Salt Roasted Peanut Cake

Foreword

For Chris’s birthday Ida was tasked with taking the dense heavy ingredient peanut butter and turning it into a light fluffy cake. Actually, when asking what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, Chris requested “science cake”, but we ultimately settled on this challenge.

Ingredients

Caramel:

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup whole milk
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp light corn syrup
• ½ Tbsp salted butter

Cake:

• 1 cup (205g) peanut butter
• 1 cup (400g) sugar
• 5 eggs, separated
• 2 cups (220g) cake flour
• 1 Tbsp defatted peanut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup (240g) buttermilk, at room temperature
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ tsp instant coffee powder

Frosting:

• 1 cup (245g) creamy peanut butter
• 4 oz (½ package) cream cheese
• 2 cups (250g) powdered sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp milk

Finishing:

• Pretzel salt
• Optional: Jimmies
• Optional: Crushed peanuts

Directions

Caramel:

1. Put all the caramel ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir the sauce and wipe down the sides. As needed, adjust the heat to keep the caramel to a light boil.
3. When the sauce starts to brown stir vigorously so that it does not burn.
4. Begin testing the caramel for doneness by putting a drop into cold water. It should just stay together. (Keep in mind it will feel thinner in the hot pan than when it is done cooling.)
5. Once ready, remove from the heat and stir until the bubbling stops and the consistency is smooth.
6. Allow to cool completely. It should be a very thick, but still a pourable consistency (if it is too thick, you can try warming it up, mixing in some water, and allowing to cool again).

Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease and flour 2 cake pans (9 inch). You can also cut parchment paper to go into the bottom of each pan before greasing them.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the peanut butter and sugar together until fluffy.
3. Add the instant coffee and the yolks of the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together. With the mixer on low speed, add the sifted ingredients as well as the water and buttermilk. Consider adding in alternating batches to ensure all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
5. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff, and then gently fold into the batter. This is the most important step, as it makes the cake fluffy.
6. Divide the batter among the 2 prepared cake pans and bake for ~25 minutes, or until golden brown and a tester comes out clean when inserted into the middle of each cake.
7. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for ~10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling (removing any parchment paper as well).

Frosting:

1. Whip the peanut butter, cream cheese, salt, and milk together.
2. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar. The final consistency should be fluffy and pipeable. If it is too stiff, add more milk or butter. If it is too runny, chill for several minutes or add more powdered sugar.

Finishing:

1. Be sure the cakes and caramel are cooled to room temperature.
2. Lay out the first part of the cake and apply frosting on top.
3. Put the second part of the cake on top, and frost the top and sides of the cake.
4. Decoratively drizzle the caramel over the cake.
5. Lightly sprinkle the cake with pretzel salt.
6. Optionally top with sprinkles and crushed peanuts.