I didn’t intend to post two dessert recipes in a row. Normally, I try to keep things balanced and fairly nutritious around here (especially now that I’m in full-blown wedding planning mode and realllly starting to think about how that strapless dress is going to look). But, sometimes my recipe inspiration is for things like homemade spinach wraps… and sometimes it’s for Banoffee Eton Mess.

If “Banoffee Eton Mess” is meaningless to you, let me explain. This dessert mashes up two classic British desserts – banoffee pie and eton mess. We’ve been intermittently watching The Great British Bake-Off and it has substantially increased my desire to bake all sorts of British things. And to call them “bakes,” of course. I have also begun to fantasize about living in that magical baking tent filled with pleasant people and cakes, surround by green fields and flowers.

I digress. Banoffee Pie is a sticky sweet dessert that consists of dulce de leche, bananas, whipped cream, and a shortbread crust. It’s kind of childish and simple and a very fun thing to say out loud. Banoffee. I think the name may be the primary reason that Trevor requested it as his birthday dessert, given that he doesn’t like bananas. Not to worry, I didn’t leave it that simple anyways. First, I turned the “offee” into peanut butter dulce de leche. Yum. Next, I made these as layered parfaits, adding a layer of crumbled meringue to the party. Which meant I could also call it Eton Mess – a mixture of broken-up meringues, whipped cream, and fruit. Tah dah! Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess.

The beauty of this dessert is that you can make it all homemade or store-bought, depending on how ambitious or lazy you are feeling. Unsurprisingly, I made everything except the shortbread myself. I suppose I also did not grow the bananas. But if you’re in a hurry, everything – whipped cream, meringues, dulce de leche – can be bought at the store and simply assembled. But if you are making your components, a note on the meringues: meringues are both incredibly simple and a little bit tricky. I always seem to both under-whip and under-bake them. So a note to you – as well as to future Katie – whip your egg whites until they are really stiff! And really shiny! Then bake them for at least an hour and leave that oven door closed.

If you’re not into bananas or meringue or cream or British things, then I have one favor to ask. If you do nothing else, please make a jar of peanut butter dulce de leche and eat a spoonful every night when you get home from work. This will not be good for your wedding photos but it will be good for your soul. Dulce de Leche for the Soon-to-be-Bride’s Soul, or something like that. And with that, enjoy your weekend, friends!

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess

A mash-up of two classic British desserts – Eton Mess and Banoffee Pie – made a little bit American with the addition of peanut butter. Layers of sticky-sweet peanut butter dulche de leche, shortbread cookies, whipped cream, banana, and meringue make a delicious dessert.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dulce de leche, store bought or homemade
• 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
• 8 oz. of shortbread cookies, crumbled
• 4 cups of whipped cream
• 3 ripe bananas
• 24 small vanilla meringues, store bought or homemade

Instructions

1. Heat the dulce de leche in a microwave for 30 seconds in a microwave-safe bowl, just to warm it up. Repeat with the peanut butter. Both the peanut butter and dulce de leche should be warm enough that they mix easily – if not, heat for a little longer. Stir together until evenly combined.
2. Take out 6 glasses – stemless wine glasses work well. Place a layer of crumbled shortbread cookie in the bottom of each one. Top with a large spoonful of whipped cream and a layer of sliced bananas. Drizzle a tablespoon of peanut butter dulce de leche on top. Gently crush a few of the meringues and sprinkle the crumbled bits over the top. Top with more cream, more dulce de leche, and another layer of crumbled shortbread. Finish with a final layer of cream, a few pieces of sliced banana, one whole meringue, and more dulce de leche. This is more of an art than a science, so layer the way you want to!

The post Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Tuesday was Trevor’s 26^th birthday. To celebrate, we made a croquembouche, partly because croquembouche is fun to say, partly because it’s elaborate and over-the-top and oh-so-French, all things that Trevor likes, and partly because peanut-butter pastry cream stuffed cream puffs stacked in a tower and stuck together with caramel sauce is a really delicious prospect. It really wasn’t so hard – pate a choux is easy to make (and it’s extremely satisfying to watch the dough puff up in the oven) and pastry cream is simple as long as you are attentive and patient while tempering your eggs. The assembly is a bit tedious, but I’d recommend getting a birthday boyfriend with extreme attention to detail (and no regard for his fingertips / high willingness to touch hot caramel) to do that for you.

Trevor, I am so happy that we have spent our last 7 birthdays together. I can’t think of anyone else that I’d rather celebrate. I love you and I think this year will bring even more great things for us – our first house (!!), more travels, and who knows what other goodness. I’m keeping this short and sweet since, as per usual, I have to get on another plane, but really. I love you. Happy Birthday. Rock on.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Peanut Butter Croquembouche

Pastry cream recipe from How Sweet Eats. Cream puff recipe from Food Network.

For the pastry cream:

• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1/4 c. smooth peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c. heavy cream

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt until evenly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the sugar mixture to the eggs a bit a time, whisking until smooth between additions. When you have finished adding the sugar mixture, the eggs should be pale yellow and smooth.
2. Heat the milk over medium heat in a medium saucepan, just until small bubbles begin to appear at the edges of the pan. Do not bring the milk to a boil. Remove the milk from the heat and very slowly drizzle the milk into the eggs, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so. Pour the tempered custard back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat. Cook the custard until thickened, about 3-5 minutes, whisking vigorously the whole time. Remove the custard from the heat. Immediately stir in the peanut butter until it is melted, then whisk in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic wrap touches the surface of the pastry cream, and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 2 hours.
3. Just before filling the cream puffs, whip the heavy cream into soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream until it is evenly mixed.

For the cream puffs:

• 1 stick salted butter
• 1 c. water
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 4 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the butter, water, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously to incorporate. Stir until the flour is fully incorporated, then return the pot to the heat and cook for 60-90 seconds, beating hard the whole time, until the water has evaporated from the dough to the point that the dough leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pot. Remove from the heat and transfer the dough to a bowl.
2. Beat the egg yolks into the dough one at a time, thoroughly mixing between additions. When you have added the last egg yolk, the dough should be smooth and shiny, and drip slowly from the spoon when lifted out of the bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon to scoop rounds of dough onto the parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches between them. Use your finger to flatten any points as they will burn. Alternatively, you can spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip and pipe rounds onto the baking trays, but I found this more difficult than simply scooping them.
3. Bake the cream puffs for 15 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for another 20 minutes, until puffed up and lightly browned all over. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

To assemble:

1. Spoon the pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a medium, straight tip. Fill the cream puffs by inserting the tip of the pastry bag into the bottom of each cream puff (use a knife to cut a small hole if necessary) and filling until the cream puff is heavy and you can’t add any more cream without it coming back out. Set the filled cream puffs aside.
2. Prepare a caramel sauce for assembling the croquembouche: pour a thin, even layer of sugar (you will use between ¾ and 1 ½ cups, depending on the size of your pan) into a non-stick frying pan. Heat over medium-low heat (do not stir). When the sugar begins to melt and brown in places, use a spatula to carefully push the melted sugar into the unmelted sugar a bit at a time, until the whole pan is melted. Bring to a medium brown color, then immediately remove from the heat.
3. Have a bowl of ice water at the ready in case of burns from the hot caramel. Very carefully dip the bottom and sides of the filled cream puffs into the caramel (or use the spatula to dab it on) and immediately place the cream puffs on a cake stand or other serving vessels (the caramel will harden quickly so move fast). Place the first layer of cream puffs in a circle, using about 6 cream puffs to complete the circle. The second layer should have 5 cream puffs, then 4, etc., until you have used up all the cream puffs and completed the tower. If the caramel hardens while you are assembling, you can gently reheat it until it is molten again. Drizzle any extra caramel on top of the croquembouche. Serve within 4 hours of assembling.

The post Peanut Butter Croquembouche appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: Now that we’re in the thick of ice cream season (although, who am I kidding, it’s always ice cream season in my house), it’s time for me to share the first of this summer’s crop of ice cream cookbooks – Ample Hills Creamery. Ample Hills is an ice cream shop in Brooklyn, where the owners, Brian and Jackie, churn out whimsical flavors like Breakfast Trash (Cereal Milk and Froot Loops), Drunken Thanksgiving (Pumpkin Bourbon with Molasses Cookie Bits), and  “I Want to Marry This!” (Maple with Chocolate-Covered Bacon Bark). Like the flavors, their new cookbook is playful, filled with cartoons of the three Ample Hills mascots, hand-lettered picture annotations, bright colors, and even bingo boards and instructions for drawing Walt the Cow (one of the mascots). The end result isn’t corny at all, just fun and well-integrated into the overall design. Brian and Jackie’s story is also woven into the pages of the book, and it’s an inspiring story – they took a big risk, followed their dream, and are now enjoying huge success. And their ice cream flavors are great. I love ice cream (like, really love it) and you’d be hard-pressed to find a flavor in most shops that I wasn’t excited about, but some of the inclusions in this book have me just itching to clean out the ice cream that’s already in my freezer to make room for more. There are also recipes for homemade cones, toppings (mmm whiskey butterscotch!) and mix-ins like brownies and cookie dough.

The Food: Most of the recipes in Ample Hills use a basic sweet cream ice cream recipe (called “Walt’s Dream”) as their starting point. This base is different from others I’ve used, as it includes skim milk powder, which apparently helps keep the ice cream creamy by reducing the water content you have when using regular milk, and ultimately allowing you to use a lower cream to milk ratio. I followed all the instructions, even buying the (pricey) organic cane sugar and (pricey) organic skim milk powder that it called for, but I can’t say the base turned out more creamy than others I’ve tried. Before freezing, the base was very thin, and even after churning it was pretty soupy and needed a solid 24 hours in the freezer to firm up. They do recommend using a hand crank machine, as they get colder faster, but that seems like a lot of extra work to me. Personally, I think I prefer using base recipes with more egg yolks and cooking them to the point of a custard. So, I’m not sure if I’ll use the base recipe again, but I’ll certainly be using the flavor combinations as inspiration for future batches, as they go above and beyond in an effort to cram as many delicious ingredients as possible into one flavor. Our first batch was called “PB Fluff’n’Stuff” – a mix of peanut butter ice cream, nutter butters, and fluff. I opted not to make the homemade fluff (after all, the home of fluff is right here in Somerville… so it’s local?), and oh man is it good. This stuff will not be lingering in our freezer. There’s nothing subtle or elegant about this ice cream – it’s the kind of flavor that would be the highlight of the day at a seven year old’s birthday party, hitting you over the top of the head with simple sugary sweetness,  It’s delicious, all sweetened creamy peanut butter, crunchy cookies and airy fluff. If you like peanut butter desserts, you will love it.

Recipe Shortlist: Raspberry Blonde (White Chocolate Ice Cream with Raspberry Jam and Malted Blondie Bits); Sweet as Honey (Sweet Cream with Honeycomb Candy); Monkey Bread; Daddy’s Sundae (Bourbon Ice Cream with Brownies and Salted Fudge Caramel); Salted Crack Caramel; Four More Years (Beer Ice Cream with Honeycomb Candy)

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Ample Hills Creamery from Stewart, Tabori & Chang, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Peanut Butter and Fluff Ice Cream

Recipe from Ample Hills Creamery. Makes about 6 cups of ice cream.

• 3/4 c. organic cane sugar
• 1/2 c. skim milk powder
• 1 2/3 c. whole milk
• 1 2/3 c. heavy cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 c. natural peanut butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 12-oz. box of peanut butter sandwich cookies
• 3 c. marshmallow fluff (store-bought or homemade)

1. Prepare an ice bath in a large heatproof bowl. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, milk powder, and whole milk. Whisk until smooth, making sure the skim milk powder is fully dissolved. Stir in the cream.
2. Place the saucepan over medium heat and heat the milk mixture, stirring often, until it reaches 110°F, which will take 5-10 minutes. Once it reaches this temperature, remove it from the heat.
3. Whisk the egg yolks together in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowly pour 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture over the eggs, beating them vigorously to temper the eggs. Repeat with another 1/2 cup of hot milk, then pour the eggs back into the remaining milk mixture, still whisking to prevent any scrambling.  Return the pan to heat, and cook until it reaches 165°F and forms a thin film on a wooden spoon, about 5-10 minutes longer.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla, then pour the ice cream base through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl, and cool in the ice bath for 15 to 20 minutes. Chill the ice cream base in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight, until it is completely cold.
5. Churn the ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s directions. While it is churning, break up the peanut butter cookies into bite-sized pieces. Transfer the churned ice cream to the storage container, and quickly but gently fold in the cookies and the marshmallow fluff. Don’t overmix, or the fluff may dissolve. Freeze ice cream for at least 4 hours before serving.

The post Book Club: Ample Hills Creamery // Peanut Butter and Fluff Ice Cream appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

So, Trevor. Happy Birthday, babe. It’s kind of crazy to think that I’ve already been around to celebrate your birthday with you five times. You should know that you’ve only gotten more awesome over those past five years. I still have as much fun with you as I did back when we used to flirt overtly at every possible opportunity – you know, frosting fights, chasing each other on the lawn, playing footsie in class, embarrassing stuff like that. And I still like the flirting, but now, you’re also my best friend. My favorite person to be with. I’m so excited about you, and about all our plans, and about all the things we haven’t planned that will take us by surprise. I’m going to stop, given that this is the internet equivalent of making out in a public park, but I love you. I tell you all the time but I really, really mean it. You are the best.

I’ve mentioned in previous years how much Trevor likes peanut butter desserts. Although he made me a fantastic cake this year, I went with something simpler, richer, and longer lasting – peanut butter fudge. This recipe, which is from Joy of Cooking via Brown-Eyed Baker, is super simple – it only takes ten minutes of stirring/measuring time, then you pop it in the fridge and it’s ready in an hour. That being said, it has two-and-a-half sticks of butter in it, so be careful. I’d give away as much of it as possible, after test-tasting all the crumbs and edge pieces, of course.

More like this…

Peanut Butter and Fluff Ice Cream

Oatmeal Scotchies

Classic Seven Layer Bars

Peanut Butter Fudge

Recipe from Joy of Cooking via Brown-Eyed Baker. Yields 64 1-inch-square pieces.

• 2 1/2 sticks butter (10 oz.)
• 1 1/4 c. smooth peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted

1. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Place butter and peanut butter in a medium saucepan and melt over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Bring to a gentle simmer, then remove from heat.
3. Stir the vanilla extract and powdered sugar into the hot peanut butter mixture until smooth and lump-free. It will be quite thick. Pour into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top to make it even. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the fudge, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Cut the chilled fudge into pieces and serve. Store at cool room temperature or in the fridge in an airtight container.

The post Happy Birthday, Trevor! // Peanut Butter Fudge appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

When Becky sent me an email with the subject line “big question,” I was fairly worried.  About what, I’m not entirely sure – it seemed unlikely that she was going to ask me to move in with her, give her money, or ask to take things to the next level.  Still, it was a little daunting.  So, when I opened the email (with faint trepidation) and found out that the big question was whether or not I would help her with a bake sale, I was relieved.  In my book, “bake sale?” is a very small, easily answered question, with the answer being “absolutely.”

Becky is working with an organization called Promise of Play to build a new playground at the Durham Crisis Response Center, a shelter and support center for victims of domestic and sexual abuse.  Although I’ve never really found my calling when it comes to service, I think this project is one of the coolest I’ve heard of.  The idea of kids having a safe, happy place to play while their parents attend meetings and therapy sessions really strikes a chord with me – I can’t imagine having been a kid without being surrounded by a feeling of safety and joy, and any opportunity to give a child without that privilege a brief sense of safety and fun is so important.  Additionally, the playground will be dedicated to the memory of my classmate Drew Everson, who passed away this fall.  Drew and I weren’t close friends, but we shared a class freshman year and always said “hi” to each other on the path.  The whole campus really struggled with his death, and with finding an appropriate way to remember him.  To me, at least, Drew embodied playfulness – he was always ready with a smile or a joke or to run off on an adventure with whoever would accompany him – and I can’t think of a more perfect way to remember him than by sharing the joy he seemed to experience so constantly through the simple act of play.

DPS and PlayTime2011 will be tabling on the plaza every day this week in order to try and meet their fundraising goal before the playground build next week.  (For more information on the build or to sign-up, see the PlayTime2011 Facebook page).  Which is where I come in.  Every day I hope to have 2 or 3 treats ready for the tabling crew, with all proceeds going to the playground.  I’m pretty excited about this, and no way was I sticking with chocolate chip cookies and brownies – so you should be excited too.  To start things off, on Monday there will be Snickerdoodle Cupcakes, Mini Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumbles, and these Chocolate-Peanut Butter Truffles that you see all around.  I haven’t finished the cupcakes or the crumbles yet, so I won’t make any claims as to their deliciousness, but these truffles… they are really good.  Like, really really good.  Personally, I think they’re better than Reeses, and I really like Reeses.  In fact, for those of you who have ever been to Sweet Mimi’s… I think they’re as good as Wows.  Yep, I went there.  They’re a bit time consuming to make, but the final product is totally worth it – I’ve been having a hard time limiting myself to the one or two I’m allowed for quality control purposes.  Don’t believe me?  Try for yourself!  Come by the plaza Monday and snag one or two of these before I end up buying them all back.  And be sure to stop back throughout the week to see if I’ve come up with anything else worthwhile!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

Adapted from Food Network.  Makes about 70 truffles.

• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1 c. smooth peanut butter
• 12 oz. white chocolate
• 18 oz. semisweet chocolate
• pretzels, sea salt, turbinado sugar, for decorating

1. Heat white chocolate just until melted.  Mix peanut butter and white chocolate in large bowl until smooth.  Set aside.
2. Scald cream over medium heat.  Pour into a small bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 10, until chilled.  Mix chilled cream with peanut butter and white chocolate.  Cover and store filling in fridge for 24 hours.
3. Use a melon-baller or teaspoon to scoop out balls of the chilled filling.  Place in rows on a baking sheet.  Freeze baking sheet for 10 minutes, until balls are firm.  In the meantime, heat water in a large saucepan (filled 1/3 of the way) over low heat, then melt semi-sweet chocolate in a smaller saucepan over it (double boiler).  Heat chocolate just until melted, then remove from heat.  Dip chilled filling balls into chocolate, coating on all sides, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  I used a toothpick to allow easy dipping.  Freeze coated truffles for 5 minutes to firm up, then remove from freezer.  Dab with a small bit of warm chocolate where you wish to roll in a topping – turbinado sugar and sea salt, crushed pretzel bits, or cocoa powder.  Store finished truffles in the refrigerator (or freezer) until you wish to serve.

The post Bake Sale! appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010, is not today.  It was yesterday, and it was Trevor’s 21st birthday.  However, due to the annoying college tradition of final exams, said birthday had to be ceremonially transferred to tonight, when, if all goes according to plan, it will be celebrated to the nth degree.  You see, not only is Trevor very awesome and worthy of celebrating, I also feel that my birthday was not celebrated to the appropriate extent, mainly because I was sober throughout the entire 24 hours of April 18, 2010.  Fairly to extremely unacceptable.  And so, I am doing a bit of birthday pilfering.  Selfish, perhaps, but excusable, IMO, and approved by the true birthday child.  (Side note: it is not actually possible to celebrate my birthday enough – it should be at least a month long event, preferably two.  This fact can be readily confirmed by my mother.)

In light of all this joyous aging, I am, duh, baking a cake.  The cake came into hypothetical being 10 days ago while skyping, when I casually said, “maybe I’ll bake a cake for your birthday,” and Trevor’s eyes got very wide.  “Peanut butter cake?”  I ventured, to which there was some enthusiastic nodding and even more eye widening.  I would like to make it clear at this point that Trevor actually does communicate verbally at a very high intelligence level, but has been characterized as a mute but very excited 7 year old boy for the sake of my writing style.  Thank you Trevor, you’re very patient and I would like to publicly admit that you’re better at scrabble than me.

And so peanut butter cake it was.  I searched the good old internet which contains more recipes than I thought possible and found that there are basically two blogosphere accepted options for peanut butter cake.  The first is Smitten Kitchen’s chocolate peanut butter cake, which is actually a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and peanut butter frosting which is then drizzled with chocolate peanut butter glaze.  Decadent, visually appealing, rave reviews across the board.  The second option is Bon Appetit’s peanut butter cake, which is truly a peanut butter cake with a chocolate peanut butter filling.  Also decadent, visually appealing, and well-received.  The decision was agonizing.  So agonizing, in fact, that exactly 19 hours before my statistics final I decided that it was absolutely necessary that I bake samples.  So I made tiny portions of both cake batters, and combined them with peanut butter, melted chocolate, chocolate chips, and each other in ten different cupcakes.  The truth is clearly that I hate statistics (but I got a B+!) and that I must have some subconscious hatred/sabotage plan for my roommate’s waistline.  Or maybe just my own.

Anyhow, the result of this baking frenzy were ten cupcakes that were all different.  Meaning that I had to eat a portion of each cupcake to see which one would be the chosen one.  And then eat another bite of each to make sure.  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  They disappeared in chunks the same way brownies do when I make the mistake of leaving the knife in the pan instead of pre-cutting them.  (This happens every time I make brownies; it is not a mistake.)

And they were all good!  Life is so difficult with me sometimes.  Really, it is.  The chocolate was super moist, got better a day later, and had that slight tang that devil’s food cake has.  I don’t even like chocolate cake and I loved it.  The peanut-butter was drier, but it tasted just like a really good peanut butter cookie in the form of a cake, which was really my initial goal.  Trevor’s a sucker for peanut-butter – favorite ice cream, favorite cookie, favorite meal, favorite color, etc. – and so I knew it had to be in the cake.  I briefly toyed with a marbled cake but the flavors didn’t stand out from one another in the cupcake, or a layer of each, but the textures were to different for it to be coherent.  At this point, Trevor is probably so tired of hearing about all the possible forms this cake might take that he doesn’t want it anymore.  I’m not very good at surprises.

Anyway, I made the peanut butter cake.  I agonized a little bit over the frosting too, but I won’t go into it.  In the end I followed the original recipe fairly closely, reducing the filling amount and adjusting the flour and buttermilk amounts as suggested by the majority reviewer voice on epicurious.  The only concerns I have left are how it will taste after 21 beers, and where I can hide it from the myriad of drunk frisbee players that will be roaming the streets of Medford tonight.  Now you may be wondering, “isn’t it a waste to spend more than a week thinking about baking and then actually baking a cake that will most likely be consumed in handfuls during a drunken midnight kitchen raid?”  No, not really.  That’s kind of the point of turning 21 anyway.

So, happy birthday boyfriend!  (And me, because I would like to remind everyone again that it is almost always the right time to celebrate your own birth.  End of selfish.)  I hope you have a wonderful night, and year, and I love you.  Tu es mon étincelle.

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Filling

Adapted from Bon Appetit

For the Filling

• 1 c. half and half
• 3/4 c. heavy cream
• 1/4c. + 2 TBS light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 9 oz bittersweet chocolate

Bring half and half, cream, and brown sugar to simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly.  Once simmering, remove from heat, and whisk in chocolate until mixture is smooth.  Allow to stand for one minute, then whisk in peanut butter until mixture is smooth.  Chill for 2-4 hours.

For Frosting

• 12 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 c. powdered sugar, divided
• 6 TBS butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c. heavy cream, chilled

1. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth.
2. Beat heavy cream and remaining 3/4 c. of powdered sugar until medium-firm peaks form.
3. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until evenly combined.  Chill for at least 2 hours.

For the Cake

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 10 TBS butter, softened
• 2/3 c. peanut butter
• 2 1/2 c. light brown sugar (1 lb.)
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/3 c. buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter two 9-inch cake pans.
2. In medium bowl whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together to combine.
3. In large bowl whisk peanut butter and butter together until smooth.  Add sugar and beat until smooth.  Add eggs 1 at a time and incorporate into batter.
4. Add flour mixture and buttermilk to peanut butter in 3 additions, alternating and ending with a buttermilk addition.
5. Pour batter into pans, distributing evenly.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely before assembly.

Assembly

On a wide plate or cake platter, place the first layer of cake.  Spread with layer of chocolate filling.  Place second layer on top of chocolate filling, pressing gently.  Frost cake with cream cheese frosting.  Chill cake until 1 hour before serving.

The post Peanut Butter Birthday appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.