Chocolate and peanut butter and ice cream…oh my! Anybody in the mood for a Reese’s peanut butter cup? This cake is packed full of them!

I love to bake! Over the years, most of my baking was done during the holidays when I had time off of work and could be in the kitchen. Each family member would request a different pie on Thanksgiving and Christmas and I would make one of each. Birthdays meant the cake of choice for the birthday boy (yes, I have all boys) and when I could find the time, I would be in the kitchen baking cookies or brownies.

The past couple of years, I’ve had much more time for baking and I’ve put out a bunch of cupcakes, muffins, coffee cakes, quick breads, cookies and I’ve even been experimenting with baking paleo. Yet, I hadn’t ever considered myself to be much of a baker. I’ve just recently realized how much I’ve always enjoyed baking and that I’m actually quite good at it.

This year, my youngest son put in his request for a birthday cake. A cake that I had never made before, an ice cream cake. He wanted chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies and ice cream and more chocolate….well, that rough looking, five layer, first attempt at an ice cream cake tasted delicious…

…and, as rough looking as it was…

it got some attention from a friend who asked if I would make her a similar cake for her birthday.

Of course I would! I was up for the challenge, after all my son’s cake was delicious!

I just needed to practice making it pretty.

My friend loves peanut butter and she wanted a similar ice cream cake but she asked for peanut butter, peanut butter candy and peanuts and I was determined to make this one pretty!

I think I accomplished the pretty! Here is the result of Deena’s chocolate peanut butter ice cream birthday cake challenge…

Not too shabby! I thought this was a nice improvement in presentation! I went all out and even made homemade peanut butter cups for Deena’s cake.

Now, the actual cake that prompted this post was made with Reese’s peanut butter cups but if you would like to make your own, feel free. The Hubby says the homemade ones are his favorite.

I’m super excited about how pretty this last cake turned out! I didn’t know I had it in me…I impressed myself with the latest version and since I had already received a request for the recipe, I thought it was a good time for a blog post!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

Author: Isis

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake, two 8 or 9-inch rounds

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cups cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot coffee

Peanut Butter Cake, two 8 or 9-inch rounds (so you'll have one for later)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup creamy peanut putter
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup milk

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

• 1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• In place of whipping your own cream you can use 8 oz of cool whip
• 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup chopped peanut butter cups

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1 cup butter room temperature
• 1 ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• ½ cup milk

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup chocolate chips I use dark chocolate
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ teaspoon corn syrup optional

Other

• Bite size Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for decorating

Instructions

NOTE: You will need to allow time for the ice cream to firm up. I make this cake over a two-day time-frame.

Day ONE, first I bake and cool my cakes. Next, I prepare the ice cream layers and let them set up overnight

Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray
3. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, this makes for easy cake removal
4. Spray pans again and dust pans with flour
5. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
6. Combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on low speed until combined
8. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl
9. Add the coffee and mix on low again until combined, batter will be very wet
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
11. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes
12. Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and cool completely

Peanut Butter Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray
3. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, this makes for easy cake removal
4. Spray pans again and dust pans with flour

5. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside

6. Mix the peanut butter, oil, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until well combined
7. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well with each addition
8. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk and mix on low until just combined
9. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk and mix until just combined
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
11. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes
12. Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and cool completely

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1. Place heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla in bowl and mix on high speed until stiff peaks form, set aside
2. Combine cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter and milk in another bowl and mix until well combined
3. Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture
4. Add chopped peanut butter cups and fold gently
5. Make into two layers of ice cream to fit between your cake layers

NOTE: The layers of ice cream can be prepared two different ways…

1. The first method of making your ice cream into layers can be done in the cake pans that you baked in, just cover the bottom and the inside of two pans with clear wrap, be sure the clear wrap covers the entire inside of your pan and allow it to hang over the sides so that you can pull the ice cream layer out easily once it’s ready. Spread half of your ice cream into one of your cake pans pressing it down and smoothing it evenly. Do the same in a second cake pan, cover and place them in the freezer to set (6 – 8 hours or overnight).
2. The second method of ice cream layering is what I’ve now adopted. Wrap one of your cake layers in a cake collar (these were hard for me to find locally but they can be ordered online, search for acetate cake collars). Wrap the collar around a layer of cake and fasten the collar with a couple pieces of tape on the outside. This will form a liner around and above the cake. Now add half of your ice cream to the top of your cake layer and spread it out evenly all the way to the sides of the cake layer. Do this again with a second cake and the other half of the ice cream. Once you’ve topped two of your cake layers with ice cream, place them in the freezer to set.

Day TWO, I prepare the frosting, the ganache and I assemble my cake

Peanut Butter Frosting

1. Cream together the butter and peanut butter on medium high until smooth
2. Add vanilla and salt and continue to mix
3. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time while alternating with 1 tablespoon of milk until fully combined
4. Continue to mix until frosting is the desired consistency, you can add additional milk if the frosting is too thick or more powdered sugar if it is too thin

Chocolate Ganache

1. Place the chocolate chips into a heat proof bowl
2. Heat the heavy cream in saucepan just until it begins to steam, be careful not to scorch the cream
3. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips and allow to sit for 1 - 2 minutes while the chocolate begins to soften
4. Stir the heavy cream into the chocolate chips until fully combined
5. Add the corn syrup and stir to combine, the corn syrup will give your ganache a glossy finish
6. Allow to cool

Assembly

1. Place one layer of chocolate cake on serving plate, top with a layer of ice cream (if you layered the ice cream on your cake already, then place a ready layered cake/ice cream on serving plate). Drizzle a small amount of ganache over ice cream. Repeat with the next layer of cake, ice cream, ganache drizzle and then the last layer of cake
2. Frost the cake with a thin layer of peanut butter frosting. I like the cake to look a bit "naked" so I run my bench scraper around the outside to even out the frosting and leave just a crumb coated look to help protect the cake from the freezer (hold the bench scraper parallel to the side of the cake and rotate around the cake smoothing the frosting). The frosting will firm up fast since the cake is cold so you will need to be speedy.
3. Drizzle ganache around the outside top of the cake and allow it to run down the sides. Then spread ganache over the top of the entire cake.
4. Finish the cake with peanut butter frosting swirls and peanut butter cups
5. Store the cake in the freezer
6. To serve, allow to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before cutting