Peanut Butter Cake

I'm a huge fan of peanut butter, always have been and more than likely always will be.  Yesterday I was wanting to bake something but just wasn't sure what to make. Opened the pantry and saw a brand new tub of organic, natural, made with sea salt, no sugar added peanut butter (a mouthful of a title). Then all I wanted was a dessert with peanut butter. So I set out on a baking adventure and came up with a recipe that I was hoping would make a great peanut butter dessert... it was a success (we already ate it all and if it wasn't nearly 10 at night I would be really really tempted to make another one right now)

It doesn't have a fancy name yet, I guess just Katie's Peanut Butter Cake - since my name is Katie maybe that gives me the right to eat it all... I mean, if it has my name in it, it should belong to me, right? I highly recommend trying this cake, its simple and so tasty. 

Katie's Peanut Butter Cake

filled with chocolate chips topped with a peanut butter glaze frosting

it never made it off the cooling rack... it was too good and I had to show great constraints to take a picture before diving right in

for the cake:

1 cup almond or oat milk (if not going for vegan use regular cow milk - as we call it in our house)

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (you can also use white vinegar but I prefer apple cider vinegar)

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup nondairy plain or vanilla yogurt, soy or coconut (if you aren't looking to make this vegan you can use regular yogurt or sour cream)

1/2 cup peanut butter (if not using pure peanut butter be cautious of how much sugar is in the peanut butter you are using - it can make the cake taste very sweet compared to natural no sugar added peanut butter)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°  and grease a 8x8 inch round or square pan

Mix together the milk and vinegar then set aside for a few minutes while working with the other ingredients. 

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. 

In a separate bowl mix together yogurt, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add the milk mixture to the peanut butter mixture, blending well. 

Mix the peanut butter ingredients into the dry flour ingredients just until blended. Add the chocolate chips (its not necessary to 'fold' them in, but you also don't want to over mix the batter)

Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish (its a thick batter so use a spatula to spread it evenly in the dish)

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a tooth pick poked in the center of the cake comes out clean. (you can either eat it straight out of the pan or let cool around 10 minutes before transferring out of its baking pan to a cake stand or your own plate)

I love how the dry ingredients appear so white on their own, and then as you add them you can see the true color 

great colors and so tasty - peanut butter, nondairy yogurt, and vanilla

Peanut Butter Glaze

1 1/2 cups sifted confentioner sugar

1/3 cup almond or oat milk - up to 1/2 cup if you like yours thinner (can use cow milk instead of vegan milk)

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

mix all the ingredients together and pour onto top of cooled cake. If still in the pan, smooth the glaze around like normal frosting, if on a plate smooth up and over the edges of the cake so it drips down the side. Let hardened for around 30 minutes before eating (or put in the freezer or fridge for a few minutes to eat even sooner) 

You can sprinkle the top with mini chocolate chips or heat  1/3 cup chocolate chips with a tablespoon of nondairy milk (or cow milk) until melted and then drizzle over the top of the cake.

the cake with just a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top

fighting over who got the last bite (sadly as I turned the camera off this bite was eaten by someone other than me). 

Cupcake Friday'

Last week I made cupcakes for Jon to take to his work for Christmas - forty boxes with a half dozen cupcakes. I made Root beer float, coconut fluff, vanilla bean, cookies 'n cream, Mocha, and chocolate ginger - all were vegan. I'll post pictures and recipes for those later, because honestly they were really good and pretty simple to make so everyone should try them

Since this weekend is New Years I decided to make Margarita cupcakes for him to take today (saw one on pinterest and the concept was great but I wasn't fond of the recipe or the site where it came from...so I came up with my own using my go to base recipe)

I typically make all my cakes and cupcakes vegan because its a very moist delicious base recipe (plus you can save money by not adding eggs, and you can help your health... if you make a cupcake a little healthier than before it gives you an excuse to eat a little extra, right?) I still had vegan shortening left from making all the cupcakes for Jon's work - its soy based and still has way to much fat for my liking but it is pretty much flavorless allowing to make good frosting. I don't really care for the flavor of the vegan butter or margarine for frosting (great for baking but the flavor is too strong and overpowering in the frosting). You can always swap out the shortening for coconut oil, or regular butter or shortening (side note --- look for non-hydrogenated shortenings - those are the best)

a white cupcake with lime juice and zest, and tequila frosting (the vegan oat milk makes the cupcakes look dark)

Kates Margarita Cupcakes

(or a shot of Patron cupcakes)

makes 24 regular size cupcakes

2 cups oat milk (or any vegan milk you like)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp lime juice
zest of 1 lime

1.) preheat oven to 350°; prepare cupcake pans with liners or grease the pans
2.) whisk the milk and apple cider vinegar together; set aside for a few minutes
3.) sift flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together
4.) beat together milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla, lime juice, and zest until well combined
5.) mix the flour mixture into the milk mixture and beat until no large lumps remain (smaller lumps are fine, and be cautious to not over mix --- I make mine by hand as it comes together very quickly)
6.) fill cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake 18 to 22 minutes; let cupcakes rest in the pan for 5 minutes then remove and let cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

organic and vegan baking

if you over fill the cupcakes they end of looking like muffins... the height of cupcakes should come from the frosting not the batter

Patron Frosting (or any kind of tequila) 

(if you prefer to not have any alcohol simply use water instead of the patron)

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening, room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar (most bags are two pounds, and depending on weather you might need a little less)
1/4 cup patron
3 tbsp lime juice
zest of 1 lime
granulated sugar for decorating
green and yellow  gel food coloring (whole foods sells natural dyes, or you could even add a tsp or so spinach juice, but you would need to add a little extra powdered sugar to balance the extra liquid)

1.) cream margarine, half of the sugar, patron, and lime juice together; beat for a few minutes with either the paddle or whisk attachment
2.) add the lime zest and slowly add more sugar, half a cup at time, until you reach your desired consistency, then add the food coloring - 2 drops of yellow for every 1 green (some like their frosting a little thicker, some like them a little thinner to spread. This frosting  has a strong flavor so I prefer it to be thinner and fluffy so it doesn't seem to rich or dense. I added all but about a cup and a half of the full 2 pounds of powdered sugar and it was perfect).
3.) Using a ziplock bag with the corner cut off, or a pastry bag pipe the frosting in a circle motion. Once frosted roll the edge of frosting in some sugar - kinda like how alcoholic drinks have sugar or salt on the rim of the glass.

Cupcakes ready to go to Jon's work

that's it -- super easy, good, adult only cupcakes

(Jon doesn't drink, he hasn't had a drop in his life, so this cupcake wasn't for him -- sub out the patron with some water and they are still fabulous - either way its a great cupcake)