Having My Cake... and Eating it Too

I cannot believe it's already been a year since Alex and I were married. What a wonderful year it's been. We're both lucky to be in the situation we are and to have one another. Now it's all about enjoying life together and making this new year as exciting as the last one. Since Alex and I aren't in Cincinnati to take advantage of a complimentary anniversary cake from our baker, I decided to do my best at creating one as a surprise for Alex (part one of a weekend of anniversary surprises!). Our cake had quite a few flavors, but I decided to go with the chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting/filling which was the bottom layer of our wedding cake (Buckeye flavored!). Let's take a look back one year (and two days..)

I found a delicious recipe online, and a frosting recipe in one of my cookbooks. I love to pull out all of my cookbooks on the table and see which one is going to win!

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
• Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch roundcake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubberspatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Peanut Butter Frosting

from The Taste of Home Cookbook

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter

4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 to 8 tablespoons milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add enough milk to achieve desired consistency. (Yield = 3 cups). 

I added a light layer of frosting as a crumb coated and then popped it into the fridge to set before adding the rest of the icing. I also used wax paper under the cake to keep it super clean once I was finished (just pull out the wax paper and voila!).

My original idea was to give the cake some similar features as our wedding cake. Ribbon I did have, flowers I did not, so I used some items I did have (which also happened to relate to our wedding)! I taped the photo and the tag/note gently to some wax paper in order to save them afterwards.

Since the frosting was more of a glaze than a buttercream it didn't help me hide any imperfections! However, the green ribbon I added along the bottom did help a little bit. I used my can of decorative frosting as glue to keep the ribbon on! Pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. I also love that I can display my cakes and goodies in my glass multi-purpose serving dish/cake stand that was a wedding present. The final product!

It came out perfectly moist and delicious... what a keeper (the cake and Alex)! And the last picture is my groom.. the chocoholic! This is my favorite picture of him, so handsome!

Happy One Year Anniversary to us!