Peanut butter and chocolate cake - much better than clay

Last week I tried to convince my sister to watch X-Men: Days of Future Past with me, but it was impossible: she wanted to go to the movies, yes, but to watch The Fault in Our Stars. Because I’m a softie when it comes to my sister, I said yes and then grabbed some extra paper napkins where we ate lunch, just in case. :D

The movie is lovely, Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are adorable and good actors and the story is moving without being sentimentally poor – Shailene just needs to learn what feminism really is, the poor girl is completely mistaken about (apparently eating clay doesn’t do people’s brains any good). :)

I had several teary-eye moments, but did not cry my heart out as I did with The Tree of Life or The English Patient – I wonder if it was really because of the film or because I ate a couple of brigadeiros at the theater. Chocolate can really make you feel better, right? So if you plan on watching The Fault in Our Stars I suggest you pack some Kleenex and something chocolatey as well – a slice of this cake, which is made with cocoa and peanut butter and frosted with silky, delicious ganache can come in handy when the tears start rolling down your face, I promise you. :)

Peanut butter and chocolate cake
slightly adapted from the most beautiful cookbook I own (I bought mine here)

Cake:
½ cup (45g) Dutch-processed cocoa
½ cup (120ml) boiling water
300g all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
185g unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
¼ cup smooth peanut butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk*

Ganache:
¼ cup (60m) heavy cream
180g dark chocolate, finely chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 23cm (9in) round cake pan, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper was well.
Stir cocoa and water in a small bowl until dissolved, then cool for 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and the cocoa mixture. On low speed, beat n the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk (start and end with the dry ingredients). Transfer to pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 30 minutes, then carefully unmold, peel off the paper and transfer to the rack to cool completely.

Ganache: Heat cream over medium heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and peanut butter and set aside for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth, then refrigerate for 15 minutes or until slightly thicker. Spread over cooled cake.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Serves 8-10