HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN CORBIN!

Monday was the birthday of one of the most awesomest people I know, K Corbs.  I feel incredibly lucky to work with someone like her everyday.  It almost makes it not feel so much like work.  So in honor of her birthday, I wanted to make something really yummy.  Since she has a penchant for the chocolate peanut butter combination (don't we all, really?) I wanted to find a cake recipe with both of those flavors.  I found a recipe from The Baking Bird that looked perfect.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Makes a double 9" cake

For the cake:

2 cups soy milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup all-purpose whole wheat baking flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and oil your pans. Dust them with a little flour if you'd like. 

2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain. 

3. Pour into cake pans, making sure to evenly distribute the batter. Bake for 26-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool (10-15 minutes) before taking out of pan.

For the peanut butter frosting:

1/4 cup margarine, softened

2 tablespoons shortening (preferably the trans-fat free organic brand)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (crunchy works, too)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons soy milk

1. With electric handheld mixer, cream together margarine and shortening at medium speed till smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla and beat until very smooth, 2-3 minutes. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff. Dribble in soy milk a little at a time, beating continuously till frosting is pale tan and very fluffy. 

Chop up a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups (the smaller ones) and put them on top of the first cake you frost so that there will be some in the middle between the layers. Then frost the rest of the cake and go craaaaazy with whatever you have left! Half 'em, chop em, however you do it, have fun and enjoy the greatest heavenly creation you've just made because it deserves golden ribbons. 

 

I'm not sure if there are vegan Reese's peanut butter cups that I'm not aware of.  If there are, someone needs to tell me ASAP!  Since it was a cake for Corbs and not for me,  I decided to make it with the peanut butter cups in the middle.  That's how much I love this girl. 

 

Do you see the middle layer of awesomeness? 

 

This cake was INCREDIBLE!  It's now my new favorite cake recipe.  I ate 1.5 pieces (minus the peanut butter cups of course - they were given to Corb).