Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

The recipe I followed made one 2-layer cake, but I found I should have made it a 3-llayer instead.  I had too much batter for my 2 cake pans.

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup and 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

½ cup creamy peanut butter

2 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

For the filling:

2 ¼ cups whipping cream

½ cup light brown sugar

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

½ cup creamy peanut butter

For the chocolate frosting:

1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, softened

1 cup icing sugar

¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa

Pinch salt

¾ cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 ounces milk chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

3 cups chocolate peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and peanut butter together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the brown sugar.

6. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

7. Add the vanilla, mixing well.

8. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, mixing until just incorporated.

9. Divide the batter between your prepared cake pans and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

10. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.

11. For the filling: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream and brown sugar to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

12. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

13. Add the bittersweet chocolate chips to the saucepan and let stand for one minute.

14. Whisk in the creamy peanut butter until smooth.  Chill the filling until ready to assemble the cake.

15. For the frosting: Using your stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt.  Mix the ingredients together until smooth.

16. With the mixer running, slowly add the corn syrup and vanilla, mixing until smooth.

17. Add the melted chocolate to the mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the mixture is creamy and thoroughly combined.

18. To assemble the cake: Cover the outside and middle of the cake with the filling mixture, chill the entire cake (I did this the day before) and then frosted it with the chocolate frosting, topping it with the chopped peanut butter cups.

Enjoy!

Source: adapted slightly from Curvy Carrot Blog