconds, whisk and repeat this step until mixture is very smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Filling and Decoration

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures, Family Size bag
Reese's Pieces candy

Assembly

Frost top of one of each size layer with peanut butter frosting.  Sprinkle liberally with miniature peanut butter cups cut into quarters.  Top each with same size second layer.  Frost sides and tops of each cake with peanut butter frosting.  Pour some of the cooled ganache on top of larger cake and spread top with metal spatula until ganache begins to run off sides.  Add more as desired.  Cooler ganache will flow down sides and warmer ganache will drip.  Make sure not to cover the entire cake with ganache and that the peanut butter side show.  Repeat process on smaller cake.

Cut plastic drinking straws to the height of the lager cake.  Push straws all the way down into cake: one in the center and the remaining about 2 inches from the center.  Straws should not be above the surface of the cake at all.  Place the small cardboard round on top of the larger cake in the center, over the straws.  The straws and cardboard will support the weight of the top tier of the cake.  Place assembled small cake on top of small cardboard round on larger cake. 

Arrange chopped miniature peanut butter cups around edge of smaller cake tier, as in picture.  Arrange miniatures cut in half around bottom edge of bottom tier of cake, as shown in picture.  For the top, use 2 whole miniatures ad flower centers and arrange Reese's Pieces around them as petals.  use a single Reese's Pieces candy as the center for each flower.  Put a small amount of ganache in a small plastic or piping bag with a small writing tip or small corner of plastic bag cut off.  Pipe stems and leaves for flowers.  Ta-daa!!

Enjoy!