Peanut Butter

(Can you believe there is a song about peanut butter?!?! In fact, there are loads!)

There is an absolute definite chill in the air today which means one thing only…autumn is here and winter is around the corner.  Time to start getting out the bigger socks!  I find the thoughts that come with winter to be a real mixed bunch.  There’s the endless darkness, the rain, and my least favourite thing of all; the cold.  But, on the flip side, the idea of hunkering down by a cosy fire, watching the twinkling lights, wrapping up in snuggly scarves is all so idyllic.  And then there’s the wholesome, warming food.  This year autumn began with a request for a 40^th birthday cake.  I love the excuse to go all out with a cake and now the hot citrus summer months have been left behind, why not bring in the autumn with the intense, deep flavour of a peanut butter chocolate cake?

Reese’s Pieces Birthday cake

For the chocolate cake:

x 3 eight-inch tins – greased and lined; and an eight-inch cake board

x 3 six-inch tins – greased and lined; and a six-inch cake board

565g softened unsalted butter

565g caster sugar

10 eggs

465g self-raising flour

100g cocoa powder

2-3 tsp baking powder

(Obviously, this is to fill all 6 tins but you may wish to make the cakes in batches)

Preheat oven to 180°C

Mix together butter and sugar until pale in colour

Add the eggs one by one

Double sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder

Fold in the flour, cocoa and baking powder until all combined

Divide the mixture between the tins

Give the tins a good bash to even out the mixture as much as possible

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean

For the peanut butter frosting

I used the following recipe but added a little less icing (powdered) sugar and it was fine

Add the milk slowly as it can suddenly become too runny

You will need to do a “crumb coat” (a thin layer of frosting to catch the crumbs) and then fridge the cake for this to set before doing the final ice

For the chocolate ganache

200g block of dark chocolate, broken into pieces

200ml double cream

Warm the cream slowly over a low heat until very nearly coming to the boil

Remove from the heat and add the broken chocolate

Stir to allow the chocolate to melt

Allow to cool a little before dripping on the cake, but not too much or it will start to set

(I put strong straws in the base cake so that the smaller cake will sit on top of them without sinking in)

For the decoration

Reese’s pieces peanut butter cups (minis and full size broken into pieces)

Reese’s pieces candy (if you can get your hands on them) or peanut butter M&Ms

Go to town!

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