It's never too early in the morning for a piece of cake! Unless, of course, you've just stuffed yourself full of Mike's mother's delicious Easter Sunday brunch (complete with hash browns, kielbasa, breakfast sausage, spiced bacon, cinnamon buns, poppy seed rolls, hard boiled eggs, and assorted fruits), which is inevitably what happened before I could even think about consuming any of this ridiculously tasty cake. I think I ate more bacon and cinnamon buns over the course of an hour than most people consume within a month...
But wait! You're wondering about the birthday celebration I mentioned in my last post... the one with all the peanut butter and chocolate goodness? Alas, at the last minute unforeseen circumstances prevented such a celebration from taking place and left me with a rather large and daunting two-layer chocolate cake covered in peanut butter frosting and chopped up peanut butter cups; all to myself, too, since I used buttermilk in the cake and heavy cream in the frosting (see also: the sometimes inconvenient consequences of living with someone who has a severe dairy-allergy).
With my original plans shot, I decided to accompany Mike to his parents' house for Easter brunch, yet again (third year and counting - I was hoping to do something different for a change, but this way I ended up getting fed way more than I would have if I'd done otherwise). However, knowing that Mike's mom spent all morning (and probably most of the night before) in the kitchen preparing food for nine other people, I felt bad not bringing something to share with everyone. It was all too short notice to bake anything new so I sliced the peanut butter chocolate cake in half and wrapped one half up to take with me.
Unfortunately, we left before any of his family had a chance to try a piece of the cake and give me some feedback, so the only opinion I have on this cake so far is my own. The cake has been on my mind since I baked it Friday night and put it together Saturday morning, so I was ecstatic when I finally got enough hunger back in me to try a piece yesterday. I was worried that the chocolate cake would taste odd because I accidentally burnt the chocolate when I was mixing all the ingredients together, but it didn't affect the taste noticeably. I am very pleased with how well the frosting came out; it was my second attempt ever at making frosting and I was afraid it would be too runny like the first time, but it came out wonderfully - perfectly thick and creamy and not too sweet. The best part of this cake, however, are the crushed up peanut butter cups sandwiched in between the frosting and two layers of cake... they add the perfect texture to each bite!
At this rate, I can't guarantee that my friend will actually end up getting any of this cake, even though I did bake it for her specifically; I'm going out of town for a week tomorrow so if she wants what's left of it, well, that's all up to her. It's so incredibly satisfying, I would probably finish it myself if I weren't going away. Don't worry though, I have a feeling I'll be posting often this week; my siblings will keep me plenty busy with their food requests.

Oh! Here is a link to the recipe I used for the cake and frosting. I'm not going to bother reposting it because I think Amanda does a fantastic job of laying it all out for you.

Labels: cake, chocolate, peanut butter