Knock Your Socks Off Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

You can't believe the things Beaulah and I have been

whipping up in the kitchen of 

Purple Chocolat Home!

There is flour flying everywhere!  Really,

her broomstick does make a mess!

October is not only Halloween month,

but it is birthday month, and Beaulah and

I whipped up one of our family's favorite 

tall cakes for one of those birthdays.

Beaulah likes chocolate just as much as I do,

and add some peanut butter cream cheese frosting

in between each layer, and this one is swoon worthy.

Then it is topped off with peanut butter cups!

Fabulous!!

There is nothing as beautiful as a tall, three layer cake,

and I was even able to get a photo before it was eaten

by all the little goblins!

Knock Your Socks Off Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

3 layers chocolate cake - I made 2 Betty Crocker Triple

Chocolate Cakes filling each pan with 2 1/2 C. batter.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1/2 C. peanut butter

1/4 C. whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

4 C. powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese,

peanut butter, whipping cream and vanilla.  Add the

powdered sugar and whip until fluffy.

Fudge Frosting

3/4 C. melted semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 C. melted butter

3-4 T. milk

3 C. powdered sugar

Mini peanut butter cups

In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips and butter together

in the microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir.  Melt again for

30 seconds if needed, and continue in small intervals until

all of the chocolate is melted.  Pour into a large bowl and

mix in the powdered sugar and milk, until the mix is

smooth and creamy.  Frost quickly as this fudge frosting

sets up rapidly.

Assemble the cake with 1/3 of the peanut butter frosting

between the layers.  Then frost the sides with the fudge

frosting.  Spoon the remaining third of the peanut butter

frosting on top, bringing to the edge of the cake.  Top with

cup up peanut butter cups.

We hope you are having lots of fun in the kitchen and

home this month too!

Mini Chocolate Cabbage Cakes

Nothing wows people like a 

Chocolate Cabbage Cake

and I decided to make mini versions

of my 

Chocolate Cabbage Cake

which is the size of a large head of cabbage.

I usually start with a full cake baked

in a ball cake pan or two metal bowls

but I wanted something small and simple.

So I started out with a cake ball a little smaller

than a baseball - about 2.5-3 inches in diameter.

This super moist, super large cake ball

started out as a - surprise - bakery cake.  

Our Macy's grocery store has a really good bakery

 and this is one of the moistest chocolate cakes

I have had.  Mixed in with their super thick

layer of chocolate buttercream (and yes, their

frosting is yummy too, 

especially stirred right into the cake),

this made the most

delicious, moist and gooey chocolate cake

ball ever!  Of course you can make your favorite

chocolate cake and frosting or use a leftover.

Did you know cake gets moister after several days

as it begins to absorb the moisture from the frosting?

Just break the cake and frosting up in a bowl,

and then form it into a ball. You want

this to be sticky and gooey so that you can't wait

until your next bite.

Now comes the fun part, wrapping your little

moist cakes in cabbage leaves.

I wanted to get radicchio to mold my chocolate

on, but the store only had green cabbage so I 

chose the smallest head I could find.

Melt candy melts in the microwave.  I used 

about one and one half cups white and 6 to 8

discs of green.  You could do this all in white too, or 

milk chocolate.  Any color would be fun, even

pink, but I wanted a green cabbage cake.

Paint the melted candy onto cabbage leaves.

This cake ball is so small that painting 

the bottom of the cabbage leaf with candy melts 

didn't work so I decided to use the top of the leaf 

and curve it more by letting it cool between 

two bottles.  This worked great.  

The coolness of the leaves made the chocolate 

set up quickly.  Just peel the leaf off the chocolate.

Then, while it is still a little soft, I was able to

cut the bottom of the chocolate leaf so it would

sit flat on the mini pedestal.  I easily peeled the

chocolate off the top of the leaf and was able to

reuse the leaf time and again.  You will need about

5 to cover.  I did mine one at a time to make

sure I was getting the right size and curve of leaves.

 Start with the leaf on the

top of the cake to cover the cake as you look down

into it.  

Use a little of the melted candy as glue

on the bottom of the leaf and where the

leaves overlap. 

Continue overlapping leaves around the cake ball.

The beautiful thing is that if the leaf doesn't

work out, you can just remelt it in the microwave

with the bowl of candy melts.  

I can't wait to serve these to my girlfriends!

I will be posting these with

Foodie Friday

The Scoop

Pine Saturday

A Nail Polish Cake

A little granddaughter was having a Spa Party

and Grandma was asked to create a 

Nail Polish Cake.

My daughter found pictures on the internet

but no step by step directions 

so we just set about creating

our own.

We started with a three layer cake and covered it

with a crumb coating, then put it in the fridge

to set the crumb coat.

Frosting Recipe

1 1/2 C. softened butter (not margarine)

12 C. powdered sugar

2 T. white vanilla

7-10 T. water (add the smaller

amount and increase 1 T. at

a time until fluffy)

Food coloring

Place all in a large mixing bowl

and beat together with the wire whip.

Let mix about 5 minutes.  Give it

a final stir to stir out some of the

air bubbles.  It should be soft and

fluffy.

After the crumb coating has set,

remove from fridge

and using a straight sided glass that you will use

as the base for the nail polish lid, press the

glass down into the cake about 1 inch.  Remove

and remove the cake in the hole.

Replace cake in fridge.

Meanwhile make black chocolate clay.

Black Chocolate Clay

10 oz. coating discs

1 T. light corn syrup

Black food coloring (I like Americolor gels)

Melt the coating discs in microwave save bowl

stirring every 30 seconds whether it looks like it

needs to be stirred or not.  When it is completely 

melted, stir in the corn syrup and food coloring.

It will set up as you stir and become like

a thick frosting.  Spread out on a piece

of plastic wrap and place in fridge about

15 minutes or until cool.

Remove from fridge and knead until

soft and pliable.

This is where it got tricky.  I tried rolling the clay

but it started to break apart.  Finally I decided to just 

mold it around the glass and smooth it with my palms.

Your hands will get black, but the warmth of your

hands will help keep the clay pliable.  Make as

smooth as possible.  I smoothed it more with the

flat side of a table knife and then finished it

with my hands.

Place the "lid" of the polish jar into the

hole in the cake and trim any extra away so

that the clay will just hit the top of the cake.

Frost the cake as smooth as possible

using an offset spatula

and fit the lid on again, cleaning any frosting

away from the hole as necessary.

Pipe some frosting into the bottom of the

hole so that the glass will hold in place

once placed on top of the cake.

While the frosting was still soft I placed large

candy pearls around the edge to give it a 

finished edge.

I printed the "label" on sticker paper so that 

the frosting would not leak through the paper

and attached it to the cake with a little frosting.

The bottom of the cake was finished with 

additional large candy pearls.

Click here for printable recipe and step by step pictures.

Little Miss screamed when she 

saw the finished cake.

(I stored it in the fridge to 

keep the frosting firm.)

At the Spa Party fifteen little girls 

had their nails, hair and make up 

done with two aunts 

assisting Mommy.  The

girls all loved the fun party 

and one little

girl said it was the prettiest cake 

she had ever seen!

Happy Birthday Kylie!

I will be posting with

Foodie Friday

The Scoop

Pink Saturday