Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake | #recipe

Today, we turn 34 years young, and we have the most serious of serious questions to ask. Does this mean we're now in our mid-30’s? If the answer is yes, don’t tell us. It dumbfounds us to think that at 34 years old, our mom already had a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old. We barely feel like a grown-up, save for the mortgage payments and general responsibilities that come with not being 18 anymore.

If time is going to keep on moving, we might as well welcome it with open arms and some phenomenal cake, right? We have had this cake on the brain for months, but decided to shelve it and save it for our birthday. We couldn’t think of anything more reliable for us than an overdose of chocolate and peanut butter to the highest degree.

We basically took our favorite chocolate cake, our favorite peanut butter frosting, tons of peanut butter cups, and smooshed it all together into one of the most fabulous cakes we have made to date.

For someone who could eat chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this cake is a dream come true.

The cake is the same one we used for our Snickers cake last year; do you remember how much we went on and on about how it’s a standby chocolate cake ever?

Well, it’s still a standby chocolate cake ever.

Case closed.

The peanut butter frosting is a double batch from our chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes, and we love it because it’s silky smooth, peanut butter-y and not at all too sugar-y. We would love to just eat it from a bowl with a spoon. However, we'll settle for it on this cake along with tons of chopped peanut butter cups, because, of course, there needs to be peanut butter cups.

We plan to spend our birthday relaxing, going to a hockey game, and eating a ridiculous amount of dessert.

That’s what birthdays are for, right?

One year ago: Italian Easter Pie
Three years ago: Tiramisu Cupcakes
Four years ago: Straightforward Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Six years ago: Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy

Watch How to Make the Peanut Butter Cup Cake:

Yield: 12 to 14 servings
Prep: 3 hours
Cook: 32 minutes
Total: 3 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cake:

2½ cups ( 312.5 g ) + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups ( 600 g ) granulated sugar
1 cup ( 86 g ) + 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ( 1.5 teaspoons ) baking powder
1½ teaspoons ( 1.5 teaspoons ) salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
1½ cups ( 360 ml ) buttermilk, at room temperature
1½ cups ( 355.5 ml ) strong black coffee, hot
¾ cup ( 163.5 ml ) vegetable oil
4½ teaspoons ( 4.5 teaspoons ) vanilla extract

For the Peanut Butter Frosting:

2 cups ( 240 g ) powdered sugar
2 cups ( 516 g ) creamy peanut butter
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ teaspoons ( 1.5 teaspoons ) vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) kosher salt
⅔ cup ( 158.67 ml ) heavy cream

For the Chocolate Ganache:

8 ounces ( 226.8 g ) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup ( 178.5 ml ) heavy cream
30 miniature peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped, divided

Method

Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper, grease the parchment, then flour the insides of the pans, tapping out excess; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer (or large mixing bowl if you’re using a hand mixer), sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for an additional 20 seconds (the batter will be thin).
Divide the batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pans in the oven. Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out almost clean (with a few plush crumbs), about 12 more minutes. Cool the cakes (in the pans) on wire racks for 20 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely.
Make the Peanut Butter Frosting: Place the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the heavy cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth (do not overbeat).
Assemble the Cake: If your cakes baked up uneven or have domed on top, level off the tops. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Cover with 1 cup of the peanut butter frosting and sprinkle 10 of the chopped peanut butter cups over the frosting. Top with a second cake layer and cover with another 1 cup of the peanut butter frosting, and top with another 10 chopped peanut butter cups. Place the final cake layer on top face-down. Frost the cake with the remaining peanut butter frosting, finishing it as smoothly as possible. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour, until the frosting is set.
Make the Chocolate Ganache: While the cake chills, make the chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate in a 4-cup measuring cup; set aside. Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and warm until it just comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Begin whisking the mixture in the center, gradually working your way outward until the ganache is completely smooth. Set aside to cool, whisking occasionally, until it has thickened slightly, yet still a pourable consistency.
Garnish the Cake: If the ganache was mixed in a bowl, transfer it to a 2-cup measuring cup. Slowly pour the chocolate ganache into the center of the cake, letting it push itself outward and flow over the sides of the cake. Top with the remaining 10 chopped peanut butter cups. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes, giving the ganache a chance to set up. Keep the cake refrigerated, removing it from the refrigerator about 20 minutes prior to serving.