Chocolate-Peanut Butter Marble Cake

Cake. So much cake lately. This happens.

Wow. That picture is giant. I don't know how I even did that.

I bake the same thing over and over again for a while. Lately it has been cookies, so expect cookie posts in the near future.

I like cake. It's so fluffy and delicious. It's a requirement for birthdays... at least my birthday, anyway. And I like baking them for other people's birthdays as well.

You know what else I like?

-Six Feet Under. I'm on season four. I love that show.
I'm sorry I'm just now getting into it.

-Taco Bell. I ate it for about three months, got sick of it, but now I'm back on it again. It's cheap and delicious. And they're open late.

-Frosted shredded wheat. Or "Shoocoos" as I called it when I was a kid. That's a crazy-ass name, but I like it. It's such a delicious and satisfying cereal. It's a race to eat it all before the frosting falls off into the milk. Wheeee!

Do you know what I do not like?

-Lemon chicken. If you were in hell, and were being forced to eat Chinese food, you would be fed lemon chicken. I almost vomited on my plate. That chicken did not taste like lemon at all.

-Applications and quizzes that show up in my notifications and news feed on Facebook. I do not want to know which Golden Girl you are.

-Too many Jon & Kate Plus Eight stories in the news. No one cares. Well, some people do, and that's fine. But I have watched that show maybe three times and I could tell they fight all of the time.

That's too much negativity. Let's get back to birthday cake. Everyone loves a birthday cake. Everyone loves people standing around and singing to them on their birthday. Right?

I know I love everyone staring and singing to me while I look at a cake lit with candles and giggle and smile awkwardly. And then everyone gets silent when you huff and puff, trying to get all of the candles out, most likely getting your saliva all over the cake.

You should always expect traces of saliva on a birthday cake.



All right, everyone ready for the recipe?

This was Eric's birthday cake, because he told me his parents used to be buy him a marble cake for his birthday when he was a kid. I had never made a marble cake, so I thought I would give it a try. It's a chocolate and peanut butter swirled marble cake, with chocolate frosting. The frosting is the same as the kind I used for the dirt cake. It's the most delicious chocolate frosting in the world.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Marble Cake (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking power
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two (9-inch) round cake pans.

In medium mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined, about 1 minute. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture, alternating with milk, until combined, about 2 minutes; remove half of the batter and place in medium mixing bowl. Beat peanut butter into one of the bowls filled with batter until combined. Beat melted chocolate into the other bowl filled with batter until combined.

Divide peanut butter batter into each cake pan, placing only on one side. Divide chocolate batter into each cake pan, on the opposite side; swirl batters together using a butter knife. Bake for 30 minutes or until well risen and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool for 12 minutes, on a wire rack, before running a knife around outside edges and inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

To make the frosting: In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1 minute or until thickened; remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.

Beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed. Beat in "chocolate pudding" mixture until well combined, about 1 minute. Beat in melted chocolate until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Spread frosting onto cake layers.

Makes 10 servings