February Cake

Have you ever been in a restaurant, chatting in a leisurely way with your dinner companions, occasionally forking up a bite of your dinner, and the helpful waiter whisks your plate away without even asking if you're done with your meal? I feel that way about February. What happened? Where did it go? I wasn't done with it!

I had a long list of things to make and bake in February and I don't think I got to half of them. I'll blame it on the silly, short nature of February. The poor truncated month is missing three days, so I guess I should have lowered expectations for February.

Two of the things I managed to get done in February were birthday cakes. I'll tell you about one today and one next post. The first one was for my son-in-law. My daughter met him when they were in high school and she had a very good feeling about this boy when she learned that he, too, felt the best way to eat Oreos was dipped in peanut butter. Yes, he's a peanut butter and chocolate man, through and through.

In our house the birthday tradition is the birthday boy or girl gets to pick their own cake and I'll make it. Well, now the son-in-law is included. Bonus marriage perk! Of course we went with peanut butter and chocolate. A yellow cake with peanut butter frosting between the layers and on top, chocolate frosting around the sides, and Reese's peanut butter cups crumbled on top. A very good cake to share, as it serves 12.

(My decorating skills are meager at best, but I had fun doing that piped border!)



PB & C Birthday Cake

Yellow Cake
- adapted from The Perfect Cake

3 cups (360 g) sifted all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks; 230 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1-1/4 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
(6-.75 oz. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups)

1- Grease two 8 or 9-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds and grease the paper. Flour the pans and tap off the excess. Preheat oven to 350 deg. F with a rack in the center of the oven.

2- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3- In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft and smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl several times.

4- With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in the vanilla.

5-Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Smooth the batter and using a small, off-set spatula, spread the batter slightly from the center toward the edges of the pan so it will rise evenly. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or just until a cake tester comes out clean and the cake tops are lightly springy to the touch.

6- Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Top with a wire rack and invert. Peel off the parchment paper. Cool the layers completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups powdered sugar
7-8 Tbsp milk

1-Cream together the peanut butter and butter until lightened.

2- Blend in the vanilla and salt.

3- Stir in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time. It will form clumps. Don't worry.

4- Add the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the proper consistency is reached.

Chocolate Frosting
- adapted from The Perfect Cake

(if you make the whole recipe, you'll have leftovers to spread on graham crackers. You can halve the recipe, but it might make the outer frosting a bit skimpy. I would choose to go with leftovers. Which is why I currently have 3 containers of leftover frostings in my refrigerator.)

1/2 cup (1 stick; 110 g) unsalted butter, softened but not melted
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-4-1/2 cups (16 oz; 454 g) sifted confectioners' sugar
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
4-6 Tbsp heavy cream

With an electric mixer, cream the butter until soft, then beat in the salt and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat till smooth. Beat in the chocolate. Alternately add cream and remaining sugar, blending smooth between additions. Scrape down sides of bowl. Use only as much cream as necessary to reach spreading consistency.

To assemble:

1- Slice the cooled cake layers in half horizontally.

2- Place the first layer half on your serving plate. (To keep the plate clean, you can place strips of parchment paper beneath the edges of the cake. Pull these out after the cake is frosted.) Spread about 1/4 of the peanut butter frosting on the layer with an off-set spatula.

3- Place the second layer half on top. Repeat with the frosting. Repeat for the remaining layers.

4- Carefully spread the chocolate frosting around the side of the cake. Pipe frosting around the top edge.

5- Coarsely chop up the peanut butter cups and sprinkle them over the top of the cake.