Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting Cake

Chocolate Cake

 (modified from the barefoot contessa cookbook)

Look at ingredients, some need to be room temp. Take these out of fridge.

Preheat oven to 350*

Butter two 8-inch round cake pans, line bottom with wax paper, butter the paper and dust both pans with a few TBL cocoa powder.

First,

1 3/4 cp flour

1 cp good cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Put all ingredients in sifter and sift into medium bowl.

Next,

3/4 cp unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cp white sugar

2/3 cp packed brown sugar

In bowl of electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on high for 5 minutes until light.

Next,

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Add these ingredients, one at a time to the mixer, mixing well after each addition.

Next,

1 cp buttermilk, room temperature (I use 1 cp milk with 2 TBL vinegar added and let sit for few minutes)

1/2 cp sour cream, room temperature

Mix these two ingredients in small bowl.

Next,

On low speed, add flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternately in thirds, beginnings with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture.  Mix the batter only until blended.

Divide batter between pans. Smooth tops. Bake 25-30 min til toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 min in pans, remove from pan and finish cooling.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/4 cp peanut butter

1/4 cp butter

3cps powdered sugar

2-4 TBL milk

pinch of salt

1tsp vanilla

Cream butter and peanut butter together til smooth, add powdered sugar, adding milk slowing as needed for smooth spreadable consistency. Fold in pinch of salt and vanilla.

I added chopped Reese's Stick candy bars to middle layer and top of frosting

- Malissa Hludzinski