Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

A little slice of Heaven! The cake is super moist, frosting is perfectly creamy, and ganache is out of this world. A perfect cake to celebrate Hayden's eight birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYD!Recipe from SmittenKitchen
It makes a 3 layer cake, but I made one layer special for Tyler with no peanut butter frosting.

For the cake:
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans, set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add in the oil and sour cream and whisk well. Slowly whisk in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. You will have some strong arms.....
Divide batter into the three prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool completely. These cakes are super moist and soft. I froze them for 30 minutes or so before I frosted them.

Peanut Butter Frosting:
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
1 stick of real butter, at room temp.
5 cups confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add in the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

To frost the cake, place about 2/3 cup of frosting between each layer and then spread the remaining frosting on the top and sides. I did a really thin coat first, froze it for 10 minutes then did a second layer with the remaining frosting. Place it in the refrigerator while you make the ganache.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache:
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Stir together the chocolate chips, peanut butter and syrup. Microwave the cream just until bubbly, about 1 1/2 minutes. Quickly pour it over the chocolate chips and immediately cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir vigorously to combine. Pour over your chilled cake. Let drip over the sides of the cake. My drips turned out kinda ugly, so I ended up spreading it evenly around the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pumpkin Roll

This recipe comes from my Grandma Lucy's cookbook. She put this cookbook together for her kids years ago with all of her recipes from over the years (she was the best cook/chef/baker I have ever known). That's what my grandma did, worked as a cook/chef & also owned her own bakery. My mom made all of her kids a copy & it is one of my most treasured possessions. I remember Grandma Lucy making these pumpkin rolls when I was little & it was my first time trying it. It turned out perfect! Just like I remembered! (Sorry for the trip down memory lane!)

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

Beat eggs for 5 minutes, gradually beat in sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt together. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread onto a greased and floured cookie sheet. (I sprayed mine with the non-stick spray that has flour in it & it worked great). Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Do not overcook!

This is what mine looked like after I pulled it out of the oven.

Filling:

2 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 cup butter softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat filling ingredients together (I did this while my pumpkin roll was in the oven).

DELICIOUS!

Sprinkle a dish towel with some powdered sugar. When cake is removed from oven, turn it out onto the towel and sprinkle with more of the powdered sugar. (Make sure you sprinkle the towel well so that your roll doesn't stick.) Roll in towel and cool in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Unroll cake and spread with filling. Re-roll and wrap in wax paper. (If your roll does stick to the towel, let it sit for a minute & warm to room temperature. Then add a little flour to the roll before putting it in the wax paper.) Store in refrigerator. Serves 8-10.

You just cut thick slices off of the roll. It is so delicious! Even my husband who is not a fan of cream cheese frosting loved it! YUMMY!

Oreo Cookie Frosting

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of water
1 lb of confectioners sugar (approx 4 cups)
1 tablespoon of meringue powder (found at Michael's Craft Store)
14 Oreos, finely crushed in food processor
Directions
In bowl of stand mixer, cream butter , vanilla and water. Add confectioner's sugar, meringue powder and crushed Oreos. Mix until well combined. And there you have it....another way to enjoy those Oreos!