Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Butter Cake

The Husband's birthday was this week! And I don't know if I told you this but he loooooooves peanut butter. Like a lot. So for his birthday desert, all he said he wanted was, "Something with peanut butter." Super helpful, right? I know.

But don't worry, I have tricks up my sleeve. Tricks like Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Cake, which I don't even have a picture of because it's all gone already!! The Husband had two pieces in one night!

This recipe is full of win, and it is also SUPER EASY.

Ingredients: Chocolate cake mix, smooth peanut butter, butter, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar

First, combine your cake mix, one egg, and melted butter. Then press it into the bottom of a greased 9x13.

For the filling, beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter. Then add the eggs.

Add the vanilla, then the melted butter, and then the powdered sugar. It looks creamy and delicious and makes the whole house smell like peanut butter.

Pour it on top of the cake mixture, then bake it. It's deliccccioussss. Trust me, because I don't have any pictures. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Butter Cake

From Tasty Kitchen

18.5 oz.  box chocolate cake mix

16 tbsp. melted butter

3 eggs

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

16 oz. powdered sugar

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 8 tbsp. melted butter. Press the mixture into a greased 9x13.

For the filling:

In a mixer, beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter until creamy. Add 2 eggs and mix until combined. Add 8 tbsp. of melted butter and the vanilla and mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Pour the mixture onto the crust and bake the whole thing and bake for 40-50 minutes.

Key Lime Pie

Blecchhh. Ear infections have been sweeping through my classroom and I caught it and so did my co-teacher. Which is a real bummer because I've been wanting to make Key Lime Pie for so long and this week I finally found key limes at the Fresh Market. 

But then Friday I couldn't even taste the pie because of my sinuses. 

But everyone else assured me that it was totally delicious, so I'll have to believe them.

Your ingredients: Key Limes, condensed milk, egg yolks, butter, graham crackers, heavy cream, and powdered sugar

So first, crush up your graham crackers into crumbs and mix them with the melted butter and a pinch of salt. As an experiment I put a dash of cinnamon in it too. I couldn't taste the results, but nobody complained so I'll assume it was a success. Press it into the pie pan and bake it.

Now, beat your egg yolks and lime zest for a little bit, add the condensed milk, and the lime juice. Now let the mixture set for a couple of minutes, pour it onto the crust, and bake it some more.

And voila! You have a pie. It's that easy. For the whipped topping, just whip your cream and the powdered sugar together and dollop it onto the pie.

Key Lime Pie

From Ezra Pound Cake

Crust:

1 3/4 graham cracker crumbs

6 tbsp. melted butter

dash of salt

dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup light brown sugar

Pie: 

Zest of 1 key lime

4 egg yolks

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk


Preheat the oven to 350°. For the crust, mix together the dry ingredients and then add the melted butter and mix it together with a fork. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate and bake for 8 minutes. Let the crust cool for 30 minutes before pouring the filling onto it.


In a mixer with your whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks and key lime zest for about 2 minutes. Add the condensed milk and whisk together well. Add the lime juice slowly. When it's thoroughly mixed, let the mixture stand for 5 minutes.


Pour the filling onto the crust, then bake for 15 minutes. The filling needs to be set, but still a little jiggly. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack, then refrigerate under foil.


If you want to top it with whipped cream (and I recommend it), then use the following recipe.


1 cup cold heavy cream
2 tbsp. powdered sugar


Whip together the cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon onto the pie, then top with a little key lime zest.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

I'm sorry people. I made an Oreo Cheesecake last week planning to blog it, but it was a disaster. I mean, not taste-wise, but every other-wise.

After a series of unimportant and totally pointless freak-outs during the process of making this cake, The Husband said to me, "You just need to chill out when you bake." Which made me kind of miffed.

But icing a cake is a quiet, tedious process that gives you a lot of time to think. While I was icing this cake, I thought about it and realized that I am a selective control freak. In my dayjob as a preschool teacher, there is not a lot about my day that I can control. Dirty diapers, babies screaming, things spilling, toys getting dumped... So when I come home, I like the things that I can control to be just so.

So I won't be able to chill out when I bake. And that's okay. I'll just try to be less rude to the Husband about it. Even if he DOES turn off the oven and cause my layers to sit in the oven, not cooking, for 30 minutes.

Except, try not to think about dirty diapers while you're icing a cake.

Speaking of this cake, it is SUPER. Continuing my salted caramel binge, I chose this recipe and believe me, I did not choose wrong.

It's a little daunting once you see the ingredient list, but don't be frightened away, it's not hard and it's super delicious.

(Most of)Your Ingredients: Sugar, Flour, Brown Sugar, Sour Cream, Eggs, Cream Cheese, Baking Soda, Buttermilk, Vanilla, and that's right, almost 4 sticks of butter. Not pictured: Coffee and Salted Caramel

Cream together the butter and sugars, add in the eggs, and then the vanilla. It looks like this- sort of goopy and gross. Don't fret. It gets better.

Mix together your cream cheese, sour cream, and coffee in a bowl. In another bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt.

 
Now just mix it all together and get your batter, and bake it into two delicious, gorgeous chocolate layers.

Whip up your frosting, which is a beautiful, light caramel color.

Now just frost your cake, and eat it up! Nom nom nom.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

From Around the Table on Blackberry Farm

Cake:

12 tbsp. butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 extra-large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

2 tbsp. good brewed coffee

1 3/4 AP flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1 cup salted caramel

16 tbsp. butter, room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese

3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 9 or 10 inch cake pans (doesn't affect anything but the size of the layers).

Cream together the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the the vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix together the sour cream, buttermilk, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately to the butter, starting with the buttermilk and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.

Pour batter into layer pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let layers cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting:

Cream together butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix together. Add in the cup of salted caramel and mix. Add powdered sugar until you have the consistency of frosting that you want. 

Frost your cake and enjoy!