Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I just realized that I have never featured the cake that got me into cake decorating. It is a really easy cake to bake and put together....I mean, if I can do it on the first go-round then anyone can! I was searching for a good cake to make for my then boyfriend, now husband, and since he loves Reeses I searched for chocolate peanut butter cakes. Here it is, the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. (Link goes to Smitten Kitchen where once I saw this, I explored a little and fell in love with her blog!)

 The pictures are absolutely terrible, but this was really the first time I started taking pictures of food.....and at that point I really didn't care too much about the lighting and more about posting these pics online...I was so proud!



Three layers of cake! I froze them before icing them to make them easier to deal with and less crumbs.



The cream cheese peanut butter frosting.....yum.



All three layers of chocolatey goodness, held together with peanut butter frosting.



This is the chocolate peanut butter ganache that is poured over the top of the cake.



The  finished product. BE WARNED! This product is very rich and you will need lots of milk :)



It was a piece of cake. It doesn't look nearly as 'neat' as Deb's @ SK's does but hey, it was my first attempt. It still tasted damn good.



The recipe is avaible if you click on the link before the pictures. If you are looking for other absolutely yummy recipes just browse smittenkitchen.com and you're sure to find something you will love. Another good foodie blog is 17 and Baking, and if you don't go there to read about the food at least read her posts.....she is an amazingly talented writer!! She paints a very vivid picture!

After I first made this cake people have been demanding it....friends, family, coworkers, everyone! I have found that I liked making this cake and I actually had fun cleaning up as the cakes are baking, making the icing as the cakes chill in the freezer, and melting chocolate and peanut butter together and pouring it all over a cake. I like baking.

When I was younger my sister and I were in 4H and took a cake decorating course but never followed through with the whole thing, but we always had cake decorating supplies. We rarely made cakes after that, let alone decorated them, but I held onto those supplies. Then, last Christmas, my Aunt bought me a huge carrying case full of supplies - enough for the first Wilton cake decorating course! I signed up for four classes once a week in April and learned a lot. I posted pictures of those a while ago so if you would like to see them just click here, here, here, and here.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my first cake venture and if you decide to try it, please take pics and let me see!!

♥kayla

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 Class 1

First of all I want to show you this picture. It is of three roses, two of them the instructor made and the other one I made. Can you guess which one it is?????? (The answer is at the bottom of this post)

Also, if you searched for Wilton classes and have happened to stumble upon my blog, please read more of my April 2010 posts, as I did a post for every class that I attended! It truly is a wonderful class! (Class 4 is NOT listed as Class 4, the post is titled "I'm An Official Cake Decorator!" if you want to check it out)

When I signed up for the course the cashier told me that for the first class I didn't need to bring anything, so I assumed we were just going to make a list of what we needed to make and bring next time. I was SO wrong......to an extent. One of the first things the instructor asked was "Did you bring your Course 1 set??" to which I, of course, replied "No, the cashier told me I wouldn't need it". She then told me that it was too bad because we were going to go through our kits and make sure we had all the right tips and if we were missing any she would give us what we were missing. But, I've taken the first two classes for this before, so I actually had triple the tips for the first course....quick explanation....

So, my sister and I both took Cake Decorating Course 1 in 4H while I was a Freshman and she was in seventh grade. We ended up taking only two classes and didn't go again, seems kinda silly now huh? There's two sets of tips there. This past Christmas, my Aunt Betty was so generous to buy me a 'tackle box' of cake decorating supplies from Wilton! That present was pretty sweet! That's the set of tips plus some extra, like the rose pin!!

This first class taught me a lot more than I thought it would in the first class! We automatically went through the kits - mine at home - and went through this booklet that she gave to us all, scribbling notes all the while. She showed us the proper way to fold and hold a bag, how to torte a cake using a leveler, showed us the proper way to fill a cake with things like pudding (yum!), and the finale was showing us how to make roses. That was so exciting for me because the icing rose has always mystified me and now I know its secret! He he....no, really it was SO cool to learn that and it makes me super excited for next weeks class......now I'm wondering what I should do with my cake I've got to take to class since I know people at work might try to eat it.....hmmm.......

Kayla ♥

So, the rose that I made is the one on the bottom! If you guessed correctly, then good for you! If not, better luck next time!