Super moist chocolate cake layered and topped with a truly majestic amount of... wait for it... PEANUT BUTTER CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM. It combines crunchy peanut butter (for texture and flavour) AND cream cheese AND butter AND heavy cream. Mmmmmm. It's so indulgent I almost kind of sort of feel like I should apologize. I would, but my mouth is full of frosting.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake:
1 1/2sticks12 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 3/4cupsgranulated sugar
1/2teaspoonsalt
1 1/2teaspoonsbaking soda
2teaspoonsreal vanilla extract
2cupsall purpose flour
3/4cupdutch process cocoa powder
4large eggs
1 1/2cupsevaporated milkcan substitute whole milk if necessary
For the Frosting:
8ouncescream cheesesoftened to room temperature
1stick butter8 tablespoons, softened to room temperature
3/4cupcrunchy peanut butterif you want super smooth frosting, use creamy peanut butter
1tablespoonreal vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2pounds6 to 8 cups powdered sugar
2-4tablespoonsheavy cream
For Garnish:
15Nutter Butter Cookiescrushed
1package Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups
Instructions
To Make and Bake the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease and flour three 8- inch round cake pans.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a batter blade, or with a hand mixer in a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla until it is fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides after each addition.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and cocoa powder until no lumps remain. If you can't whisk out the lumps, push it through a sieve or sift it.
Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the contents of the mixing bowl. Beat it in on medium low until no dry pockets remain. Add 1/3 of the milk and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue adding the flour and milk alternately, mixing until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl each time. The last addition should be milk. Mix just until evenly combined.
Divide the cake batter evenly between the three pans. Smooth the tops of the batter and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan a bit and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cakes rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
To Make the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Buttercream:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, peanut butter and vanilla extract on HIGH until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add the powdered sugar to the mixture and combine, starting the mixer on low and stopping it a couple of times until most of the sugar is moistened to prevent a big pouf of sugar. Again, beat on HIGH until smooth and combined. Turn off the mixer and add 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream. Beat on high until smooth. If you want thinner frosting, add more cream, 1 teaspoon at a time.
To Frost the Cake:
Lay 1 of your cakes on a cake plate or large platter (make a square of 4 pieces of parchment paper to lay your cake on to keep the plate clean while frosting if you want.) Add about 3/4 to 1 cup of frosting to the middle of the cake and spread to the edges. Lay another cake on top and repeat with the frosting. Lay the final cake on top and go to town with the rest of the frosting. Spread it thickly over the top and sides. Rim the cake top with mini-Reese's peanut butter cups then sprinkle the crushed Nutter Butters into the center.
Remove the parchment, if you used it, and refrigerate for an hour or so before slicing.
Enjoy!
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.