Peanut Cream Chocolate Cake

You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!
And you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!

Chocolate and peanut butter, peanut butter and chocolate.  Either way it's always yummy!

I made this Peanut Cream Chocolate Cake for the Teacher Appreciation Week Dessert Buffet this year, inspired by this vintage recipe:

image source

I say inspired but very vaguely.  My cake is chocolate but not made from the original recipe, I used a pre-fab boxed mix.  My cake is bunt and not a sheet.  I then also added extra toppings: a peanut butter sauce and chopped peanuts.  Basically I only used the recipe for the peanut butter frosting (still tweaked it a bit though!).

The Peanut Butter Frosting recipe is really hard to read in the vintage image up above so here it is with my streamlining:

2/3 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup brown sugar (my addition)

Cream butter thoroughly.  Add 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar gradually and cream until very light and fluffy.  Add 1/2 cup peanut butter, a small amount at a time, creaming well after each addition.  Add 1/2 cup confectioner sugar and brown sugar then cream til smooth. 

The Peanut Butter Topping Drizzle is something of my own invention:

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup sweet condensed milk

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 TBS milk

In a double boiler on the stove top blend together peanut butter, milk, and condensed milk.  Stir in brown sugar til blended.  Remove from heat to cool slightly before using.  I also added a bit of brown food coloring for a more defined contrast against the peanut butter frosting.

 I remake very few "Tried and True" recipes. I like baking desserts I have never made before.  Only that can be a bit of a risk when I make something like this that I am donating.  I came up with an idea this time of how to try out a piece of cake without sending the dessert to it's recipients with a slice missing.  I reserved a tiny bit of the cake batter and baked one small cupcake (along with the big cake) as my tester!   I then slathered the cupcake with the frosting, drizzle, and chopped peanuts as a sample.  It was delicious!   PB told me that one of the teachers stopped him in the hall to say that it was the best cake she had ever had!

 Of course this cupcake tester idea is probably something that all bakers have been doing for centuries and I just got around to figuring it out!

Here are just a few past peanutty posts from the archives:
Super Goober Dessert
Peanuts and Candy Corn Halloween Snack Treat
National Peanut Day
We're "Nuts" about our Teachers
Peanut Goodies
Chocolate Scotcheroos