Fudgy chocolate cake layered with rich peanut butter frosting, peanut butter cups, and a rich peanut butter chocolate ganache make this an excellent cake to share with a crowd.
Happy Thursday!
I’ve been saving a good one for my peanut butter and chocolate trifecta finale. Things may have started out a little more conservatively with this Super Skinny Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie, but we are definitely finishing on a wild note! Because there is nothing mild or tame about this two-layer chocolate fudge peanut butter cup beauty!
This may look like a simple 2-layer cake at first glance. But what you’re really seeing here are actually nine layers of peanut butter chocolate-y goodness. Count them with me:
???????? my all-time favorite chocolate cake.
???????? homemade peanut butter frosting.
???????? Reese’s peanut butter cups.
???????? more chocolate cake.
???????? more peanut butter frosting.
???????? peanut butter chocolate ganache.
???????? more peanut butter frosting.
???????? more peanut butter chocolate ganache.
???????? MORE Reese’s cups!
See those Reese’s cups in the middle?
That’s my favorite part. You know I’m all about the texture, and those little bits of Reese’s give the middle of this cake a perfect little something extra to bite into.
What are you waiting for?! It’s practically the weekend– dig in!
My favorite doctored up cake mix combined with my favorite from-scratch coconut buttercream. I love that this cake is both beautiful and simple.
Originally posted in May 2014.
I thought it would be fun to celebrate this Mother’s day by spending this whole week posting the favorite dessert recipes of all of the mothers in my life! Starting with my Grandma.
I’ve posted some of her recipes on here before. Check out this Red Velvet Cake and these Monster Cookies. Those are hers and two of my very favorite recipes.
My Grandma is one of my heroes– both in the kitchen and out. She is genuine and kind and has always been such a great support to me. I am so thankful to have her in my life, and to really have her. She’s always taken a real interest in the things that are important to me and has been so encouraging of my pursuits.
She has been such an important and permanent influence in my life…. as have her baked goods. So many of my memories of time with my Grandma revolve around holiday baking. I loved (and I still do) sitting at her counter, watching her work, and just talking.
Grandma says she likes coconut cake best, so here we are today with a super easy and yummy coconut cake. Perfect for summer! It’s simply my favorite doctored up cake mix (seriously, you can’t beat this recipe), and my favorite coconut buttercream. I love the layers on this cake too– just like the rest of it, they’re both beautiful and simple.
Plus, my grandma is the queen of layered cakes. If she were making this, it would have at least 6 layers. Maybe I’ll get there one day, but for now I’m settling for a measly four layers ;).
This banana bread is perfect for a special birthday breakfast or just a fun way to use up those old bananas! Incredibly moist, easy to make, and so much fun.
Hey hey, it’s 2017! So, tell me everything. Are you making New Year resolutions? Are you losing weight? Getting fit? Eating more dessert?
Wait. Just me? ????
Kidding. I actually started my 2017 health “resolutions” last week. After about December 27, I just felt like I couldn’t go another day without getting on track. And by “on track,” I mean Weight Watchers. Always. It’s my favorite go-to (see this post… and this one).
Speaking of Weight Watchers and zero point bananas….
Would you check out this Birthday Cake Banana Bread??
Because I’m sure this is exactly what Weight Watchers had in mind when they made bananas a point-free food ???? ???? ????.
This is my favorite cake mix banana bread recipe, and I think it is just fabulous. I’ve made Red Velvet Banana Bread and Brownie Banana Bread using this same recipe, and it’s just a super dependable delicious recipe. The bread is moist, full of flavor, and has an incredibly tender crumb.
Hang on a second.
Can we talk about my weird foodie vernacular here? Tender crumb.
Isn’t that the weirdest food terminology you’ve ever heard?? And once you know what it is, there really is no other phrase you can use in place of tender crumb for a food that has a tender crumb. The best way I can describe “tender crumb” is when the crumbs of a cake or bread are so moist that you can use the back of a fork to smush them and pick them up… does that make any sense to anyone but me?
And omg, I’ve said tender crumb so much now that it’s starting to look weird to me. ????
Soooooo…. to get back on topic: this banana bread.
It’s really just so much fun. It’s simple to make since it uses a cake mix (only 4 ingredients total!). Which also means that it has a wonderfully predictable cake-like flavor and fluffy texture. If you have any tired bananas just sitting around, may I suggest this Birthday Cake Banana Bread instead of a smoothie?
Soft and moist pumpkin cupcakes topped with my favorite cream cheese frosting and pecans.
I have to admit, when I look at these cupcakes, all I can see is that cream cheese frosting.
It is just so very ???????? ???????? ????????.
Back when I thought I wanted to own a cupcake bakery (have I told you about that short lived dream?? Have to say I’m sooooooo glad that didn’t work out!), I would cart cupcakes around to just about everywhere I went, including my full time retail/sales-y/corporate-ish job.
And I remember someone there once saying, “you know, it’s really all about the cake. Anyone can make good frosting, but the cake… you have to really know what you’re doing to make a good cake.”
7-ish years into the business of making A LOT of cakes, cupcakes, frostings, and other desserts nearly every day… I have to respectfully and adamantly disagree.
Because here’s the thing. A doctored up cake mix makes about as good a cake as I’ve ever had. I’m a cake fiend, and I’m not ashamed to admit I prefer cake mix to from-scratch cakes a good 90% of the time.
This cake mix pumpkin cake recipe has been my go-to for years. It’s simple and easy to remember: cake mix + a can of pumpkin. You could really stop there, but I usually add a little milk, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice just to give it that “homemade” taste.
Now don’t get me wrong. From scratch cakes have their place. Like I don’t think that good banana cake can be outdone by a cake mix. And I do actually like Red Velvet from scratch marginally better than a cake mix Red Velvet. But other than that… I hardly see a reason to deviate from my favorite mixes. And that’s the truth.
As much as I like store-bought frosting, I have to say that canned cream cheese frosting isn’t even in the same ball-park as homemade cream cheese frosting. It doesn’t even taste like cream cheese! WHAT?!
So when it comes to cream cheese frosting in my recipes, homemade is the only way to go. And it’s really pretty easy as far as frostings go– as long as your expectations are realistic. And what I mean by that is that you can’t treat it like a buttercream. This recipe won’t be as stiff or as sturdy as a decorating buttercream. So don’t plan to do any sharp piping work or anything with it.
But you CAN plan on falling in love with it. It spreads on nice and smooth and creamy. And the flavor is light and dreamy with just a little tang from the cream cheese and a whole lot of vanilla flavor. I love using vanilla paste or crushed vanilla in place of the extract. Can you see those little delicious flecks??
This recipe is such a keeper, ya’ll. It’s one of those no-fail, timeless classics that’s worth hanging on to and pulling out at least once every Fall.
Soft and moist, spiced pumpkin cupcakes perfectly paired with whipped and fluffy Nutella buttercream.
Alright you guys– where are my pumpkin freaks???
And I use the term “freaks” ever so lovingly. Because, don’t I know it, I’m one of them. And now that September is FINALLY here, and we have officially passed the Labor Day benchmark… you know what that means! Yes, my friends. It’s time to pumpkinallthethings. As all the hashtags have been no-so-subtly reminding us for the past 6 days ????.
This year, I’m especially anxious for Fall to get underway because…. I want to move into my house already!!!! I’m like a kid doing the potty dance waiting for this house to get built. Seriously. I love ya September and October– but this year, we’ve got to get a move on!
In the meantime, we might as well talk cupcakes in order to distract me from my toe-tapping.
And what better distraction than pumpkin cupcakes?? Pumpkin cupcakes with Nutella buttercream to boot!
Not only are these cupcakes (obviously) the culmination of a perfect flavor pairing and utterly, sinfully delicious. But they are also SUPER easy. I used my favorite 2-ingredient pumpkin + cake mix recipe for the base. It’s ridiculously easy peasy.
After that, all you have to do is whip up a simple Nutella buttercream– which is at least 10 times easier than it sounds.
Happy pumpkin season babes! If you need me, I’ll be creepin’ the construction crew at my future house. ????
Kidding. I bring them donuts. They totally know I’m not weird.
This cake is not for the faint of heart! Sinfully fudgy and moist on the inside and recklessly covered in chocolate on the outside, topped with Snickers candy bars, Reese’s Cups, sea salt caramel filled chocolates, dark chocolate ganache, and a semisweet chocolate drizzle.
This cake is not subtle. No siree. It slaps you in the face with more chocolate than you ever knew could be in one cake, from the inside out!
You can’t see it yet, but the inside of the cake is actually the best part. I’m putting the cart before the horse there though. I think before we get to that, we’d better talk about the outside first. I mean, how could we not??
Just look at this monstrosity!! Snickers candy bars, Reese’s cups, sea salt caramel filled chocolates, dark chocolate ganache and a semisweet drizzle are all piled high on top with my favorite Guittard milk chocolate chips covering the rest of the cake.
I mean… there just are no words for this level of chocolate-iness.
Let’s talk method for a minute: it may look like one big mess just thrown together, but it actually does require a certain level of technique to get things to stay put. Those chocolate chips on the side are tricky little boogers. Here’s what worked for me:
add a little more powdered sugar to the remaining frosting after you’ve layered frosting in the middle of the cake. I’ll discuss this more in a second, but the filling frosting is meant to be a little soft, so it doesn’t hold the chocolate chips as well on the outside.
pile the chocolate chips up the side of the cake and press in– I used plastic gloves, so that I didn’t get chocolate all over my hands. This part is a bit messy.
this step is hard to describe, and it’s not 100% necessary, but I felt like it was helpful– fold parchment paper into a long strip about the same height as the cake. Wrap the strip around like cake like a tube, and gently tie a piece of bakers string around it to hold it in place. This allows you to do a little more pressing through the parchment paper without making a mess, and it secures all the chocolate chips onto the cake while the frosting does a little bit of hardening (not like hard hard, but just the little bit that powdered sugar causes in frosting). Keep the parchment on there until ready to serve.
Ok, so let’s talk about the inside of this cake! SO GOOD!
It’s my very favorite chocolate cake recipe that starts with a cake mix and is made incredibly moist by adding pudding and sour cream. Add to that my very favorite fudgy chocolate frosting, which I’ve thinned ever so slightly by adding a little less powdered sugar than the recipe calls for. This really contributes to a further moistening of the cake, so that it literally just melts in your mouth.
As good as the outside of the cake it (and how it could it not be?!), the inside is really my favorite part of this whole thing. It’s really pretty incredible, and I think you are going to just die over it.
I mean, just look at this!
By the way… you can use any chocolate candy you would like on the top. I personally think M&Ms and Oreos would be amazing. But I have to say, I die over the ooey, gooey caramel that I used on this cake. I used Ghirardelli sea salt caramel filled chocolate, and I thought the caramel was the perfect thing to break up the chocolate a little bit. And it’s just visually so great as well.
This cake definitely takes a little bit of time and effort, but it’s so worth it! Enjoy 🙂
Want to comment on this cake? Visit me on Instagram and let me know what you think!
If you love snickerdoodles, then you will love these gooey cake bars! Even better? All you’ll need is one bowl to make them.
Gooey cake bars are seriously life changing. Have you made them before? It’s like a layer of cheesecake sitting on top of a dense cookie-like cake bar.
These bars combine the cinnamon sugar of a snickerdoodle with the grand yumminess that is a gooey cake bar– it’s genius! Annnnnnnnnnd it’s another dairy-filled recipe that I accidentally face planted into. I know. #nursingmomprobs
I could make these bars over and over again. They taste amazing, and they are SO easy to make (even though they look super fancy and labor intensive, they’re really not). All you’ll need is your one stand mixer bowl, and you can make both the cake layer and they gooey layer in that same bowl with no need to wash in between! Yay for less dish-washing! Can I get an AMEN?!
I hate dishes. Like, hate hate dishes.
But back to the point: these bars.
So good. Make them. Love them. The end.
Actually, not quite “the end.” What I really should have said was: make them. Love them. Buy this cookbook!
This Snickerdoodle Gooey Cake Bar recipe comes from this amazing cookbook written by my sweet friend, Jocelyn, who blogs over at Grandbaby Cakes. It is a beautiful, beautiful book written by an obviously beautiful and food-loving soul. It’s brimming with gorgeous and mouth watering cakes, like these…
It’s also full of sweet family photos that I just couldn’t get enough of. Like this precious one…
And my favorite page of the whole book?
Just inside the front cover. Isn’t that the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen in a cookbook? A place to write the first generation to own this book! Jocelyn’s book is full of love and great recipes, and I loved it cover to cover.
So until you get your hands on Grandbaby Cakes, the cookbook (as you must!)– here’s a recipe to tide you over 🙂
