Made By Mimi Baking

Chocolate and Peanut Butter cake

sooo…I had a family reunion to attend yesterday.  I know you all know how much fun they are right?  I decided to make something that would ease the pain.  Going back to my love affair with peanut butter, I knew exactly what I had to do.  Since I am trying to hone my baking skills in the hopes of someday adding some extra income with them, I decided I was going to make a zebra cake.  I had limited time and a box of each of the white and chocolate cake in the cupboard.  I saw on Pinterest how to spruce up a box cake and I decided to try it.  I used milk instead of water and then added another egg white to the eggs called for by the instructions.  Off I go. 

The cake is baking, and I decide to make my peanut butter frosting.  YUM!!  I have to make more than I origianally intend because I have to taste so much to be sure it’s right.  HAHAHA…believe that and there is some land I want to sell you!!  I just love that frosting.  Back to the cake…I made two 8-inch round cakes.  I did the typical layer cake thing.  Got it all frosted and then used some chocolate frosting from a tub to make what ended up looking like Hershey kisses around the top of the cake and around the base.  Now, for the final touch….I cut up mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and spread them on the top of the cake.  OMG!!!  I couldn’t wait to get there and have everyone marvel over it.  Here’s where I went wrong……

I forgot to take a picture of my masterpiece at this point, and now I regret that.  I forgot to mention at the beginning of my story that the family reunion is a 2-hour drive north…and it’s July.  You do the math.  I failed miserably in the task of cake transportation.  By the time I got to the reunion, the peanut butter cups had melted into some kind of chocolate peanut butter mosaic on the top of my cake and some of my chocolate kisses on the top of the cake slid down the side of the cake.  I was so embarrassed I thought I would die. 

However, let me tell you how wonderfully delicious that cake turned out to be.  The gooey mess on the top of the cake ended up just enhancing the flavor of the frosting and the cake.  Everyone loved it (or they were just being nice, as the Pennsylvania German folk often are). 

This is what was left of my cake after the reunion.  It was an adventure…

What happens when you combine chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and chocolate brownies? YUM!!

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest.  My curiosity was piqued because of my love affair with all things peanut butter. 

Today, I decided to make an attempt at these little pieces of scrumptiousness.

First step:  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

OK, I cheated.  I had some Pillsbury ready-to-bake chocolate chip cookes (in the tube) in my fridge.  Take an amount equal to or just less than the amount you would use to make a cookie and smoosh that into the bottom of your cupcake paper.

Second step:  Take about 1-1/2 cups of peanut butter and about 1/4 cup of olive oil (that makes it healthy right?) and mix into a bowl.  This will thin the peanut butter and make a “meltaway” consistency.  Making you hungry yet?

Put the peanut butter meltaway on top of the chocolate chip batter.

Third step:  OK…I cheated again.  I used a box mix of brownies, the family sized box.  Mix that up according to the directions on the box and place on top of the other mixtures in the cupcake paper.

Yippee!!  It’s all put together and you are closer to the finished product!!

I put my oven rack on the highest setting because the cookie has a shorter baking time than the brownie.  I didn’t want to have raw brownie with burned cookie.  SO—put the trays in the oven and bake for 20 minutes give or take. 

When the brownie is not still wet on the top, they are done.  Allow them to cool completely before coming out of the cupcake pans so they do not fall apart. 

This is the finished product.

Peanut Butter Love Affair

OK..I admit it.  I am obsessed with peanut butter.  Peanut butter, much like bacon, is the perfect food.  Whether it comes in ice cream, cookies, cake, combined with jelly in a sandwich or straight from the jar…it’s perfect, and I am in love.

I have a hard time accepting the fact that other people do not feel the same way about peanut butter that I do.  I make all these desserts that include peanut butter and wonder why my family says “peanut butter again?”  Of course, what else is there?

I find as I am scrolling through Pinterest that I am drawn to the desserts with peanut butter in them.  It’s like a magnet and I am metal. 

I am going to try a new dessert tomorrow with…you guessed it…peanut butter in the middle.  I am excited to try it.  I will post pictures along the way.  Until then….