In honor of the best holiday ever to be made, Cake Day (created by my fabulous fellow book worm friend Linden), Kelley of my achy bakey heart and I teamed up to make a special creation. Cake Day was earlier this month, and it was quite a celebration. We lucked out and had some beautiful weather, as the celebration was outdoors at a local park.
Cake Day happens to be a day when you get together with friends or loved ones (or both) and eat cake and just enjoy the day. Linden has been having Cake Day for over a decade now, and I can understand why her celebration has grown. There were at least a half a dozen cakes present when Brad and I arrived, and I am proud to say that the cake Kelley and I made was pretty much the fan favorite.
Coming to an agreement on what to bake was a bit of a challenge. As we all know, I can be picky, and thus wanted to stay away from cakes with fruit. An additional challenge was a lack of time, as both Kelley and I had full schedules the week before, and ended up making our cake on a Thursday night before the celebration. After I got my hair cut. Across town.
We decided to make Bakerella’s peanut butter cup cake, which I had actually made last year for the 4th of July. So I knew it was a good one. And easy, because it starts with a boxed mix. And I knew it was a showstopper, with all those peanut butter cups on top. Not to mention delicious.
Since Cake Day was outside on a warm day, when we got there the cake was a bit melty. But oh my goodness, it is SO good melty. So much so that I would recommend putting your slice in the microwave before eating. That’s how good it was.
The recipe originally comes from parents.com, of all places. And as you can see, we followed Bakerella’s lead by going overboard on the peanut butter cups.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
1 box (18.25 ounces) devil’s food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (we used powdered buttermilk, I swear by the stuff)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chopped chocolate-covered peanut butter cups (about 8 ounces), plus more to garnish (WAY more to garnish)
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line with waxed paper; coat paper.
In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups. Or if you’re me, you make Kelley beat it by hand.
Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto wire racks and cool completely.
Place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and whisk until smooth. Again if you’re me, you forget about the heavy cream and let it boil over.
Trim top of cake layers flat with a serrated knife. Put 1 cake layer on cooling rack and place on a baking sheet. Pour 1 cup frosting on top; spread evenly with a spatula. Top with remaining cake layer. Pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and sides with spatula. Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Transfer cake to serving plate and garnish with chopped candy, if desired.
22 comments
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May 13, 2009 at 9:46 am
Stephanie
What a decadent and fun cake!!
May 13, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Kelly
Holy Goodness! Make me one huh? It should be nice and melty be the time it gets to me.
May 14, 2009 at 6:01 am
grace
lindsey. good googa mooga. what an extraordinary cake, whether it be frozen solid, chilled, room temp, warm, or in a melted mound of chocolatey goo. awesomely done!
May 19, 2009 at 2:43 pm
pigpigscorner
That looks amazing and delicious! I can’t wait to dig in!
May 19, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Memoria
I bet this would be even better with a homemade batter, like the Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe.
May 20, 2009 at 9:38 am
Alejandra
What a beautiful and totally over the top cake! So fun and I can imagine it would be a huge hit at a party!
May 20, 2009 at 12:20 pm
stephchows
OH MY!! WOW that image seriously made me start drooling. It looks beautiful!
May 20, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Hillary
Love it! It looks like one HUGE pile of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! Thanks for this post.
May 20, 2009 at 3:07 pm
rita
wow this looks amazing. just amazing.
May 20, 2009 at 3:40 pm
kelley
omg, a coworker saw this on tastespotting before i even realized it was up and was like, i was just looking at blogs and there you were!! hilarious.
also, i like that the pb cups have been caught falling off the side.
May 20, 2009 at 5:10 pm
oneordinaryday
Holy cow!
I could use a big fat slice of that cake right now!
May 21, 2009 at 8:22 am
Jess
Hi there. I do believe I came across your friend, Linden, on cake day this year. She was wearing a fabulous “cake day” shirt, and I walked over to learn more about this most excellent-sounding holiday. The cake is beautiful, and so is your blog.
May 21, 2009 at 9:33 am
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May 21, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Gina
OH that looks so yummy!!
May 21, 2009 at 2:42 pm
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[…] cups are my absolute favorite candy ever and this cake just makes me feel good. Here is the full recipe from Picky Eatings. Comments […]
May 21, 2009 at 7:05 pm
lyndsay
OH.MY.GOODNESS. that looks sooooo freaking good!!!
May 22, 2009 at 8:15 am
erin @ dessert girl
I can’t stop looking at this cake!!
May 23, 2009 at 10:54 am
Robyn
Oh my my – I have the perfect boy to eat this cake! ~ Robyn
May 26, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Michelle
OMG, I’m breaking my diet today!
June 19, 2009 at 8:06 am
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March 31, 2010 at 9:42 am
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February 22, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Sandi
THIS LOOKS AMAZING! Anything with that many peanut butter cups is A-OK in my books!