Sunday is my beloved chocoholic’s birthday. The only thing the man likes better than chocolate is chocolate with peanut butter. So I thought I’d make either the PAACBT or the Chocolate Fudge Cake (which Anne has me dying to try now!!), with peanut butter buttercream filling, frosted with peanut butter ganache. I had some truffles at a restaurant last week that had sesame paste and cashew butter incorporated into the chocolate. It was DIVINE. So I thought a spreadable peanut butter version would be the ticket. It’s going to be one rich cake! On to the questions!!

For pairing with peanut butter- which cake option do you recommend? The Chocolate Butter Torte, or the Chocolate Fudge Cake?

I was a little surprised by the frosting recipe in Heavenly Cakes, though not necessarily in a bad way. I guess I just assumed Rose’s peanut butter buttercream would be made similar to the Praline Silk Meringue. Has anyone tried her peanut butter buttercream? If yes, can you describe taste and texture? With the powdered sugar, I’m wondering if it will be sort of like the filling for peanut butter balls, which would be a good thing for a cake filling!

Peanut Butter Ganache- I don’t see a variation of Rose’s to incorporate a nut butter into a ganache. Please correct me if I’ve overlooked it. If Rose doesn’t have a recipe has anyone tried incorporating nut butter into one of her ganaches? If yes, what proportion/measurement of nut butter did you add? If not, does anyone know of one online that they’d recommend?

Thanks for the help!

Sounds just like my husband!

I haven’t made the torte, but I have made the chocolate fudge cake (it’s my go-to chocolate cake) and I think it would work very well with peanut butter: it has an intense chocolate flavour so won’t be overwhelmed by the peanut butter, it’s not overly sweet and has a lovely, soft crumb.

I have tried Rose’s peanut butter frosting and it’s very good….it’s actually not nearly as sweet as some other recipes using the same ingredients and it’s a little tangy from the cream cheese and sour cream. It was quite creamy and somewhat like the dreamy creamy frosting in texture. I don’t recall there being any grittiness from the icing sugar.

There is a recipe for a whipped peanut butter ganache in RHC (Page 186)......I’ve never made it so I don’t know how thick it is before it’s whipped - spreadable or pourable?

I’m including a link for a recipe that I made (for hubby for Father’s Day last year)  from the book Sky High Cakes that’s been published on Smitten Kitchen’s blog. I actually used Rose’s peanut butter buttercream recipe for this cake because I find the frostings in this book to be extremely sweet. The glaze is peanut butter- chocolate ganache type and in my notes, I’ve indicated that it was a little too thick (it was supposed to drip down the sides) but you may actually want it thicker. The flavour of it was good and it was nice and shiny.

Here’s the link:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/

Hope this helps! and Happy Birthday to your beloved!

Hi, Georgie!

I’ve made both chocolate cakes, and they’re both wonderful.  If I had to pick one, I’d look at this way:  You know the difference when a cookie is made with white and brown sugar?  It’s kind of like that, but not quite so pronounced.  So, if you’re a huge fan of brown sugar, go with Fudge.  If you’re more white sugar, go Torte.  I think the brown sugar would go really nicely with peanut butter, myself, so I’d pick Fudge!!!!

I mixed pistachio butter (homemade) into Neoclassic, and it was simply out of this world.  A really pure pistachio flavor.  I’d expect the same with peanut butter.  The proportion I used can be found in the Sicilian Pistachio Cake—it tells you the weight of nuts to apply to the outside, and tells you how much frosting to make (duh).  Instead of putting the nuts on the outside, I made them into nut butter and mixed it in.  It was PHENOMENAL!!!

For ganache, I made truffles and I’d use equal amounts of chocolate (weight - say 2 oz), butter T (2 T) and cream T (2 T).  This is before I got my scale.  When I used almond butter, I simply used that instead of butter.  I don’t know how thin or thick you want the ganache.  But I’ll tell you this:  Light Whipped Ganache is incredible, so I would think that Peanut Butter Light Whipped Ganache is equally delicious, and I’d go with it!!!!  But it’s foofy—not pourable.  Well, to begin with, it might be, actually.  It firms up as it sis and gets a stucco-like appearance (at least the mocha version does).

Anyway, there’s my thoughts!!!

Keep us up on the cake!!!!

—ak

I made the domingo chocolate cake with the peanut buttercream and peanut butter ganache.  It was DIVINE!!!  It wasn’t overpowering at all.  My ganache separated a bit but you could really tell and is still tasted delicious.  A very yummy combination:)

Oh Sophia! I gasped out loud at you hubby’s cake. I love the glaze dripping down the sides, it looks like it was decadent!

I have no idea how I managed to miss Rose’s whipped peanut butter ganache Thank you! And thanks for the description of her peanut butter buttercream. I’m more confident about it now.

Anne, I know exactly what you mean and pretty much always ask myself if something will taste better with brown sugar, so the Chocolate Fudge cake it is! And I remember your mocha ganache. I loved the stucco look of it. One of these days I’m going to have to try to make my own nut butter/paste. The pistaschio sounds sooooo good and I remember someone posting about having trouble getting a good pistachio flavor in their frosting. I think freshness can make all the difference in the world.

Moderncake, the domingo is another one I haven’t made yet, but I’m glad to hear the combo isn’t overpowering. I figure this will be rich! rich! rich! so there will be cold milk on hand. The domingo has to go on the baking bucket list!

Thank you all! I’ll report back. I’m planning to make at least the buttercream and ganache tonight. We’ll be out until Sunday afternoon, so I need to get as much as possible done beforehand!