Chocolate Sheet Cake With Peanut Butter Icing Recipes

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER SHEET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 13x9-in. baking pan., In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a small saucepan, combine water, butter, peanut butter and cocoa; bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened., In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended; add to flour mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer to prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes., Meanwhile, prepare frosting. In a large bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, milk and vanilla until smooth., Remove cake from oven; place pan on a wire rack. Immediately spread cake with frosting; sprinkle with peanuts. Cool completely.

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER SHEET CAKE

Steps:

• Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush a 9-by-13-inch or 8-by-12-inch baking pan with butter. Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Butter parchment.
• Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Combine eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Add flour mixture; beat just to combine. Add butter and vanilla; beat to combine. Add sour cream; beat until smooth.
• Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with a spatula. Bake until top springs back when lightly touched and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes (for 9-by-13-inch) or about 40 minutes (for 8-by-12).
• Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Using parchment overhangs, lift cake out of pan and let cool completely on rack. (Cake can be made to this point and stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic, up to 1 day.)
• Frosting: Beat butter and peanut butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in confectioners' sugar until thick and fluffy. Remove from mixer; stir in sour cream by hand until frosting is silky and dense. Spread over cake; sprinkle top with peanuts. Frosted cake is best the day it's assembled, but can be refrigerated, wrapped in plastic, up to 1 day. Return to room temperature before serving.

CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE WITH PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sour cream, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
• In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder, and hot water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then remove from the heat. Cool slightly, and incorporate the cocoa mixture with the dry ingredients, mixing just until blended.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
• For the frosting:
• In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the peanut butter and mix until smooth. Remove from the heat. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the milk, and powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla, and slowly incorporate the peanut butter mixture, blending well after each addition.
• Frost the cake while both the frosting and cake are still warm. Top with nuts, if desired.
• Cook's Note: Making a sheet cake is the best bang for your buck when it comes to dessert for a group. To vamp it up, take small biscuit cutters and create tiered cakes that can be dusted with powdered sugar. Cake scraps can be saved for a delicious trifle the next day.
• Sheet Cake Variations:
• Chocolate Fudge Frosting: instead of peanut butter frosting, replace peanut butter in frosting recipe with 1/3 cocoa powder. Prepare the frosting the same way.
• Toasted Coconut: In addition to topping with nuts, top cake with toasted coconut.
• Caramel/Fudge Cake: Drizzle warm caramel sauce and/or fudge sauce over frosting just before serving.
• Sheet Cake Variations, follows.

CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE WITH PEANUT BUTTER ICING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking spray.
• In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into pan.
• Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on cooling rack, at least 1 hour.
• In 2-quart saucepan, heat butter, peanut butter and milk over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until butter and peanut butter are melted. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Working quickly, add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating with whisk until incorporated and icing is smooth. Immediately spread icing over cake. Sprinkle with peanuts. Store loosely covered.