This cake is so delicious, rich, nutty and festive, with a different shape to pop out. The peanut butter and the chocolate go so well together and with the subtle flavour from the salted caramel, it just makes it even better! The crunchy roasted hazelnuts on the top really compliment the spongy cakes and the silky buttercream.
A great cake to make when you have a little more time on your hands, but that said, the cakes, caramel and almond paste can be made the day before, so then on the day, all you need to do is make the buttercream and assemble the cake.
An important tip to remember to get silky buttercream is to make it right before icing your cakes (don't make it in advance) and once it's made, to not put it back in the fridge. I did make this mistake, I placed the buttercream in the fridge whilst the cake was in the fridge too because it had had its crumb coat and when I took it out, it had gone all hard and chunky. To get it back to silky, I had to beat it but first wait for it to come back to room temperature or else it would curdle.
So to not have to go through this hassle, just leave it out in a cool place and it will maintain it's silkiness and make it easy to get smooth sides when you spread it onto the cake.
This cake just takes time but really isn't difficult. Some material to make it is necessary like a square tin but that's it really. This is optional but really makes it easy to spread the buttercream on the cake without digging your knuckles into the cake is a palette knife and if you like a cake scraper (which is next on my to-buy list).
Ingredients
For the peanut cake:
3 eggs
180 g of butter
1 small pinch of salt
70 g peanut butter
70 g caster sugar
100 g soft light brown sugar
180 g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons of milk
For the chocolate cake:
5 tablespoons of hot coffee
25 g cocoa powder
100 ml of milk
3 eggs
170 g butter
170 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
175 g self-raising flour
75 g dark chocolate, melted
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
For the peanut icing:
50 g roasted almonds
50 grams of icing sugar
50 g peanut butter
75 g soft butter
100 g icing sugar
1 tablespoon of milk
For the salted caramel:
150 g caster sugar
50 ml of water
30 g butter
a small pinch of sea salt flakes
4 tablespoons of double cream of greek yoghurt
For the icing:
250 g mascarpone cheese
100 g butter
100 g icing sugar
50 g white chocolate
50 g milk chocolate
50 g dark chocolate
To decorate:
30 g dark chocolate
50 g roasted hazelnuts
gold sprinkles, optional
Recipe
For the peanut butter cake:
Cream the butter + sugars + peanut butter for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating in between each one. Then add in the salt + baking powder + baking soda + sieve in half of the flour and mix.
Once incorporated, sieve in the remaining flour and add in the milk.
Once incorporated, pour into a square tin and level off the top before baking for 22-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean after being poked inside.
For the chocolate cake:
In a small bowl, whisk the cocoa powder with the hot coffee until combined. Reserve.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter + sugar for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating in between each one. Then add in the salt + baking powder + baking soda + cocoa powder mix + sieve in half of the flour and mix.
Once incorporated, sieve in the remaining flour and add in the milk.
Once incorporated, pour into a square tin and level off the top before baking for 22-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean after being poked inside.
For the caramel:
Place the sugar + in a pan on low heat, letting the sugar dissolve and brown slowly. Don't mix with a spoon, but if the sides start browning too much, brush the sides with a wet pastry brush. Once completely amber, turn off the heat and whisk in the butter, it will bubble and separate but keep whisking until combined.
Once cool, pour into a bowl and mix in the cream/yoghurt and the pinch of salt flakes.
Reserve.
For the peanut icing:
Roast the almonds for 10 minutes at 180C and then allow to cool. Place in a mini food processor with the icing sugar and blitz until becomes a paste, this will take a lot of scraping down the sides, but ou will get there.
In a stand mixer, cream the soft butter for 5 minutes and then add in the peanut butter and almond paste and mix. Once incorporated, sift in the icing sugar in two stages, mixing in between each addition and then add in the milk and mix.
Reserve at room temperature.
Icing:
In a stand mixer, cream the soft butter for 5 minutes and then add in the creamed mascarpone cheese and mix (make sure to cream (beat) the mascarpone cheese before adding in, or else it will grain). Sift in the icing sugar in two stages, mixing in between each addition and then add in the milk and mix.
Divide the icing into thirds. Place 2 thirds into a bowl and then the remaining third in another.
Melt the white chocolate and fold into the bowl with 2 thrids of buttercream and repeat with the dark chocolate into the bowl with only a third.
Reserve at room temperature.
Assemble:
Trim the sides and tops of the two cakes to make sure they're extra straight and then cut in half, to get 4 rectangles of cake, making sure they're all the same size.
Take your first layer and stick it onto the serving plate with a little white chocolate buttercream.
Spread on a thin layer of peanut butter icing + a drizzle of caramel in the centre and then place on the second layer of cake, alternating the colour.
Spread that layer with dark chocolate buttercream and repeat the process, alternating the cake colours and peanut butter icing + caramel drizzle in the center and dark chocolate buttercream.
Once all cakes are stacked, spread all over the cake in a thin layer half of the white chocolate buttercream and then refrigerated the cake for an hour, this seals in the crumbs for the next layer of icing.
Make sure to leave the buttercreams out during this time, or they will harden. Melt the milk chocolate and mix it into the remaining peanut butter icing.
Take the cake out of the fridge and spread a thick line of dark chocolate buttercream on the bottom thirds of the cake sides.
Spread the milk chocolate icing on the middle third of the sides of the cake and then spread the white chocolate buttercream on the top third and the top of the cake, don't worry if it isn't smooth.
Smooth out the sides to make them the same thickness with a cake scraper of by running your large palette knife around the sides of the cake to make uniform and create an ombre effect like on the pictures.
Melt some dark chocolate and place in a piping bag and drizzle on the top of the cake and then place the salted caramel in a piping bag and drizzle on the top.
Garnish with roasted hazelnut and a little gold sprinkles.
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Bye Xxx