[trudyw]

I have volunteered to bake a cake for a group BBQ at our directors house next week (our summer goof off afternoon).
I'd like to do a choclate PB cake, but the last one I tried was really far too sweet (somebody else had made it).

The only requirement I have is that I put mini PB cups on top and cut them up and put them between the layers.

If I do a chocolate cake, what should I do for the filling and frosting so that it isn't too much? Or should I do something other than a chocolate cake?

I'm open to all suggestions, as long as they include both some chocolate and some peanut butter.

Thanks - trudy

 

[momoreg]

I don't know what you mean by "too much", but I assume that you want something easy.

Chocolate and PB are very well liked, but in my opinion totally overdone. But if you wanted to stay with choc. and PB, maybe you could add banana as well, for a twist. Like a banana flavored cake with dark choc. filling and just a hint of PB, layered with bananas and PB cups.

Or, instead of choc, replace it with white choc. (Maybe a white choc. PB pie) And watch out that there's not a lot of sugar in the rest of your cake, because white choc. can be cloying.

 

[w.debord]

Aunt Martha has a milk chocolate peanut butter "frosting" that's very good. I forget if she does this or I created the combo...but I have used it as frosting on my banana cakes. I love it, but honestly other people don't seem to like the combo as much as I do. Or perhaps it was my clients at the time...

Basicly it's milk chocolate ganche with peanut butter, then you wait until it's thick enough to spread. It's very easy to handle.

I also make a recipe from Marcel Deslaunier (yes, I can't remember how to spell his name) that good. It consists of a thin layers of gooey soft brownie, layer of peanut butter, layer of chocolate peanut butter ganche. Repeated into a torte and frosted with the ganche. It's really pretty good and not quite as grossly rich as it sounds, but a small slice will do.... this with some fresh banana slices ontop of the pb sounds good to me.

I've made the peanut butter cake from "The Bakers Dozen" book...it wasn't great, but since then I've noticed many recipes in my older books for pb cakes (I'd love to try). They don't seem to be overly sweet nor as rich as a chocolate cake....

I make peanut butter cheesecake with chocolate chips, etc... that's yummy.

Also I love peanut butter mousse (not as sweet as choc. mousse), you can layer that with anything....maybe a white cake with thin layers of ganche.

Honestly though the choc. cups layered in the middle is kind of "off" in a cake. Too hard in the middle. You could mix pb in melted chocolate, stir in crushed rice crispies (or crushed ice cream cones) and spread that real thin on parchment the diamiter of your cake. Chill and use that as your bottom layer in a mousse cake and that works better. Crunch on the top or bottom just works better (IMO) in most cases then in the middle.

(p.s my screen is messed up, so I can't proof read my posts, sorry)

 

[lotuscakestudio]

Chocolate cake with peanutbutter mousse is to die for!

 

[shimmer]

I think a darker chocolate cake helps a lot with the sweetness problem, maybe just keeping the peanut butteryness in the frosting would also help cut back.

I make a chocolate peanut butter cake where I work sometimes, and although most of the time I will make four-layer cakes with small layers, peanut butter is so strong that I usually make only two layers to keep more chocolate taste with the peanut butter. And I don't think you need to add any chocolate to the icing, since you already have peanut butter cups, it will have enough of the same flavors, I think.

Make sure there is milk available!!

~~Shimmer~~

 

[lotuscakestudio]

While we're on this topic of peanutbutter... does anyone know how to make peanutbutter ganache without using peanutbutter chips? Right now I make it with Reeses Peanut Butter chips, then fold it with whipped cream to make mousse. It's really good, not too sweet, but I had a request to make it without hydrogenated oil (ingredient in the chips).

 

[momoreg]

Well, ganache must contain chocolate to be ganache, so how about chocolate, pb, and cream? You can also use white choc.

 

[kimmie]

Marcel Desaulniers has a great one, I think it's in "Desserts to Die For". I had jotted down the recipe while watching it on TV, made it, loved it...and then we moved...and it was lossed in the shuffle.

I may find it again but not in time for your "affair"!

Edited to add:
You will find it for sure in Home Cooking with Amy Coleman, Vol. III. The recipe is called "Gooey Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Cake". The frosting was a Chocolate glaze.

You can find it in a good book store or via amazon.com

 

[kimmie]

Wendy,

I understand you have the Marcel Desaulniers recipe. Would you be so kind and post it, right here...right now!!

 

[panini]

I'd go frozen or mud type pie.
We do a choco/peanutbutter frozen mousse pie with a crust of ground oreo,peanuts salt and butter. We have a lot of people take these to BBQ's.

 

[w.debord]

Oops...a day late, but...sure. One of the recipes I mentioned above (with the soft brownie is apart of this total recipe).


Choc. PB Ganche (by M. Desualnier):

1 1/2 c. heavy cream
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. creamy peanut B
18 oz. semi sweet choc. in small peices

Heat the cream with the sugar, when hot pour it into the choc. and peanut b. Let stand 5 min. stir until smooth.


This is delicious and can be adapted many different ways...Desualnier is my king of ganche and mousses. The amount of pb can vary to your tastes and works fine with more or less.

 

[kimmie]

Thanks Wendy. Can I have the main recipe for "Gooey Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Cake"?