Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

A few weeks ago, I went to go visit my Mother in Boston. We had a great time outlet shopping (they have a White House/Black Market outlet up there… I know, right!) and cooking and talking. I love my mom very much.

Mom (with lots of makeup, on my wedding day):

While I visited, we had a BBQ at one of her friend’s houses. My mom’s friend brought a desert from the local grocery store. I looked at it, I hadn’t even tasted it… and I knew I had to figure out how to make this. It was a light chocolate cake with a peanut butter sauce on top and a whipped chocolate frosting around the outside, garnished with peanut butter cups.

This is my take on that desert. I wanted a thicker peanut butter sauce that was on that dish as well as a more simple Cool Whip topping.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix, plus the stuff it calls for (You can make this from scratch, I did not have time)
1.5 cups Peanut Butter, creamy, reduced fat
3/4 cup sugar, plus a bit extra
4 tbsp butter
Cool Whip
Peanut butter cups
Chocolate, for shaving

Directions:
Bake the cake. I used 2 round cake pans, I froze the second cake though. You do not want more than one layer here, so you can make 2 separate cakes or save half for later. Once the cake is done, allow to sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely.

Once the cake is cool, place it on your final platter or cake carrier base. On the stove over med-low heat, melt the butter, pb, and sugar. It is really important to taste this sauce as it melts, make sure it is sweet enough. Heat to about 200 degrees.

Poor over the cake slowly, then use a spatula to coat just the top of the cake, allow the sauce to pour over the sides. Place the entire platter in the fridge for 1 hour to allow it to cool again.

Now its time to add the cool/sweet topping such as cool whip, whipped cream, or whatever else you want to use. I used lite cool whip and I put it in my decorative frosting thingy to make pretty tufts of cool whip. A short cut here, get the spray can of cool whip.

Top with shaved chocolate and pieces of peanut butter cup. Serve chilled, possibly to the cutest baby you can find: