Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

 Well, I was not going to post this on this blog, because honestly, there's nothing healthy, easy, or particularly "common sense" about it.  However, not everything in life has to be, right?  And your son only turns 16 years old once, and if he happens to share your affinity for chocolate/peanut butter desserts, you are well-justified in making something like this (and blogging about it) once in awhile.

And also, my friend Jill asked me to share the recipe after I posted pictures on Facebook.  So, this is for you, Jill!

 I researched a ton for this cake.  I knew exactly what I had in mind for it, and I couldn't find any one recipe that was "it" for me.  So, as I usually do with these things, I combined elements from different recipes to make what I wanted it to be.  I also did not make the cake from scratch- I went for convenience, and used a boxed cake mix.  It was still really darned good!  This cake is incredibly rich.  It was so heavy, I had to weigh it, and it was over 6 pounds!  Make sure to cut thin slices of this to serve.  I gave generous slices of this to three teenaged boys, and they all complained that they could hardly finish them.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

Cake:
1 box devil's food cake mix and ingredients included on package directions
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Mix cake mix according to package directions.  Stir in peanut butter and chocolate chips.

2. Bake according to package directions in two 9" round cake pans.

3.  Cool 10 minutes in pans, then remove cake from pans and allow to cool completely on wire racks.  (I refrigerated mine to speed up the cooling process.)

Filling:
1.5 cup creamy good quality peanut butter, NOT natural or reduced fat
4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup heavy cream (plus more if necessary)

4.  Mix peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer in a large bowl until it resembles coarse crumbs.

5.  Add cream and mix until it is a thick, fudgy consistency.

6.  Spray a 9" round cake pan with nonstick spray.  Press peanut butter mixture into the bottom of the pan, smoothing to the edge of the pan bottom .

7.  Freeze for 30 minutes.

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature (softened)
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp heavy cream, or enough to achieved desired consistency

8. In a large bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar.  Mix with an electric mixer until it resembles coarse crumbs.

9.  Add 1 tbsp of cream at a time and continue to mix, until frosting is soft and creamy and at the desired consistency.

Chocolate Ganache:
4 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream

10.  Place chips in a heatproof bowl and set aside.

11.  Heat cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to simmer.

12.  Remove from heat and immediately pour over chocolate chips in the bowl.  Allow to sit for 1 minute.

13.  Whisk mixture with a wire whisk until smoothe.

Topping:
15 mini Reese's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, coarsly chopped
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Cake Assembly:

14.  Place one cake round on cake platter upside down.

15.  Remove pan of peanut butter filling from freezer.  Add about 1 inch of warm water to a shallow pan, and put pan of peanut butter filling in it.  Allow to sit about 1 minute to loosen the filling.

16.  Run a knife or rubber spatula around the edge of the filling to loosen from pan, and pry up gently to pop it out of the pan in once piece.

17.  Place filling on cake layer, then add the other cake layer on top of the filling, right side up.

18.  Frost cake with peanut butter frosting.

19.  Prepare ganache.  Pour over the top of the frosted cake.  Use a rubber spatula to gently spread the ganache to the edges of the cake so that it drips down over the sides.

20.  Sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups and chips over the top.

Vanilla-Strawberry Tart

Happy Easter everyone!  We had a nice Easter dinner here that was not too much different from our standard Sunday dinner.  I roasted a whole chicken, and we had mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, rolls, and salad as sides.  Nothing too complicated.  I did want to make a nice dessert though, and wanted to do something nice and springy, without too much work.  I went to  Costco the other day and got a couple of containers of beautiful strawberries, so decided to use those.  What I came up with was a simple tart using a puff pastry base, along with vanilla pudding, and fresh strawberries, with whipped cream topping the whole thing off. The result is delicious!

Vanilla Strawberry Tart

Ingredients:

1 box Jello brand Cook-and-Serve Vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 puff pastry sheet
2 cups strawberries, tops removed and halved vertically
Whipped cream for garnish

1.  Line a 10-inch tart pan with puff pastry sheet.  Trim as necessary, and flute edges.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes, until pastry is cooked through.  Press down on center to compress pastry as it puffs up when it bakes.

2.  In the meantime, cook pudding according to package directions, and cool.

3.  When both crust and pudding are cooled, pour pudding into crust about 2/3 up the crust.  Reserve remaining pudding for another purpose.  Chill at least one hour until pudding is set.

4.  Arrange strawberry halves on top of pudding, making a ring around the edge of the tart, then moving inward, covering the tart with strawberries.

5.  Garnish with fresh whipped cream.