Monday, October 13, 2008

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

17 comments:

Wandering Coyote said...

OH, OH...! This has sent shivers up my spine! Chocolate & peanut butter is one of my favourite flavour combinations! This cake looks absolutely divine.

JEWEL said...

this is a masterpiece .. oh and all those delicious calories. I will have to try this one, Thanks for posting.

Deeba PAB said...

Stunning cake...very pretty indeed!

Nina Timm said...

Oh my word, this is one amazing cake. I can only imagine the comments....mmmmm, yummmm, ooooo, oh, oh,oh!!!!

Kelly said...

Oh my...I NEED this....

Anonymous said...

Looks beautiful! I am so glad this has become a favorite with your family. I only made it once and my friends are still talking about it!

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

My son would absolutely love this. He's a Reeses Peanutbutter Cup fanatic. Wonderful cake.

Fitness Foodie said...

Absolutely decadent...love PB with chocolate...what a fantastic cake.

Susan said...

The cake looks delicious. My grandson would love it!

Fabiola Galván said...

BEAUTIFUL!!! Hermoso!, hermoso! hermoso!!!

AndreaQ said...

I'm going to have to bookmark your recipe! My boyfriend lives for reeses peanut butter cups!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Looks wonderful. Love how you decorated it!
~ingrid

hello-emma said...

That looks like the most delicious cake ever! :'D
I would love to see how it looks inside :>

Anonymous said...

I am so totally in love with you right now!!!! I am a big believer in making things from scratch/all natural cooking /baking. No high fructose/hydrogenated oils. I am a HUGE PB/PB Cup/Chocoholic. i cant wait to try this recipe out!! Im a follower for sure!! :)

kristina said...

how long in advance can this frosting be made? i'd like to make it early...thank you!!!

Anonymous said...

The recipe text seems to exclude the 1/2 tsp. baking powder - do you add it with the dry ingredients. I am super excited to try the recipe for my husband's birthday!

Katie said...

Cake was so dry. So disappointed. :/