Chocolat Peanut Butter Fun Cake

And now for something completely unhealthy…but very much worth it if you can schedule in a “cheat day”. The chocolate cake is incredibly moist and may become my go-to recipe for chocolate cake. First of all, it’s a one-bowl batter cake recipe. Love those! Saves on cleaning many dishes! Also, this cake does not use any eggs. Once in a while I will use eggs when baking, but on average, I like to stick to recipes without eggs. They always give me tummy aches – therefore, we are not friends. *hah* The peanut butter icing was also very simple and had a ton of delicious peanut-buttery flavour. I brought this cake to my book club meeting on Wednesday, and I believe everyone really enjoyed it. I found this cake to be extremely rich, and therefore, definitely needs to be enjoyed with a mug of tea or coffee. This cake was a really delicious treat and I’ll definitely make it again sooner than later :)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Mine was quite busy, but a lot of fun. I got to see some friends for dinner on Friday and I got a lovely surprise phone call from one of my besties in Vancouver. Saturday, I checked out our local winter festival (Festival du Voyageur) with some friends. Today was a lot of cleaning & cooking. I have a blueberry almond tart in the oven as I type. Smells delicious!

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 3/4 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/4 cup of vegetable oil or canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup of finely chopped semisweet chocolate (3.5 ounces)

Frosting Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter (or Earth’s Balance vegan butter)
  • 2 cups of icing sugar/confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup of chopped semisweet chocolate (1.5 ounces)

Method


1. Preheat oven to 350’F. Coat the bottom and the sides of an 8 x 8 pan with non stick spray; line the bottom with parchment paper. 


2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Add oil, vanilla, and 1 and 1/4 cups of water. Whisk until smooth. Fold in the 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate.


3. Scrape into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 35 minutes). Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely before icing the cake.


Note: If you don’t want to ice the cake the same day, make sure to wrap the cake in plastic wrap and then tightly with some tin foil. Leave on the counter for up to a day. I find this really keeps the cake moist.


4. For the frosting, beat the butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and beat until well incorporated. Add the salt and vanilla; beat for another minute. Add the icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until all of the icing sugar is well incorporated & you have a nice smooth, fluffy icing.


5. Frost the cooled cake and top with 1/4 cup of chopped semisweet chocolate. You can also garnish with chopped peanuts.


Serves: 16 


Source: adapted from Bon Appétit Magazine – March edition

Comments

  1. says

    This looks soooo amazing. I also like baking without eggs/dairy. I find there is many healthy alternatives. This isn’t too bad for you. Roughly 306 calories per slice. For a piece of cake, I’m down :)

    Great recipe

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