The smoke is clearing – kind of. I’m cleaning my sheets, wiping the walls, and trying to prepare to take that first deep breath in as soon as the fog clears. The whole west coast is on fire if you haven’t heard. And, we are seeing the ashes of the forest, the little towns, the kitchen cabinets fall onto our sidewalks. It’s made the end of summer a little weary.
Dear Jesus, when I asked for foggy fall mornings, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
We are well, we are safe. We are soaking up Bruce Wane snuggles and working overtime. Life feels normal as we move into the rhythm of fall, our busiest time of year. We are peeling off summer freckles to reveal new skin. We are offering grace as it abounds in plenty in our own lives and – aren’t we just thankful for that.
To be offered grace, to give grace. Let’s live there from here on out.
And while we are living in grace-a-plenty, let’s make a chocolate peanut butter crunch cake. This recipe was made up earlier this summer when a few baking bloggers and I organized a bake sale that funded the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition – an organization that feeds Black and Brown communities that suffer from food scarcity. I placed chunks of the chocolate cake into deli tubs, drizzled with ganache, topped with peanut butter frosting, and topped with Valrhona Chocolate Crispearls (I bought them in wholesale but these are similar.
It felt fitting that the last recipe on the blog this summer would be this Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cake. An homage to what began. I’m feeling a little older, a little more wrinkled (despite my new anti-aging face routine) than I did at the beginning of the summer. I still have hope that this fall will be a wreckage of beauty that we can’t help but soak in. That we don’t laser focus on the bad but rather, we can open up our clenched fists and ask for what we need.
Chocolate Peanutbutter Crunch Cake
The perfect blending of rich chocolate cake and creamy salty peanut butter frosting with a crunchy top.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings
- Category: Baking
- Method: reverse creaming
- Cuisine: pastry
Ingredients
||Chocolate Sheet Cake ||
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
|| Peanut Butter Buttercream ||
½ cup butter
½ cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup ½ and ½
|| Topping ||
½ cup Valrhona Chocolate Crispearls
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9″ x 13″ pan.
|| Chocolate Sheet Cake || Place all dry ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer and whisk until combined.
In a separate bowl, add melted butter to hot coffee.
Add eggs and buttermilk into the dry ingredients and turn the mixer on low while pouring in the melted butter/coffee mixture. Scrape down the sides and continue to stir for another 30 seconds.
Pour batter into prepared sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center has just set. Cool for about 15 minutes before removing from pan.
|| Peanut Butter Buttercream || Mix the butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add the ½ and ½ and beat until light and fluffy.
Frost the top of the cake once it’s cooled and top with Chocolate Crispearls.
Well I ate this from the bake sale and it was SO GOOD. Like I should’ve purchased 4 instead of the 1 because I sure didn’t want to share it with the hubs. Also I gotta track me down some chocolate covered balls 😉
I made this last night to serve after a special dinner. It was a hit. The cake is so moist & chocolatey, & Karlee’s extra touch of cinnamon was really nice. I could live in the PB buttercream. SO GOOD.
★★★★★
(may or may not have eaten some for breakfast, too.)
required.
Oh my gosh, YES!!! thank you JESSSSS I’m so freaking happy RN.
Please–I must know where you got your charming dishes. Would love to look them up for a dear friend’s birthday next month–she is a Francophile and would just love something from the set. Thank you!
Hey Robyn! Aren’t they adorable!? I found them at Sur La Table! I think they might still be there!
Haven’t made this yet but have full intentions. We live in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, originally from the Willamette Valley and am saddened by all that has happened over there. We did have PLENTY of the leftover smoke and ash here. No “you’re welcome”needed.
Got your recipe from Joy Wilson’s “Let it be Sunday” today. Thanking her, and you! Will definitely make this cake and add yiur blog to my Feedly.
Hey Pat! Yay! Isn’t Joy the absolute best!? Just living out her namesake 🙂 Oh yes, it is heavy here. We love our Willamette Valley!
Hello,
In the buttercream, I don’t fully understand the 1/2 and 1/2 what are we halving or adding?
Hey Stephanie! I used half and half as in the cream we put in our coffee! If you don’t have any, it’s made up of half whole milk and half cream 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hi ! I’d like to try this recipe as a birthday cake but my step children and I fond of coffee taste in cakes. Can I make it without the coffee and how should I replace it ? Thanx
Absolutely! You can just sub warm/hot water instead of warm/hot coffee 🙂
This cake is so good! I made it last week and to do another for my sister-in-law for her birthday this weekend. Any suggestions for making it as a layer cake instead of sheet cake?