Reece's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

"You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!"......"You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!" This is the dialog from the Reece's Peanut Butter Cup commercial when I was a kid. I remember the first time I tasted the yummy combination of these two ingredients....fantastic and addicting! It remains a favorite to this day, some 20 something years later. When I saw this recipe on Annie's blog (Annieseats.wordpress.com) I knew I would have to make this. What an ingenious idea..put the combination together in a cake. Wow! I first baked this and served it poolside for our end of the summer celebration for the kids and they raved over how wonderful this was. And this past weekend, our little girl requested it as the cake for her birthday party. How could I tell her no?

The cake is so moist and rich and when you add the creamy peanut butter icing and chopped up Reece'...it's a combination that can hardly be topped! It's an incredibly rich cake, so I served small pieces along with ice cream. It's also great with an ice cold glass of milk.

Reece's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt.
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)

For decorating:
1 1/2 - 2 batches peanut butter frosting
miniature Reese's cups, halved and/or chopped

1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9x2" round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Place the pans on a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, folding it in with a spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard circle covered in foil. Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer. (If desired, sprinkle with chopped Reese's cups). Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. Decorate with halved and chopped Reese's cups as desired.

Source: from Annie's Eats, cake from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, frosting from Ina Garten