Ultimate Father's Day Gift..Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Cake!

Hello friends and welcome back I hope you are all having a lovely week wherever you are.

After an ungodly hot and humid weekend, we are now enjoying a spectacular week of cool mornings and beautiful sunny (70's-80's) days...perfect!

So as you know, Sunday is Father's Day and I thought a fabulous dessert recipe would be great to finish off a family BBQ or dinner this weekend. 

What man doesn't love 

CHOCOLATE

tore this page from a magazine years ago..Family Circle??

Add some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

and you have an unbeatable combination.

Let's bake Dad a 

Peanut Butter Fudge Cake!

This is another semi-homemade, or as we bloggers are fond of saying, a box cake 'restyle'.

What you need:

1 box chocolate fudge cake 

1 cup buttermilk

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups chopped reese's peanut butter cups

Do I have to tell you to unwrap them????

Try not to eat too many while doing this.

I failed miserably at this step.

;-<

Try to ignore the aroma of chocolate while chopping.

Hint: if it is warm and chocolate is soft, pop in the fridge to firm them up prior to chopping.

 

I always line my baking pans with parchment paper and I never have a problem getting my cakes out in one piece.

Spray with non-stick spray or grease with shortening.

the little bumps you see are tiny chocolate chips that were in the box mix

Mix with beater on low and then beat at higher speed for about two minutes.

Pour evenly into your two prepared pans

At this point you may use a few of your favorite curse words upon realizing that you forgot to add the chopped peanut butter cups.

Close windows so you don't frighten the neighbors.

Once you have removed the batter..folded in the chopped PB cups and refilled the cake pans,

you will bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Monitor during the last 5 minutes so as not to overbake. 

I usually tap the cake lightly (it will sound hollow) and can tell if it is cooked through.

This is what your cakes should look like.

Smells so yummy!

Let the layers cool before frosting.

can I eat it now???

This cake has a Ganache frosting.

Don't let that fancy word scare you. Ganache is the easiest thing to make.

All it consists of is heavy whipping cream and chocolate...that's it!

If you have never had Ganache, you are in for a treat.

Bring one cup of whipping cream just to a simmer and pour over 8 ounces of chopped chocolate. 

I used really good dark chocolate chips.

Please NO..and I mean NO artificial chocolate!!!!!

I will come after you.

Start whisking

No electric mixer needed

It comes together really fast

Add 1/2 cup good peanut butter and whisk some more

The PB will melt into the chocolate mixture quickly

And that my friends is how to make Ganache!

Wasn't that super easy?

Spread about 1/3 of the ganache on the first layer and top with the second layer.

Looking good!

Pour the ganache over the top layer and let it slowly fall over the sides.

At this point you either smooth the ganache all around the sides or just leave it with the chocolate dripping...it has no effect on the flavor.

I know...I could have neater, but it was 98 degrees and my chocolate was melting...as was I.

I only had chunky peanut butter, hence the bits of peanuts in my ganache.

Pop your cake in the fridge to set and your done!

Be sure to have plenty of milk or coffee on hand.

This cake is so moist and fudgy. It should be illegal!!

I think the buttermilk has a lot to do with it's goodness.

I always decorate with more Reese's Cups on the top of my cake.

The ganache is pure heaven on earth...not as sweet as a sugared icing.

Don't expect to have any leftovers, if you do , they seem to disappear in the middle of the night.

I added this last photo so you could really see the chunks of peanut butter cups.

I have made this cake as a sheet cake also with great success.

For a large crowd, I have used 4 boxes for two large rectangular pans.

I spread the ganache on the first layer and simple poured the remaining ganache all over the top.

I didn't worry about covering the sides.

Everyone raves about this cake.

I hope you try it and if you do, come tell me if your family loved it.

To all the Dad's out there

Happy Father's Day!

Now go eat cake!

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Be sure to come back on Friday for my antique Singer sewing table makeover.

Until next time...be kind and stay creative. 

Sharing with some great blogs

Hope Studios

The Shabby Chic Cottage

Tea Rose Home

365 Days to Simplicity

Friday is Pieday !

Is it Friday already? You bet it is, so lets bake a pie! This weeks pie is one that I hope will take care of your chocolate cravings. We are going to make a homemade..not from a box..chocolate cream pie. For todays pie you will need to make up a batch of my pie dough (see left sidebar) or you can save some time and purchase a good quality frozen pie crust. This will be a single crust pie.

 The shopping list is as follows:

1. 1 cup granulated sugar

2. 1/2 cup flour

3. 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

4. 3 cups milk

5. 1/4 teaspoon salt

6. 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

7. 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

8. 1 tablespoon butter

one baked pie shell 

Roll 1/2 of your pie dough into your pie pan. Tuck edges under and crimp. Using a fork, prick your crust to prevent it from getting puffy while baking. Crumple some foil and place in your crust as shown. this will help your crust to keep it's shape. If you have pie weights..thats even better.

Bake your crust in a 350 degree oven until light golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool.

Blend flour, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Add milk gradually, stirring until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. 

Remove from heat..add the chocolate and stir until blended.

To temper your eggs, add a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the lightly beaten yolks. Mix as you add. If you just added the yolks to the hot chocolate, your eggs would cook rather than mix in smoothly. Now add your tempered yolks to the rest of the chocolate mixture. 

Return to the heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla...mix well. Cover with waxed paper and let cool down. 

Pour cooled filling into pie shell and refrigerate until set.

Top your chocolate pie with some fresh whipped cream or cool whip and wait for the compliments to roll in. I know boxed pudding is so quick and handy for you busy moms, but you should try a homemade pudding pie at least once in your life. It is such a nice treat for your family. So that's it..I hope you enjoyed my little pie tutorial. Be sure to come back next Friday for more pie.

Until next time...be kind and stay creative.

Chocolate Box Cottages....No silly, you don't eat them!

Hello friends...welcome back.

Do you know what a 'chocolate box cottage' is?

I had never heard of the term until I began to research photos for a post on English cottages. I kept seeing this term being used in descriptions of cute cottage homes.

Here is the definition according to David Burr, a British real estate company.

The term ‘chocolate box’ originates from late Victorian times. Today it is used to describe something which is ‘sentimentally appealing or pretty in a conventional way’.

Gaining popularity in the mid-20th Century, the phrase ‘chocolate box cottage’ derives from the picturesque scenes printed on boxes of Cadbury’s chocolates throughout the 1950s and 60s. During this period, the confectionery company included scenes from the ‘model village’ of Bourneville on their packaging.

Built in the late Victorian period by George Cadbury, Bourneville’s high-quality houses were constructed to house the workers at Cadbury’s nearby factory and other families from the back streets of Birmingham. Letting the homes for low rent, Cadbury’s socially responsible aim was to house people on lower incomes.

When these scenic images started appearing on Cadbury’s packaging, the term chocolate box cottage was coined.

The quaint cottages often had low ceilings inside whiches added to their coziness, at least one fireplace, a garden and often a thick thatched roof.

Love the white picket gates. 

 Quintessential English garden. 

 Look at that amazing thatched roof! If constructed properly, these roofs could last up to 50 years.

They were warm in the winter, cool in the summer, waterproof and easily repaired.

 So beautiful!

I love the pink cottage!

Now you know what a chocolate box cottage is!

Until next time....be kind and stay creative!

Hugs,

Janet xox