Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Butterfinger

I made this cake for my Grandpa's 75th birthday. It was lots of work in which I dedicated my whole Friday too but it was also so much fun! And I had the Olympic ceremonies on in the background too so who cares!

Here's the completed version shot:

I was so scared because I had to transport this baby all the way to Sonoma, CA which is only about an hour drive but it was about 85 degrees out! I stuffed it in a bag with about 6 ice packs and that did just the trick.  Anyways... back to the cake. 

The cake batter was to die for, I had to force myself to stop licking the spoon before I got sick.

So this is a recipe I got out of my Bon Appetit dessert cook book which I LOVE.  Basically, it is peanut butter cake with a chocolate peanut butter cream filling, cream cheese frosting, and some Butterfinger garnish.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup (packed golden brown sugar)

12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter (I used a brand called Laura Scudder's that I got from our local grocery store)

For the cake: 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt

10 tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)

1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter

1 pound golden brown sugar (I had a scale that I used but I think this is generally half of a standard bag of brown sugar)

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

For the frosting:

12 oz cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar (divided)

6 tablespoons of butter (room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

*Optional: Butterfinger and/or peanut garnish

Directions:

For the filling: 

Bring cream and sugar to simmer in saucepan, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in peanut butter.  The cookbook directions say to chill uncovered overnight but I just chilled it for about 6 hours and that was totally fine.

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray (with cooking spray or butter) three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Sift first 4 dry ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until blended. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. At low speed, beat in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions.
• Divide batter among pans and spread evenly. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Turn out onto racks; peel off parchment. Cool cakes completely before stacking and filling.
• For the frosting:
• Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Whisk whipping cream and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in bowl until mixture holds medium-firm peaks. Fold into cream cheese mixture in 3 additions; chill until firm but spreadable, about 1 hour.
• Place 1 cake layer, bottom side up, on 9-inch tart pan bottom. Spread with half of filling. Place another layer, bottom side up, on work surface. Spread with remaining filling; place atop first layer. Top with remaining cake layer, bottom side up. Spread the cream cheese frosting over the top and sides of the cake (crumb coat first- then finishing coat).  
• As you can see I made some additions to my cake with some piping, etc so feel free to get creative!

This is my first post so please follow me! I will be continuing to post in the future.  If you have any recommendations, questions, or anything feel free to send me a message!