Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

What a crazazy week this has been. I'm kind of even in a rush to write this post!

After not working at all for 7 days, I've been working almost every day this past week (and frankly, I'm tired, ya'll!). But it's ok - I'll rest when I get to LA this Friday (hah! - whatever). Working all these shifts has certainly made the week go by faster, which is great. And I'm getting very excited to go out west.

So I was off work last Sunday, and it was Bridget's birthday. I decided I wanted to bake her a cake. At first, I was going to make something "easy," like Bridget (kidding, girl!), but I opted for something a little weirder, and I'm so glad I did. I think I came up with the best cake EVER. Even I liked it a lot, and I don't have much of a sweet tooth. I made a chocolate peanut butter cake with Butterfinger-cream cheese frosting.

I used a recipe I found online and made some modifications where I saw fit. It's basically a four-layer peanut butter cake with a peanut-butter-chocolate fudge filling, all wrapped up in a light, airy cream cheese frosting, and topped with a crushed Butterfinger. Oh. My. God. It was so good. Everyone at the party was flipping their shit, and that made me feel quite good.

I started with some music, of course, because that's just how I roll. I got R.E.M.'s new album, Accelerate, and I really love it. And my friend Steve gave me an album by David Kitt, who I'd never heard of, but who I'm really loving. When he sings, he sounds like a pleasurable robot or something. AND he covers R.E.M., which I dig.

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You should get both of these. The R.E.M. album is fast and fun and sounds like their old stuff again. I'm listening to it now. The David Kitt album is nice for a cool gray Sunday (or for baking a cake). It's kind of quiet, but with a steady beat. Thanks to Steve for that.

Geez, I just realized I have so much to do today before I go shoot that event for Publicolor. I gotta shake a leg.

Time for me to brag a little. I started making the filling for this cake at 2pm, because it had to chill for a while. By 2:45, I had made the filling, the frosting, and I was actually pulling the cake out of the oven to cool. I managed to somehow get all the parts of this cake made and cooling within 1 hour, which means either I'd had too much coffee that day, or that maybe I'm getting better at this baking thing...

After having afternoon margaritas on Matt's roof, I came home to assemble the cake. Here are the four layers with the peanut butter fudge filling. I had also trimmed it down and evened it out so it looked pretty and level.
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And here is the whole thing with the crumb-coat of frosting on it:
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A crumb coat collects all the little crumbs, so that when you put on the second layer of frosting, it's smooth and pretty. And all that foil you see is a good trick I learned to keep the actual cake plate clean and frosting-free.

Here's finished cake. I was pretty proud of this one:
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This isn't a great photo, but I wanted to call attention to my anal retentiveness. That's a can of spray-air on the table. I used it to blow all the extra crumbs off the cake for a cleaner presentation. It works! Also, note that I didn't make a gigantic mess on the table like I usually do:
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At the party at Drop-Off Service on Ave. A. Here's the birthday girl! Haaaay!
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John was there, too!
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Check out these little lite beer can candles. I bought them a long time ago, and I never thought they were appropriate for anyone's cake. Until now. Ha!
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A little singing...
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And a wish (probably for another glass of Chardonnay - copy that!):
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Here's me and John taking the candles out. Licking candles that come out of a birthday cake is one of those simple pleasures in life that shouldn't be taken for granted:
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Here's me with supercool and gorgeous Mary Catherine, who I'd been hearing about for years and had never met. Love her!
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By the way, big thanks to Brendan who took serious control of my camera while I was busy do all that party stuff. He's a pro! I had so many good pictures to sort through. In fact, if you want to see all the party pics, check em out HERE.

Every piece of cake was devoured, and people were coming back for seconds! I have a few more ideas I want to try with this cake - perhaps in LA for a certain someone's birthday next week...

Thanks for reading, and happy 49th to Bridget!!

Adios!

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