Happy Birthday Dempsey Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

I’m really excited to share with you this Happy Birthday Dempsey Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake. Today, my nephew Dempsey was born very early in the morning, just about 23 minutes too late to share his birthday with his father, my brother Ivan. Because we don’t know what Dempsey likes yet, and since he can’t eat cake, I made this Happy Birthday Dempsey Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake with his father’s birthday in mind. My brother loves the Peanut Butter and Chocolate combo, so I decided to make one of my favorite old standby recipes from Ina Garten in honor of both Dempsey and Ivan. Truth told, Dempsey came before I had a chance to go grocery shopping so I wanted a recipe I could make with things I had on hand. You will notice that I’ve varied the original recipe to accommodate some leftover Snowstorm Hot Chocolate. I thought it would be fun to share how I substitute and alternate to use up leftovers, but if you don’t have Snowstorm Hot Chocolate on hand or don’t want to make it, it’s really easy to make the cake without it. I do recommend using melted chocolate, rather than cocoa powder because it’s much easier to find specific percentage cacao chocolate than it is to find specific cocoa powder. I like a really dark chocolate in this cake because of the peanut butter frosting. It’s delicious, but it’s so rich and the bitter chocolate balances that sweetness perfectly. I know my brother will love the sweet, bitter, salty combo of this cake this weekend when I get to go meet Dempsey. So Happy Birthday Dempsey! This Happy Birthday Dempsey Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake is for you (and your dad) and soon enough, you’ll be learning to crack the eggs and lick the beaters. I can’t wait.

Print Recipe

Happy Birthday Dempsey Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Happy Birthday Dempsey Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake is based on Ina Garten's awesome chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Servings: 12

Author: Barrett Bridenhagen

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅔ cup brown sugar packed
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup yogurt or sour cream
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups Snowstorm Hot Chocolate* chilled
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter**
• 4-5 tablespoons unsalted butter; room temperature
• ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 5-6 tablespoons heavy cream
• Chopped salted peanuts; optional decoration
• Cocoa powder; optional decoration

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on high until light and fluffy (2-5 minutes).
• Lower the speed and add the eggs. Mix well. Add the vanilla. Add yogurt, buttermilk, and hot chocolate. Mix well.
• Add baking soda and salt. Mix well.
• Finally, add in the flour and mix only until blended. Check the batter with a spatula to be sure it's completely blended.
• Fill greased cake pans** or cupcake pans ⅔ full.
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pans. Cool completely before frosting.
• Meanwhile, beat peanut butter and butter on high until it’s smooth. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and mix until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.
• Add 3 tablespoons of the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth. Add up to 3 more tablespoons until you reach your desired consistency.
• Frost the cakes and cupcakes. If you're doing a double layer cake, I like to put strips of wax paper around the cake to keep the tray clean. Also, you may need to use a serrated knife to level the bottom layer of the cake.
• Slather a thin layer of frosting between the two cakes.
• Add the top layer and frost the entire outside of the cake. To decorate, I taped waxed paper over a heart-shaped cookie cutter. 
• I then tapped cocoa powder around it to create a heart border on the cake.
• Then I added chopped salted peanuts.
• I frosted the cupcakes and garnished them with peanuts as well.

Notes

Makes an 8” double layer cake, or 1 small 2 cup heart cake and 8 cupcakes or 15 cupcakes.
*If you don’t have it on hand or feel like making it, then add 1 cup buttermilk (here’s how to make buttermilk at home) and 3 ounces melted very dark chocolate (I used 72% cacao but unsweetened would be great too).
**Peanut butter brands vary a lot, so having some wiggle rooms is a good thing. I use homemade peanut butter which is great because it doesn’t have sugar in it, but to get the fluffiest, smoothest, you actually want to use something commercial, like skippy. I like the little bit of texture that natural peanut butter adds, but just keep in mind the peanut butter will affect the texture a lot.

Adapted from Ina Garten

Meet Dempsey!