SMS: Devil’s Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays treat is Devil’s Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting, yum! Josh started a new job a couple months ago and I realized I had yet to send him to work with treats. They seem to be very enthusiastic about Halloween around his office, so I figured this week was the perfect opportunity for him to bring some goodies. I made cupcakes since, obviously, they are easier to share than a big layer cake. This recipe makes a lot of cake! I got twenty-four cupcakes, plus two ramekins (so we could sample today), and a six-inch cake, which I am freezing for later in the week when I don’t have time to bake. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, with the exception of diluting the coffee a bit with hot water. I remembered when the group made Melissa’s Brooklyn Brownout Cake that the coffee flavor was pretty aggressive, and since not everyone likes coffee, I didn’t want the chocolate to be overpowered. (On a semi-related note, I recently watched an episode of the Barefoot Contessa which featured flavor enhancers; she has people blind sample two versions of several different recipes and one of Ina’s flavor enhancers was coffee for chocolate cupcakes.)



I was happy for an excuse to finally try peanut butter frosting; I’ve seen it on a lot of blogs and it always sounds amazing. I did not use the version in the book, which had six sticks of butter, though. Once again, the Problems and Questions section of the Sweet Melissa site came in handy. Karen of Karen’s Cookies, Cakes, and More had posted an alternative recipe involving more peanut butter and less butter (two sticks). I’ve seen lots of beautiful cupcakes on Karen’s site, so I figured she was a good resource for frosting recipes and it was excellent. I’m embarrassed to admit how much I sampled, probably at least a cupcake’s worth, and I’m looking forward to making it again. The cupcakes were superb, too.



We rated this recipe a 9.5 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3.5 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.71. Many thanks to Holly of PheMOMenon for selecting this cake and giving me a chance to finally try peanut butter frosting. You can find the recipe HERE on Holly’ site, plus lots of stunning photos and yummy recipes. Also, be sure to stop by the Sweet Melissa blogroll to see how the other bakers liked this cake. And thanks to the bakers last week who gave me tips on filling a pastry bag, this was my best frosting piping experience to date!