Sometimes you just want cake, you know? We had a craving for dessert on a recent Sunday afternoon and decided to whip something up for ourselves, but we also didn’t want to spend the whole day in the kitchen. So we decided to bake up a quick chocolate cake, and then we had to decide what to frost it with. We both love a good peanut butter and chocolate combination, so we settled on a simple peanut butter frosting. Below is how we made all this, and it was delightfully simple – which is a little dangerous, because you don’t want to make it too easy to have cake in your home. But every now and then is a nice treat, and with Valentines Day coming up maybe this can be what you bake up for your sweetheart.
To make this, you’ll need:
- Sugar
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Cocoa powder
- Vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- Buttermilk
- Vanilla extract
- Cooking spray
- Peanut butter
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy cream
- Chocolate sprinkles
First, the cake: In one bowl whisk together 2 cups of sugar, 1 3/4 cup of flour, and a teaspoon of baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, 3/4 cup of oil, and 1 cup of hot water, and once the cocoa powder has fully combined in, add your eggs, a large pinch of salt, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Shake your buttermilk and stir in 3/4 cup of that, then pour in the sugar-flour mixture and whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Line a rectangular baking pan (it should be around 13 inches by 9 inches) with parchment paper and coat the paper with cooking spray, then pour in your batter and spread it out evenly throughout the pan. Bake at 375°F for about 25 minutes, until you can stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake and it comes out mostly clean. Let your cake cool right in the pan for at least an hour.
After the cake comes out of the oven you can make the frosting by placing 2/3 cup of peanut butter, 3 cups of powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, and 4 tablespoons of cream into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat at a medium speed until you get a frosting that’s light and spreadable, adding more cream by the teaspoon as needed until you have the right consistency.
Once the cake is fully cool you can frost it – you’ll probably have some extra frosting left over, unless you really like a heavy layer on your cakes.
Finally, scatter chocolate sprinkles over the whole thing, then cut your cake into squares and serve it up!
We know that square cake isn’t what you usually see, but we’ll trade the aesthetics of a slice for this easiness of baking a cake in a casserole dish and then cutting and serving it straight up from the pan. And in case you’re not yet sold, this cake is amazing – it’s nice and fluffy, not too dense and thick, and has just the right amount of sweetness to it. The peanut butter frosting lets you pair a classic flavor with the chocolate cake, and it’s all super easy to make. This was some great Sunday baking, and in a month filled with sweet treats this is a great, simple, homemade cake that you can mix up for any of your loved ones.