SMS: Devil's Food Cake (Cupcakes) with Peanut Butter Frosting

Happy October to all! This is one of our favorite months around our house - Fall is in full swing, Cole has just had his birthday (turned 2) and as far as Aidan is concerned the entire month should be all about Halloween. The fact that is was Cole's birthday is the reason I chose the Devil's Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting for my recipe choice for Sweet Melissa Sundays!

I made a scaled down version of the recipe to come up with 12 cupcakes - mainly just because since we were doing Cole's birthday celebration with just the four of us, there was really no reason to have a full sized big cake. I hadn't really read the recipe all the way through when I made the selection and hadn't realized first, what a big cake it would make, and second, the incredible amount of butter called for to make the peanut butter frosting (which was really much more of a buttercream frosting with a light peanut butter flavor). I know that some SMS Bakers scaled down the amount of butter significantly and increased the peanut butter flavor - personally, I felt I should try to stay as close to the original as possible, for the sake of trying it first, but in the future I will definitely increase the amount of peanut butter since the flavor was very subtle and I would have liked it even more featured just a bit more prominently.

All that said, the birthday boy, his big brother, and his papa and myself, were all very happy with these cupcakes and really enjoyed them. Perhaps my favorite thing about them was the fact that they were even better the next (and the next) day - which is how long it took us to work through our dozen cupcakes. I hate to admit that most of that dozen was still eaten by me!

While I have managed to make a couple of the recipes for Sweet Melissa Sundays since this crazy thing called pregnancy started back in June, I swear, managing to post anything has been a bit ridiculous around here. I'm not entirely sure why, and I'm going to attempt to do better since I am getting more and more (and more behind)! Present count is that I have at least 16 items ready to write up and post, pictures and all - but can't seem to get my act together. So, my point is, I wanted to send out an extra huge thank you to the other SMS Bakers for baking with me this week and for continuing to stop by during my craziness and to all my loyal readers for visiting when I do get my rear in gear, so to speak.

I have included the original recipe below, but if anyone is interested, I did keep track of the conversions I actually used to take the recipe down to a dozen cupcakes (the math was a bit crazy) and can share that recipe as well.

Devil’s Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Makes one 9” cake

For the Cake:
6 oz best-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely shopped
2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 2/3 cup sugar
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup sour cream
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups hot strong brewed coffee (I just used hot water)

For the Peanut Butter Frosting:

1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 ½ pounds unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp whole milk
½ cup smooth peanut butter, at room temperature

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour two 9×2-inch round cake pans, Line each pan with a 9-inch round of parchment paper.

To Make the Cake
1. In the top of a double boiler set over simmering, not boiling, water, melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. When the chocolate is completely melted, whicsk in the vegetableoil until smooth. Remove from the heat, but keep warm over the hot water.

2. In the bowl, of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix well.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream and eggs until smooth.

4. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, and mix until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the melted chocolate mixture and mix until combined. add the hot coffee (or water) in a stream, and mix until combined. (Again, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.) The batter will be loose.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool in the pans for 25 minutes before turning out the layers onto the rack. Cool completely before finishing.

The baked layers may be stored tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for 2 days. For longer storage, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze wrapped in plastic wrap and them aluminum foil for up to 2 weeks. Do not unwrap before thawing.

To Make the Frosting
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the confectioner’s sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk, and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Add the peanut butter and mix until combined. Use the frosting immediately, if possible. It may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature overnight, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Let the frosting come to room temperature and briefly rebeat it in the mixer before using.