Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

     These days I am always looking for a reason to cook something--anything. Because if I don't have a reason then I'll just bake whatever I want and either a) I eat it (BAD!) or b) it goes to waste (WORSE!). So I am constantly searching for something/someone/inanimate objects to cook for.

     Mine and Adam's friend Steve-O's birthday is today (Happy Birthday Steve!), and over a week ago I had already been thinking in my head, "there's a reason! it's Steve's birthday! I can bake him something for his birthday!" AND plus, Steve is a good friend of ours so I just wanted to do something nice for him for his birthday. But what to bake? There's no better way to find out exactly what somebody wants than to ask them... so I did. We all were playing a speed game of disc golf (ok, the boys were throwing discs and I just caught my breath before we ran to the next hole) and somewhere in there I asked him what his favorite dessert for his birthday was. He said his grandmother used to make him peanut butter chocolate cakes for his birthday as a kid and he really loved peanut butter and chocolate. And there you go! Peanut butter chocolate cake sounded delicious, and I had already baked a cake like this before for my sweet friend Liz L. so this was going to be a cinch! But when should I make this cake? As it turned out, his sweet fiance Michelle came into town last weekend while the boys had time off-- the perfect time to have a small celebration for his birthday! A few of us had already planned to go watch football and grill out over at Steve and Michelle's that Saturday, so when I talked to Michelle on the phone on Friday about what I should bring I offered to bake Steve's birthday cake. When I got off the phone with her I was on a mission. I immediately went to the kitchen to start baking.

     For the cake part of this confection I used The Very Best Chocolate Cake Recipe from Woman's Day. To see this recipe made step-by-step refer to my post Turtle Cake a.k.a. Rachel H.'s Birthday Cake.

While the cake was baking I began making a sauce to pour over the hot cake when it came out of the oven. For the sauce...

in a medium saucepan melt together 3 large reese's cups with two tablespoons of butter.

This is what it looks like melted.

When the cake comes out of the oven turn the cake out onto parchment paper lined plates. Then...

using a knife, poke slits into the top of the cake. The slits should be about one inch apart.

Pour half of the hot sauce over one hot cake round. Repeat with the other cake round.

Spread the sauce over the entire surface of the cakes using the back of a spoon. Let cakes cool completely.

When the cakes are cool whip up the peanut butter frosting... yum!

For the full recipe with measurements click here: Peanut Butter Frosting.*

*I doubled the recipe for this cake.

In a large bowl beat together peanut butter, butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and salt using a hand mixer. Beat till uniform.

Like this!

Then add in the heavy cream and beat until smooth and creamy. Mouth. Watering.

This is just a little confession of mine: I drink/sip heavy cream. Like, straight. Don't judge me.

Look at that creamy icing! Until you add the heavy cream it looks questionable whether or not this frosting is going to turn out right. But O WOW does it! Heavy cream makes everything better. 

Using the icing technique like in my Turtle Cake aka Rachel H.'s Birthday Cake post, stack the cakes one by one and ice the cake's top and sides. Like this:

Ok. So at this point it was 1 o'clock in the morning and about 30 minutes before Adam and I had just gotten in from an 80's party when I decided I needed to ice this cake... then I decided it was time to go to bed. So I covered this baby up, stuck a few Reese's into the freezer and the next morning...

I removed those Reese's from the freezer.

Unwrapped them.

Chopped them up, and set them aside.

Next I made a little chocolate piping icing (for piping letters) using 1/4 cup melted semi sweet chocolate chips, 1/4 cup crisco, and 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar. I put this into a piping bag with Wilton tip #5 attached.

Then I assembled everything I needed to decorate the cake: the chopped Reese's, the chocolate piping icing, and the iced cake.

Using a toothpick I marked a circle around the top of the cake. This was so I could evenly sprinkle the chopped Reese's around the edge.

Then I used the toothpick to outline the letters I wanted to pipe... I'm not very good at the whole piping letters thing. Most people could probably just pipe them without tracing them first. But, yeah, I can't do that.

Here is where I started piping letters!

Shew! Glad that's over! Now for the easy part.

I sprinkled Reese's around the top edge of the cake

and the bottom edge of the cake.

And because I had so much extra piping icing I decided to pipe little pearls around the top...

and the bottom of the cake.

Tah-dah! The finished cake! I have to say one of the best things about this cake, beside the fact that it tastes amazing, is the smell... oh my goodness! the whole kitchen smelled like peanut butter and I didn't mind one bit!

This is some of the gang over at Steve and Michelle's watching football. I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of all of us!!! I got distracted I guess, what with the hamburgers, hotdogs, buffalo chicken dip, and cake. This picture is missing Juliana, Michelle, Steve... oh yeah and me. I'll do better next time!

Here is Steve about to cut the cake!

If you know a peanut butter chocolate lover this would be the perfect cake to make for them! Happy baking! Love y'all!

Cecelia's Birthday Cupcakes; Double Chocolate Raspberry Drizzle

     This past Thursday was my sweet friend Cecelia's birthday! We went and ate Chinese food, and then came back to our house for some cupcakes that I had made for her. I asked her earlier in the week what type of dessert she liked and she said anything chocolate-- a girl after my own heart. Also, I remembered her saying she liked raspberries and chocolate when we went raspberry picking. After dwelling on what to make for her I decided on chocolate cupcakes, dolloped with white chocolate buttercream, drizzled with homemade raspberry sauce and chocolate sauce, topped with a fresh sweet raspberry. I call them double chocolate raspberry drizzle cupcakes. "You said a moooouuuuthful."-Buckwheat

Aren't they cute?!

I chose to make the cake using a recipe most people call Texas Sheet Cake. I've heard it called other things, but most everyone knows it as that. You'll need flour, sugar, buttermilk, butter, eggs, cocoa powder, water, vanilla, baking soda, and salt.

For the full recipe with measurements click here: Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe.*

*Do not use the frosting from this recipe for these cupcakes. But do yourself a favor and make this recipe as is sometime. You will thank me.

Also, because I knew it would just be Cecelia and I eating these cupcakes I halved the recipe. It yielded about one dozen cupcakes.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Set aside.

In a small saucepan bring water, butter, and cocoa powder to a boil.

Pour the hot liquid over the flour/sugar mixture.

Add in the buttermilk...

the egg...

and the vanilla.

Whisk to combine

Line the pan with cupcake liners.

I use an ice cream scoop to make pretty, uniform cupcakes.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way up. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I felt a little froggy so I dropped a few mini chocolate chips right in the center of the cupcakes while they were baking.

Whah-lah! beautiful chocolate cupcakes! But this is only the beginning...

For the White Chocolate Buttercream you will need:

a cup of butter, half a cup of white chocolate chips, one teaspoon of vanilla, and a cup and a half of powdered sugar.

Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave.

Let the butter soften to room temperature.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, white chocolate, and vanilla using a hand mixer.

Add in the powdered sugar.

Beat well to combine.

For the Raspberry Drizzle:

In a medium saucepan combine raspberries, sugar, and water.

For full recipe with measurements click here: Raspberry Sauce. The only thing I didn't use from this recipe was the orange juice. I wanted the raspberries to sing all by themselves.

Using a fork break down all of the raspberries.

Pour the raspberries into a strainer to remove all of the seeds.

You will be left with a beautifully bright sauce.

Return the sauce to the pan and continue cooking.

Mix a little cornstarch in water and add to the pan.

Whisk until slightly thick, but still pourable. Let cool to room temperature.

Now, to assemble the cupcakes!

Gather your supplies...

Put your white chocolate buttercream, homemade raspberry sauce, and chocolate sauce into zip-lock bags. Clip off the corners and now you have piping bags! When cutting the corners of the raspberry and chocolate bags, only cut a very tiny portion of the corner off. This will allow you to control the flow better.

Pipe a large dollop of white chocolate buttercream onto the cupcakes.

I personally like mine like this. But hey-- it wasn't my birthday now was it?

Drizzle with raspberry sauce, then chocolate, and top with a juicy raspberry! Repeat until they are all decorated.

Aren't they adorable?!

I do believe I will help myself to one... Yum!

Now if you are stuck inside like I am today because of all this rain go bake something! Maybe these cupcakes, or maybe the Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe I posted at the beginning. Treat yourself!

Love y'all!

BBQ and the Drive-In, July 1, 2011

     During the summer Adam and I would find something new to do every day. One day he would choose, and the next day I would choose. Looking back at our trip to Due South BBQ and the drive-in I honestly cannot remember who chose! I think it was Adam, but I can't say for sure. Anyways, we both had such a great time that night. The food was delicious, and I had never been to a drive-in movie before. It was quite the experience!

     

I think this place needs to be on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It's so cute, locally owned, and the food is delicious! We keep a bottle of their BBQ sauce in our refrigerator now.

Their menu is simple, but it has all you could ever want when it comes to BBQ. And their sides! Oh my goodness were they yummy!

They had a great 2-man-band playing that night.

My lifeblood- sweet tea.

They have 5 sauces. Left to right they are Hot Red, Sweet Red, Lexington, Sweet Brown, and Yellow. My personal favorites are Hot Red and Sweet Brown mixed. I think Adam agrees with me on that :)

OUR FOOD! *angelic angels singing "Ahhhhhhhhh"*

Adam ordered the pulled pork sandwich with potato salad, mac-n-cheese, and all plates come with hushpuppies.

I ordered half a rack of baby back ribs with sweet potato casserole and hushpuppies. They have a special glaze they put on the ribs that makes them extremely good. Plus, I smothered them with my mixture of sauces which made my mouth thank me even more.

This cute little piggy was painted by the front door.

Adam and I planned the night so we could have about 30-45 minutes to eat, and then we would drive to the movie. The drive-in is directly behind Due South BBQ so we didn't need to calculate in driving time. Our house is about 8 minutes or so from Due South, and about 5 minutes into our drive traffic started getting really heavy. Adam and I thought, "I wonder why there are so many cars out tonight?" When we got closer we could see cars were already lining up to get a spot at the drive-in. We could NOT rush that delicious meal, so when we were done eating I really didn't think we were going to get into the movie.

I took the next couple of pictures while we were waiting in line

Here is the back of the movie screen.

At this point I was praying, "please let us get in! please let us get in!" ... and we did! It turns out this place is HUGE! 

 We tuned our radio to 90.3FM and settled in for the movie. We enjoyed the experience of it all more than the movie because #1 it was still a little light outside and the picture wasn't clear on the screen until half an hour in, and #2 the movie started doing something strange halfway through and they didn't fix it for almost 10 minutes. AND when they did fix it they started it at the end which meant we missed almost a quarter of the movie. So, Adam and I just enjoyed spending time together. All-in-all it was a great night out!