Saying goodbye to Rosaline was the most ridiculously emotional event that has occurred in my life in a while. Ridiculous because she's only gone to Bristol and I'm going to see her in a few weeks time. Emotional because SHE'S ALL GROWN UP AND MOVING ON WITH HER LIFE AND SHE'S GOING TO MAKE NEW COOLER FRIENDS AND THEN WHO WILL I EAT FROYO AND TALK ABOUT DIFFERENT ICING STYLES WITH?!
Ahem. Sorry.
Yes, so Rosaline left for Bristol a few weeks ago (apologies for the lateness of this blogging, UCAS ruins lives) and the day before she left happened to be her 19th birthday. Which was a convenient excuse to have a classy get together and weep. In honour of her birthday and her leaving, I made her possibly the best cake I have ever made in my life. Which is not an understatement. Due to our shared love for the infamous chocolate peanut butter combo I scoured the internet for a suitably amazing cake. One recipe kept coming up again and again, however I was reluctant to use it because it contained 'white vinegar'. I know, vinegar in cake... weird. Especially 'white vinegar' which, after much googling, I could only take to mean white wine vinegar... even weirder. But after reading rave review after rave review and about two hours of dithering over the vinegar situation - tears followed by my mum telling me to pull myself together did occur many a time - I decided to take the plunge and bake it.
And thank the lord I did. It was a spectacularly moist, chocolatey, peanut buttery mound of deliciousness and went down extremely well. So well that Rosaline, on taking it Bristol, has made loads of lovely friends and is having a brill time (yes I am taking full responsibility - without my cake she would be nowhere). So if you have a rather large amount of time on your hands (there's a lot of chilling/melting involved) and someone especially important to you to make a cake for, you've hit the jackpot with this one.
For the chocolate cake:
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
1 cup vegetable oil (I used tescos mild veg oil)
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar (here's where I had a problem, I eventually used sauvignon blanc white wine vinegar which was fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
For the peanut butter icing:
10oz cream cheese at room temp
4oz unsalted butter at room temp
5 cups sifted icing sugar
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter - use a commercial brand such as SunPat to avoid the oil splitting
For the chocolate peanut butter ganache/glaze:
8oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup (or light corn syrup if you live in America)
1/4 cup whole milk and 1/4 cup double cream mixed, or 1/2 cup half-and-half if you live in America.
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line three 9-inch cake tins with greaseproof paper/baking parchment (yes, this cake does have three layers... I know!)
2. Sieve flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarb and salt into a bowl. Mix well and then add oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water and then whisk in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended.
3. Scrape the edges of the bowl and ensure it's all well mixed, then pour evenly into cake tins and bake for approx. 25 mins or until a skewer comes out almost clean.
4. Let the cakes cool in the tin for about 20 minutes and then turn out onto wire racks, remove the greaseproof paper and let cool completely. Careful because they are v soft!
6. Freeze the cakes for at least half an hour, if you're leaving them for more than an hour wrap them in clingfilm.
7. For the peanut butter icing: Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. When all added beat on a medium speed until light and fluffy (for about 4 minutes).
8. Add peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.
9. When cakes have chilled sufficiently, place one on the plate/tin you're going to serve the cake on. Spread about 2/3 cup of icing over the top. Place the next layer on top and do the same. Place the last layer on top of that and using a small amount of icing, create a crumb coat. Chill this for about half an hour to ensure the crumb coat has set. Then use the remaining icing and cover the cakes top and sides. Chill again for about half an hour.
10. Whilst the frosted cake is chilling, melt the chocolate, peanut butter and golden syrup in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (don't let the water touch the bowl). Whisk often until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes, then whisk in the milk/cream mixture.
11. Remove the cake from the fridge and whilst the chocolate/peanut butter ganache is still warm pour it over the cake, letting it drip down the sides - you may need to spread a bit with a palette knife. Leave to chill in order for the drips to set, and then take out about an hour before serving.
And voila. There you have a three tier, extravagant and most delicious cake possibly ever. Gift this cake wisely, or just make it all for yourself - no ones judging.
So yes, Roz is having an amazing time and has fully immersed herself in uni lifestyle - aka she was extremely over excited to have eaten a proper meal and has requested to come and live in my basement as it's a better alternative to her current accommodation. But I miss her, and can't wait to see her in a few weekends time eek! In the mean time, the majority of the blogging will probably be done by me - apologies in advance.
-Ellie x
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