Reese Peanut Butter Cake...Round 2

Last year I made this cake for Tim's closeout at work. You can read about it here. Tim was asked if I was going to make it again this year. I had not planned on making this again but at the last minute I gave it and I'm glad that I did. It came out much better than last year. 

For what ever reason I couldn't sleep and ended up being wide awake at 5 a.m. I figured while I was up I might as well start the cake part that way later I just have to decorate it. This was a bad decision. I made the cakes and they got stuck in the pan and they fell apart so badly that even the massive amounts of frosting could not fix it. So I started over and greased, sprayed, and floured the pan and I had no issues with the cakes coming out of the pans. 

Max was helping me. I gave him the beater to lick and he just threw it back in the batter.

I used the same cake recipe at last year.

Cake

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup sifted natural unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted, then measured)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups water
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Line pan bottoms with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into large bowl. Whisk 2 cups water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend. Gradually add water mixture to dry ingredients, whisking until batter is smooth. Divide batter between prepared pans (scant 3 cups each).

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs still attached, about 28 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Cut around cakes and turn out onto racks. Peel off parchment and cool.

Filling

• 8oz semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped

• 8oz heavy cream
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup Reese's peanut butter cups, roughly chopped

Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Pour it over the chocolate in a medium bowl. Whisk until the chocolate melts, then whisk in the peanut butter until it's all incorporated and smooth. Set aside 1/4 of the filling for the first layer of frosting. Cool the other 3/4 completely, then gently stir in the peanut butter cups.

Frosting

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the butter and peanut butter. Add the vanilla, then the sugar. I beat mine until it was pretty fluffy

The "filling" getting hard in the frig.

 Thoughts on this cake: It came out WAY better than last year. This year's cake was moist, the filling was evenly distributed and the peanut butter frosting was much smoother and fluffier.

Disclaimers: Make sure you have a good amount of time to make this cake and to let the cakes cool completely and for the filling to harden up so that the frosting goes on smooth.

What I would change about the cake: NOTHING! It came out great and everyone loved it.