Peanut Chocolate Cake

Jellyqueen's Note:

This recipe came from The Taste of Home Magazine. I have made a couple of very small changes to suit me. It is a very light cake and makes a very large cake. Very rich!!! TOH recommends to NOT use the fat reduces or generic brands for this cake and I fully agree!!!!

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 large c ...

CAKE

• ½ cup butter , softened
• 2 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate , melted and slightly cooled
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup water

FROSTING

• 1 cup butter , softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. CAKE: Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a large bowl, mix butter and brown sugar.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Add chocolate and vanilla and beat well.
5. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together and add to creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream.
6. Gradually beat in water.
7. Pour into two greased and flored 9" round baking pans.
8. Bake for 35- 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then remove and place on wire rack to cool completely.
10. FROSTING: Cream butter, peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla in bowl until smooth.
11. If needed for desired consistency, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time to get the frosting you desire.
12. Place bottom layer of cake on cake plate and spread top with peanut butter frosting.
13. Place next layer on top and frost sides, then top of the cake with the frosting.
14. (The original recipe calls for spitting the 2 layers and making 4. I leave my cake in 2 layers. I'm lazy!) Once cake is frosted, sprinkle chopped honey roasted peanuts on top or press them onto the sides of the cake.

Reviews

[Roxanne J.R.]

MMM what a wonderful cake. The cake and icing complimented each other perfectly. I followed the recipe as is and the cake came out moist and chocolaty while the icing was surprisingly not as sweet as it looks, with a peanut butter taste which reminds me of the middle of a Reese's cup somewhat. Yummy! I did opt to leave out the finely chopped nuts as garnish cause I knew I wouldn't enjoy it like that. I also made this into a three layer cake, dividing batter evenly among my pans. I found that I did not need to add any milk to get a spreadable consistency on my frosting as well. Thanks for the recipe, it was delightful.

[Rachie P]

Pretty Darn good! Next time I think instead of adding the 1 cup water to the cake batter, I will use 1 cup cold coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor. Other than that it was great. I chopped up peanuts AND chocolate chips to press into the side to make it prettier. I like that it wasn't as heavy or dense as I thought it would be - the filling is really fluffy!

[Shels]

This review is based solely on the Peanut Butter Icing. I used this on the Dark and Decadent Chocolate cake. This icing is yummy! Not an overwhelming peanut butter flavour, which is nice. However, I think that I would cut back on the butter next time, it was a bit much. I also only used 3 cups of icing sugar, because I sifted it to prevent lumps. Thanks again for a great recipe!