Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I recently won Katie Lee Joel's cookbook at a girls card night. While my friend did not buy this book with me in mind, it definitely landed in good hands (thanks, Brooke!). We all bring a $10 gift to card night and the winner of each round gets to pick a gift. Anyway, I've used this book more than many cookbooks I've asked for and the recipes are all great. You might remember Katie Lee as the original host of Top Chef. She only made it one season and she kind of fell off the map after that (aside from the fact that she's married to Billy Joel). I recently saw her promoting her southern cookbook on TV and with an endorsement from Paula Deen, I knew she must be for real. Well, she is. This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake was so yummy. Be warned though - it makes a HUGE cake. I might actually try to half the recipe next time because the cake is also very rich. If you are a fan of the chocolate, peanut butter combo, this is a must-try.


Time: 2 hours
Serves: an army! maybe 25 people?

Ingredients

Cake 2 sticks of unsalted butter 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup cocoa powder 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp kosher salt 2 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 18oz jar of creamy peanut butter (about 2 cups)

Frosting 1 stick of unsalted butter 1/4 cup of cocoa powder 6 TBSP buttermilk 1 16oz package of powdered sugar

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan with Crisco, melted butter or Pam.
3. Put a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and add your 2 sticks of butter, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and 1 cup of water. 
4. Stir it as it heats until it's just barely bubbling around the edges. Remove it from the heat and set aside.

5. In a large bowl, combine the 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar and 1 tsp baking soda with a wooden spoon.
6. Add your eggs and vanilla to the flour mixture and use your wooden spoon to stir it until smooth. You may have to beat the eggs up a little with the spoon after you first add them.

7. Slowly pour your chocolate mixture into the flour mixture and use your wooden spoon to mix it all together.

8. Pour the batter into your greased baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until you can stick a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean. I checked mine at 20 minutes, per the recipe, and the top was still jiggly. If your top jiggles, don't take it out yet - you'll want it to be set.

9. While your cake is still warm, spoon the peanut butter over the top in several globs. Spread it around with a knife and let the peanut butter-topped cake cool for 1 hour.

Frosting

1. Put a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and add your 1 stick of butter, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 6 TBSP of buttermilk.
2. Stir it as it heats until it's just barely bubbling around the edges, then remove it from the heat.

3. Add in your powdered sugar and mix it well. The recipe calls for sifting the sugar so feel free to do that if you so choose.
4. Pour the warm frosting over your peanut butter-topped cake and spread the frosting around to cover the top.

5. Let the cake cool for another hour, then cut into squares and serve. I found the cake kept for about a week but I don't recommend keeping it around the house.