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.
Servings: 12
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
*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