Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake!

I'm Ashlie and I'm addicted to Peanut Butter.... 

Any excuse to eat it I'm there, so the school bake sale I bashed this beauty together and I have to say it was AMAZING also gone in 60 secs....literally. So here it is....

Make the 3 following things below before putting it together.

You will also need 3 snickers bars chopped in slices and a handful of Peanut M and M crushed up.

Chocolate Cake.

Make two chocolate sponges, I used the same as my

 Best Ever Chocolate Cake but its a goodie.

Ingredients:

• 225g/8oz plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 350g/12½oz caster sugar
• 85g/3oz cocoa powder
• 2 free-range eggs
• 250ml/9fl oz milk
• 125ml/4½fl oz vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250ml/9fl oz boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease two 20cm/8in sandwich tins. You can line them with grease proof paper but I dont.

Place all the ingredients except the boiling water, in a mixer 

(I used my kitchen aid) or a mixing bowl and beat until its all combined. 

A little at a time add the boiling water until the mixture is smooth. It will be quite runny compared to some cake mix but that's fine.

Divide between the cake tins and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until a skewer in the middle comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the tins. Run a knife around the edge and carefully take out the cake from the tins and place on a wire rack to go completely cool before decorating.

Chocolate ganache

You only need a small amount of this for the cake but its so lush I make a whole batch and used it on ice cream sundaes and then made some Truffles This has a reputation as being hard to make and can split etc but the way I make it with just these 2 ingredients I've never had a jot of bother and I have made A LOT of these.

Ingredients:

• 150ml Double Cream
• 300g Galaxy Chocolate, you can use any milk chocolate but this just gives it such a creamy taste.

This the perfect amount for an 7/8/9 inch cake if you have a bigger cake or maybe 2 cakes just double it, its always double the chocolate to the ratio of cream - 300ml = 600g chocolate

Chop all the chocolate into small pieces.

Pour the cream into a sauce pan, and heat it on low until it starts to steam, then take it off the heat. If it bubbles turn it off immediately. It shouldn't get too hot this will only take about 5 minutes.

Tip all the chocolate into the cream and mix quickly until there are no lumps and the chocolate is completely melted...try not to just stick your face in it!

Let it cool a little until it thickens but can still be drizzled. Stick in the fridge for a bit if you're in a hurry and its too hot.

Peanut Butter Butter Cream 

Make a batch by beating the following together, adding the icing sugar gradually. If its too thick add a tiny bit more milk if its too loose add a bit more icing sugar, it should have the texture of thick peanut butter.

Ingredients

110g Unsalted Butter - almost melting, I sometimes stick it in the microwave for 10secs

250g Smooth Peanut Butter

60ml Semi Skimmed Milk - room temperature.

250g of icing sugar.

Assemble

The best bit...

If the cakes are massively domed (it happens) level them off slightly with a bread knife...and scoff the scraps quickly ha. Always invert the domes of the cakes inward when sandwiching them together so the bottom is flat side and the top is flat side it makes a much more even cake and easy to work with.

Tip: For Bake sales or gifts cut out a large square of a cereal box etc then it can be binned after.

• Apply a thick layer of butter-cream to one side of the cake. I also had some natural crunchy peanut butter the boys don't like but perfect for a layer of crunch in this cake if you have any and drizzle a little of the ganache too.

• Sandwich the cakes together and spread a thinner layer of the butter cream on top and around the sides. This will catch loads of crumbs and look messy, this is why it is called 'Dirty ice' let it set/dry a little.

• Use remainder icing to add another layer all over the cake as smooth as you can and it should look much better and cleaner!

• Drizzle 8 blobs of the ganache on the cake and add a slice of snickers on top. Then drizzle some in the middle and add a few more snickers or as many as you like, my cake was to sell in 8 large slices so go wild ha.
• Then sprinkle some crushed peanut M and Ms all over to finish. 

Make a cuppa and ENJOY!