Peanut Butter Silk Cake!

Well, after a day of baking I'm sorry to say I ran out of time to make the doll cake. I'll have to try for this weekend because tomorrow night, I'll be attending my first Tastefully Simple party. Hopefully I'll get some ideas for my cookie exchange party menu!

Today I made a white cake with raspberry jam filling and lemon/vanilla buttercream frosting. I also made a Peanut Butter Silk Cake from the Betty Crocker website. (I'll post the recipe at the end of this post in case the link doesn't work.) The pieces certainly tasted good putting it together! Basically for the cake just add 1/2 cup peanut butter to a yellow cake mix. You could do this and just use chocolate frosting and I'm sure that would be great. Or even to make peanut butter cupcakes!

I doubled the recipe to make a larger cake. I ended up putting one complete cake mix in each of two 9" pans. After all was said and done I had 2 - 1"layers from each pan. If you split one mix between two pans you may have very thin layers. Just remember if they crack as you handle them you can just put them back together and no one will ever know once the cake is done! One key would be to buy Bake Even strips. They work great for helping the cake rise evenly and practically eliminate the hump in the middle. Most of the time I don't even need to level the cakes when I use them. Of course you'll need to make sure your oven is level!

I think the filling is what will make this cake! It's a little tricky and I actually had to throw away the first batch. I over whipped the heavy cream and ended up with something that looked like curdled milk! That's what I get for trying to multitask! The second time it turned out fine. The filling does end up pretty thin, so it may not be a great choice for a cake that needs to travel. I am hoping the chocolate frosting on the outside will be firm enough to prevent the layers from sliding! I'll let you know.

I borrowed an idea from one of my cake cookbooks for the decorating. You don't have to be an experienced cake decorator to do this one! Peanut butter chips pressed into the frosting like studs. I think I'll stop at the store in the morning to find something to add to the top, maybe two peanut butter cups.


And here it is as promised..

Peanut Butter Silk Cake
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 container (1 lb) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting
1 cup chopped peanuts, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Generously grease bottoms only of 2 (8- or 9-inch) round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, 1/2 cup peanut butter, the oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

4. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling; boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat. Refrigerate 10 minutes.

5. In chilled medium bowl, beat whipping cream on high speed until soft peaks form; set aside. In another medium bowl, beat 1/2 cup peanut butter and the brown sugar mixture on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add whipped cream to peanut butter mixture; beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and creamy.

6. Split each cake layer horizontally to make 2 layers. Fill each layer with about 2/3 cup peanut butter mixture to within 1/2 inch of edge. Frost side and top of cake with frosting. Press peanuts onto frosting on side of cake. Store covered in refrigerator.