Day 344: Reese's Peanut Butter Cake


Good Morning,
Here is a recipe that will be a hit with all your young kids and especially your teenagers.
We cooked this cake up a few weeks ago because my youngest son, Colton, likes Reese's peanut butter cups and he was in a mood for a cake. We cooked up this cake a few years ago and forgot that it was in our cook book. (That might have been because it was packed away in boxes, while we where building our home for the last 2 years).  Colton and his friend, Chad Ward, Will and Jen's Ward son, baked it at the Stockton Days Cook Off in Stockton, Utah, and they won the Tooele County Mayor's Award for this cake which helped them to qualify for competition in the 2011 IDOS World Dutch Oven Cook Off if they desire. Will and Jen Ward are excellent dutch oven cooks themselves and have competed in the Worlds Cook Off each year for several years. Anyway on to the recipe.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cake in 2- 10'' dutch ovens

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened coca powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)

1-2 bags of miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, cut alot of them in half.

To make the cake:
Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and set aside. You will need to divided this into 3 different portions when adding to the wet ingredients. 

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until it is thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs one at a time, then the yolks one by one, beating for 1 minute. Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add a third of the dry ingredients in the bowl.

Next pour a third of the buttermilk in to the mix, and mix it in. Continue dumping a third of the dry ingredients, followed by a third of the buttermilk into the mix, blending well, to eliminate any dry bumps and finish dumping in the last third of the dry mix and buttermilk. Scrap down the bowl and add melted chocolate into mix and fold in with a rubber spatula. Spray the dutch ovens down with Pam. You can put a piece of parchment paper down in the bottom if you like.  Divide the batter into 2 equal parts, pouring into each dutch oven. Put 8 coals on the  bottom and 14 coals on the top. Cook for 20 -30 minutes or until it is done. Use a toothpick to check. When done let dutch ovens and cakes cool off before turning out on to cooling rack. Use a piece of circular cut cardboard to press against the baked cake layer to hold it together while turning it out of the dutch oven. Or you can buy Cake Circles and do the same with them. Set aside and let cool.

Frosting 

Ingredients:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

Mix the confection sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt into a bowl and mix at medium to low speed until creamy. Scrap down the bowl and add the cream and beat on high until mixture is light and smooth.

Assembly

Put 1 layer on a serving tray and frost the top of the cake and then put the remaining layer on top. Frost the top of the cake and the sides. Decorate the cake with the the cut up Reese's peanut butter cups forming a row around the bottom and around the outer perimeter of the top layer of the cake with a few in the center.

Eat and enjoy!

       THE FINISHED PRODUCT

   Coltons Award Winning Cake

The Review

This cake definitely tastes like a big over sized Reese's peanut butter cake. I could only eat a small piece but when I looked over to see what my son and his friends had, they where going back for seconds and having big pieces . The peanut butter cups are not my most favorite candy. (Sorry Reese's), so I might grade it a little lower than normal. I would give it a "B+" for a grade. But if you were out camping with all the little kids, the WOW factor, would be great because their eyes would become as big as silver dollars with all the candy attached to it. You can dress it up with a can of whipping cream and some crush walnuts on top. And you can tone down the peanut butter taste with some vanilla ice cream or milk. I will post some of my other favorite cakes that I like even better later. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of a cut piece.