Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

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Its that time of year again where I have to think of a good cake to make for my Fiance's birthday.  This year I decided to hoard all the Reese's I could find around Halloween time and save them to make this cake.  This cake was a huge hit with him, his family, and all our neighbors.  My future brother-in-law requested it for his birthday as well.  The frosting is what makes the cake, its perfectly rich and creamy. I got the idea for this cake from Make Bake Celebrate but I used a different recipe.   If you know a peanut butter lover, I am sure they will love this cake!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes - Adapted from My Baking Addiction

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
1 Box Devil’s Food Cake Mix
1 4oz Package Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
1 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Water
4 Eggs, room temperature

1 Bag of Reese's Mini - (I used a combination of Reese's regular size and some of the small ones)

Peanut Butter Buttercream
Ingredients:
3 Sticks Butter, unsalted and room temperature
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Vanilla
5 1/2 Cups Confectioners' Sugar, sifted
6-8 Tablespoons Heavy Cream - I used about 4 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare your cake pans, I used 2 8in round pans.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, water, and eggs. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.
3. Divide the batter between your two pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched. 
5. Allow cake to cool for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove cakes from pans and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cakes are cool, you can either freeze them or frost them right away.  I would reccomend you freeze them becuase it makes it easier to frost them.    
7. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream butter and peanut butter on medium speed until fluffy. 
8. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
9. Add vanilla and 4 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 4 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy
10. To assemble the cake, I spread one later of frosting on the bottom layer of cake and then put a layer of chopped Reese's.  Put the second layer of cake on top and then cover the whole cake with frosting.  I then melted some chocolate and poured that over the top.  I then put the remaining Reese's on top.
11. ENJOY!!

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Happy Holidays!! I hope everyone is done with their shopping and spending all their time baking!!  This is such an easy recipe and super quick!! Anyone can whip this up for a holiday party or just to share with your family.  I am gonna make this post short and sweet because I have a lot to do! Merry Christmas!

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge - Adapted from - Cake Duchess
Yield: 25 squares
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1 (14 Ounce) Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Peppermint Extract
4 Candy Canes, crushed

Directions:

1. Line a 8 or 9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper leaving about 2 inches around the sides of pan hanging out.
2. Place chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Cook until chocolate melts, stirring often until smooth. 
3. Remove the chocolate from the heat. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and the peppermint extract. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
4. Let the fudge set for a hour or two.
5. Enjoy!