This cake is rich, moist and fudgy. Combined with an almost savory peanut butter filling, creamy caramel and a bittersweet chocolate ganache, it creates the perfect balance of sweet and savory.
For the chocolate cake:
Ingredients:
130g cocoa powder
300g all-purpose flour
480g sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 small eggs
250 ml buttermilk
250 ml warm water
5 tbsp neutral oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 170°C. Put two round 18cm cake pans and butter their bottom and sides. Line the bottoms with parchment paper and butter the paper. Dust the pans with cocoa and tap out extra.
Sift cocoa and flour into a large bowl. Add sugar baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir to incorporate. Beat in eggs, buttermilk, water, oil and vanilla one at a time, using a mixer set at low. Beat until smooth about 2 minutes.
Pour the batter into pans and bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. Rotate the pans half way through the baking time. Do not overbake the cakes or else they get crumbly. If you don"t have two identical cake pans, bake first half of the batter and invert the cake onto a cooling rack. Clean the cake pan, prepare it the same way as earlier and bake the other half of cake batter. Cool the cakes completely. Trim the tops (the cakes will rise a bit in the middle and you"ll have to level them) and cut each cake in half horizontally. You will get 4 cake layers. It"s best to do that with a serrated knife. The results are even better if you wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. It"s much easier to trim and cut the cakes when they"re cold and firm.
For the salted caramel:
Ingredients:
170g sugar
40g water
120ml hot heavy cream
70g butter, diced
generous pinch of sea salt
55g unsalted peanuts
In a heavy bottomed saucepan combine sugar and water. Cook on medium-high heat until the sugar melts and reaches amber color. Do not stir during that process.Turn the heat down to low and, add hot heavy cream and stir to combine. The caramel will bubble at this point, so be careful. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and salt. Finally stir in peanuts and let it cool to room temperature. Then transfer to refrigerator and cool until thick and spreadable. That should take 30-45 minutes.
For the peanut butter cream cheese filling:
Ingredients:
150g cream cheese, at room temperature
75g peanut butter
40g powdered sugar
280ml heavy cream
In the bowl of a standing mixer combine cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar and beat until creamy and well incorporated. Pour in heavy cream and beat on high speed until the cream is whipped to soft peaks and the mixture is smooth and spreadable. Refrigerate until needed.
For the chocolate ganache:
Ingredients:
300g dark chocolate, chopped
360ml heavy cream
Place the chopped chocolate in a heat resistant bowl and set aside. In a small, heavy bottomed saucepan, bring heavy cream just to a boil and remove from heat. Pour over chocolate pieces and let this sit for a few minutes, until the chocolate is melted. Using a whisk, gently stir the mixture until combined. You should get a thick and smooth ganache. Chill the ganache in the refrigerator until thick, creamy and spreadable. Check it often because once it starts thickening, it all happens quite fast. When the ganache has thickened, beat it few times with a whisk. It will change color a bit and start to look more like a chocolate filling. If you take the ganache too far ot it becomes too thick in the refrigerator, just heat it in bain marie for couple of seconds or until you get the desired consistency. Use immediately.
Assembly:
Ingredients:
chopped peanuts
a pinch of sea salt
Place one cake layer on a cake stand and spread half off the peanut butter cream cheese filling evenly over the cake. Cover with second cake layer and spread the salted caramel over it. Cover with a third cake layer and spread the remaining peanut butter cream cheese filling evenly over. Cover with the last cake layer and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes before frosting the cake. Cover the chilled cake with chocolate ganache and sprinkle with chopped peanuts and some sea salt, if you wish.
Bon appetite!