chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter creme filling

 
 
 
 

Karen asked for cake for her birthday. This has never happened before because she doesn't like cake. I wouldn't say she hates it, just doesn't see the point. 

There's always a lack of understanding, common ground, on particular topics in a relationship. Ours is cake. We love pie. Diggin on the cupcakes. But two roads diverge on the issue of cake. I say yes. She says meh.

Except for one cake, that is. Remember our mention of the Chocolate Bar cookbook with the best brownies in. the. world. a while back? It also contains the best chocolate cake we've ever eaten. Fudge. It's like a cake of fudge. Not cakey at all. Dense, moist, giant-wet-crumb. And a deep chocolate butter frosting for the ages. The best part of it is that it gets better the longer it sits, if you can wait. 

Karen asked for cake because our son was disappointed that she didn't have a cake with candles on her actual birthday. She had pie. And we didn't do candles. Apparently, it is not acceptable to a 3-year-old to experience a birthday without a cake. Or candles. So Karen's eyes got dreamy when she said, "Make me the chocolate fudge cake. But with peanut butter. Somehow. Figure it out."

Slept on her challenge for a night. Then I had it. I'd take the most perfect chocolate cake in the world and shove it full of the filling from the most perfect peanut butter cookie sandwich in the world - the Bouchon nutter butters. This was a holy marriage of chocolate and peanut butter, fudge and an unbearable lightness of being. 

Safest bet I've ever made. Also, the best cake I've ever made. This cake is complete. It is perfected. All other chocolate fudge peanut butter cakes will fall short (sorry). It might not win any beauty contests, but I have no tolerance for pretty little things that aren't worth their calories. This cake is worth it.

Make this for someone you love, especially if you are that someone. You deserve it. Really.

recipe | chocolate fudge cake (via The Chocolate Bar cookbook) with peanut butter creme filling (via Bouchon Bakery)

For the cake

• 2 2/3 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 c unsweetened nonalkalized cocoa powder
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 c sour cream
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 c corn oil (I used canola. We survived.)
• 1 1/4 c. ice water

For the fudge frosting

• 6 oz unsweetened chocolate (if you don't like intense dark chocolate like our friend, Alyssa A., you might want to use semi- or bittersweet chocolate)
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 c confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 T vanilla extract

For the filling

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ c creamy peanut butter, preferably Skippy
• 1 2/3 c confectioners' sugar

The cake

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder & soda, and salt. Whisk the ingredients together until well mixed. Smack the bowl on the backside and tell it how pretty it looks. Then feel ashamed.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended. Don't say anything to them. 

Pull out the electric mixer and slap on the paddle attachment or beaters. On low speed, mix together the oil and butter. Beat in the water. See how cool it is? You've got solid fats now. That's the secret to the recipe. Turn off the mixer. Get excited.

Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low for 1 minute. Scrape down sides. Add the egg mixture and praise them. They're ready to accept it now. Blend it all together, maybe a minute. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for 50-55 minutes. Don't split the difference. Start with 50 and test to see if it comes out clean. Add a minute each time until you're happy.

Cool the cakes in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then invert the cakes on the rack and remove the pans. Cool completely.

The fudge frosting

Melt your chocolate, either over a double boiler or 90 second on 70% in the microwave. Let it cool completely.

Clean your mixer bowl and paddle/beaters. Slap it back together and beat the butter on medium-high for 1 minute until it's creamy. Add the sifted confectioners' sugar and beat until well blended and light, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and drizzle in the chocolate. Bump up the speed to medium high and beat for 1 minute until glossy.

The peanut butter creme

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and confectioners' sugar with the paddle attachment, probably 2 minutes.

Assemble

Slice off the domed tops of the cakes so they are flat. Place a layer on your serving plate. Add on the peanut butter creme. Smooth out without touching the sides (squishing it out the side is tasty but a little ungainly). Place on the second layer. Spread out the fudge frosting on the top and sides using an offset spatula. You're welcome.

Hint - this cake benefits from some refrigeration. It helps the entire enterprise of cake and peanut butter and fudge frosting stand up to the world united while melding the layers together. Maybe an hour. Not a lot. Or forget it and just dig into the cake. Perfect slices are for when you need to appear fancy. Get over it and eat.

peanut butter crispy bars

If I had to be honest why I love this recipe, it's because hot sugar scares me.

Most cooking involves a minimum level of danger - open flames, knives that are duller than they should be (making it easier to cut yourself), forgetting I just chopped a habanero and touching my eye.

But hot sugar is kind of terrifying. I had a caramel sauce that foamed up and poured over the pan, burning my hand in the process. That super-saturated sugar water isn't forgiving to skin. 

But much like the Shetland pony that my brothers and I had growing up, which would run full gallop with us riding her without a saddle, only to stop on a dime and send us flying over her head...well, you can't let a few minor disasters in the kitchen stop you from trying to get it right.

So, get the pony ready, 'cuz we're going for a wild ride. It's another dessert from the Baked cookbook (did you get your copy yet?) - essentially a perfect peanut butter cup set on top of a sweet and crunchy foundation of crispy rice cereal. It's going to make you happy. And there's just a little bit of hot sugar involved. You'll be ok.

recipe | peanut butter crispy bars, from the Baked cookbook (buy. it. now.)

For the crispy crust 

1 3/4 cups crisped rice cereal

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted


For the milk chocolate peanut butter layer

5 ounces good-quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy brand)

For the chocolate icing

3 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72 percent cocoa), coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup

4 tablespoons unsalted butter


Make the crispy crust
Lightly coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.


Pour 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and corn syrup (do not let any sugar or syrup get on the sides of the pan. It will burn easily if you do, and you don't want that) and use a small wooden spoon to stir the mixture until just combined. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 degrees F. It took me longer than I expected. Be patient.


Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, and pour the mixture over the cereal. Working quickly, stir until the cereal is thoroughly coated, then pour it into the prepared pan. Using your hands, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan (do not press up the sides). Let the crust cool to room temperature while you make the next layer.


Make the milk chocolate peanut butter layer
In a large nonreactive metal bowl, stir together the chocolate and the peanut butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for about 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust. Put the pan in the refridgerator for 1 hour, or until the top layer hardens.


Make the chocolate top
In a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the chilled milk chocolate peanut butter layer and spread (actually, I found it easier to just roll it around until it coated smoothly, avoiding the risk of picking up any of the peanut butter layer with it) into an even layer. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the topping hardens.


Cut into nine-ish squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to four days. But you will want to eat them all at once. Just make another batch tomorrow. No one will know.