You've probably noticed that most of my recent pictures were hastily snapped on my phone, on the (now very wounded) island top. This means three things: a) time is scarce and possibly poorly managed, b) there is NO OTHER horizontal surface in the house free from clutter including the dining table where Nate's photography equipment usually lives, and c) I apparently can't find the time to paint a cardboard trifold white to use as a backdrop. I'm not proud of these facts, or what they imply about my lifestyle lately, but there you have it. Three more weeks....
I am ridiculously lucky to have a teaching assistant for statistics this semester, which is why there is still (some) hair attached to my head. I cannot begin to express how much she has done to make my students' and my own life bearable. Plus, she is simply the most collected, conscientious, organized, and professional TA I have had in a long time. (Seriously. You don't see that attitude in lots of 30- and 40-somethings who are paid to do this stuff.) What's a prof to do to reward such a TA? Write a good reference letter, shepherd her through to grad school (whether she knows or wants it or not), sure. But also bake her a cake. Through some sleuthing made possible by some recent, ill-informed software acquisitions by my uni, I was able to find out that her birthday would hit in April. Golden opportunity. I set her "school wife" to poke around, well in advance of the day, and the following facts emerged:
- She likes peanut butter. A lot.
- She liked my cheesecake.
- She likes chocolate mousse.
- She liked my vegan blueberry scones.
- Also, she likes peanut butter.
So, of course, I did what any reasonable baker would do.
This does not, in fact, repeat PB a sufficient number of times. There's also a brown sugar peanut milk soak that was used on each cake layer, a peanut butter ganache-turned-fudge (made with peanut butter chips and peanut milk), and a token amount of Reese's pieces for garnish. And, of course, chocolate mousse because I wasn't going to let go of any single part of the brief. Except the blueberry scones, because I know my limits.
You guys ready for this?
Of course you are.
I'm not going to lie, I did all sorts of things wrong and improvised where I shouldn't. Evidently, I need to make a massive amount of buttercream and work on my crumb coating, smoothing, and piping skills.
Clearly, I overmixed my batter.
I got nervous when it came to assembling the mousse (my first time not with agar agar and aquafaba, would you believe?), but evidently I prevailed in this respect.
My favorite part about piping is using centrifugal force to get the buttercream or mousse all the way down. This should've been my cue to add more peanut milk, which I ultimately did. It's all downhill after those glorious gyrations, at least in my cake decorating career.
Henry Petroski would not be proud of the burden of responsibility placed upon these shoddy buttercream retaining walls.
Yes,that's a dense peanut butter cheesecake supported by two layers of cake with an intermediate layer of mousse. What could possibly go wrong? I knew this was a dumb idea, but I felt compelled to go through with it anyway. My frontal lobes feel and function like a nice, soft custard, at this point in the semester.
Well, fuck it, we're committed now.
Oh, wait, you wanted a recipe?
How about seven recipes?
Peanut Milk
For the peanut milk:
1 c (140g) dry roasted unsalted peanuts
2 c warm water (+ more hot for soaking peanuts)
Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake
Source: Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cheesecake by Sally's Baking Addiction
Makes 1 x 6" + 1 x 4"
8 oz (227g) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c (67g) granulated sugar
1 T cornstarch
1/4 c (60g) plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, room temperature
1/3 c (90g) creamy or chunky peanut butter
1 egg, room temperature
1 t vanilla
10-12 mini chocolate peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped
Peanut Butter Cake
Makes: 4 x 6" rounds + 2 x 4" rounds (or 3 x 8")
Source: Loaded Peanut Butter Cake by Life, Love, & Sugar
1/2 c (113g) salted butter, softened 3/4 cups (150g) white sugar 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar (recipe calls this 3/4 c loosely packed; I could see increasing this to a real 3/4 c - 150g depending on frostings and fillings) 3/4 c (204g) peanut butter 1/2 c (115g) sour cream, room temperature 1 T vanilla extract 3 eggs, room temperature 2 1/2 c (325g) all purpose flour 2 3/4 t baking powder (1/2 t salt, or to taste if using salted butter and peanut butter) 3/4 c (180ml) peanut milk
Peanut Butter...and Cream Cheese, I guess... Buttercream
Source: Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting by Sally's Baking Addiction (sheet cake-sized recipe)
Makes: Not nearly enough for two layer cakes. Just double the recipe below, skip the cream cheese addition if you want, and you'll have enough to crumb coat and get fancy, too.
1/2 c (113g) unsalted butter, softened
1.5 c (405g) creamy peanut butter
3 c (360g) confectioner's sugar
1/4 c (60ml) heavy cream
1/4 c (60ml) peanut milk + more to achieve desired consistency.
1 t vanilla
salt to taste
1 c standard cream cheese frosting, pulled out of the freezer in the morning because you had a feeling you wouldn't have enough PB frosting... or enough PB to make more
Peanut Milk Soak
Inspiration: Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake
1/2 c peanut milk
2 T brown sugar
2 t vanilla extract
pinch salt
Peanut Butter Fudg... uh... Ganache
Source: I have no idea what I was thinking. Except I was short on cream and had leftover peanut milk and tons of PB chips
Makes: enough to cover the top of the main cake and decorate the smaller cake
6 oz peanut butter chips
1 T (13g) coconut oil
1 t (4g) liquid lecithin
1/2 c peanut milk
Chocolate Mousse
Source: the filling for Life, Love, & Sugar's Chocolate Mousse Cake
Makes: way too much (enough for 2 layers inside the larger cake, and to frost and decorate the mini cake... and then some)
3 egg yolks
38g white sugar
105 + 210ml heavy whipping cream
(Optional: 1 T gelatin, bloomed over 2T cold water)
170g semisweet chocolate chips
65g confectioner's sugar
1-2 days ahead: Make the nut milk
Add enough water (piping hot, if short on time) to cover the peanuts and let soak for several hours or (better) overnight.
Using a high-powered blender and, preferably, hearing protection (my blender registers at 70-80 dB at normal operating distance) and blend the bejezus out of the nuts.
Strain through a nut milk bag or a clean cotton t-shirt. Transfer the milk to a sealed jar in the refrigerator until ready to use in the various components.
Pop the peanut pulp in a small freezer bag and wait for a blog post about what I'm doing with miscellaneous leftover nut pulps these days.
1 day ahead (or more, if freezing): Bake the cheesecake and cake layers.
Cheesecake first: Preheat the oven to 300F. Water bath optional, but a pan with hot water below the rack where the cheesecakes will cook is nice. Lightly oil the pans.
Combine the sugar and cornstarch. Cream the cream cheese until soft and fluffy, add the sugar/cornstarch mixture. Add in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Fold in the yogurt/sour cream gently.
Bake the cheesecakes 45-60 minutes, or until their tops are still slightly jiggly but the edges have set. I was lucky and both seemed OK within the same timeframe, but be prepared to have one turn out a bit overdone.
Turn the oven off and let the cakes sit with the door unopened for 30 minutes.
Return to open the oven door slightly and let cool for another 30 minutes. (Be mindful of inquisitive cats who will open the door all the way. Ask me how I know this.) Upon removing from the oven, run a thin blade or metal offset spatula along the edges of the pan to release any stuck bits. If you aren't going to encase these in cake, you can even mend small cracks with a hot spatula.
Meanwhile, prepare the cake ingredients . Or grade papers. Or make the mousse and buttercream. You've got nothing but time.
Get ready for the cake: Increase oven temperature to 350F. Grease and flour your pans (consider a parchment paper bottom, also greased and floured, for added insurance).
Make the cake batter: Cream together the butters and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the sour cream and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Then add in the peanut milk and dry cake ingredients (flour, baking powder, optional salt) in alternating installments.
Try not to overmix after the eggs have been added. Evidently, I did, as I had some tunelling in two of my sponges. Then again, those were the last two I made (the batter thus sat around for some 30+ minutes).
Transfer the batter into the cake pans and bake. I did 2 x 6", 2 x 6", and finally 2 x 4". The larger layers take about 22 minutes... I can't recall how long the smaller ones needed. Ahem.
Remove the cakes from their pans 10-15 minutes after removing from the oven. Allow to cool completely before leveling, wrapping, and transferring the layers to the refrigerator or freezer (easier for crumb coating).
1 day ahead / Morning of Cake Day: Make the mousse filling and buttercream
Prepare the mousse base: Over a double boiler, combine the egg yolks, sugar and 105 ml of cream. Heat over a gentle simmer, whisking constantly, until lightened and thickened (nappé consistency, about 160F). Immediately remove from heat (if using, this is where you would incorporate the bloomed gelatin).
In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips at 10s intervals, stirring well each time. When fully melted, gently fold into the egg mixture and let cool completely.
Whip the remaining (210ml) heavy cream and confectioner's sugar to stiff peak consistency.
Fold a small amount (1/4?) of the whipped cream into the chocolate to loosen in up, then fold a small amount of the (loosened) chocolate into the whipped cream. Then gently fold in the remainder of the chocolate into the whipped cream. Transfer into a piping bag.
Make the buttercream: I'm sure this isn't your first American buttercream rodeo. Cream butter until light and fluffy, then add the peanut butter. Add the confectioner's sugar, cream, and vanilla and beat on high speed until fluffy. If using, add in cream cheese frosting after all but the peanut milk. Add peanut milk as needed to achieve desired consistency (for filling, piping, coating, etc.)
Cake Day: Soak, assemble and crumb coat the cake, prepare the ganache, decorate
Prepare the milk soak: Stir all ingredients together until the brown sugar is fully dissolved.
Identify which cake surface will serve as the top of each cake layer. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the peanut milk soak over each layer. Allow to soak in briefly before adding
(In my case, on 2 x 6" layers) Pipe a buttercream barrier to hold in the chocolate mousse filling. Allow to briefly set in freezer.
Pipe and level the mousse filling. Return to freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Stack the layers, including the cheesecake, and immediately ponder the implications of making a buttercream-encircled mousse layer responsible for structural support below the cheesecake.
Crumb coat and chill as long as you humanly can.
Make the ganache: Combine all ingredients in a double boiler. Heat gently, whisking frequently, until combined. When warm, this can be piped into rosettes but will set with a texture similar to brown sugar fudge (although I had some surface crystallization/clouding issues after refrigeration)
Finish decorating the cake with tons of buttercream, the ganache/fudge topping, and whatever else your heart desires...
Delivery day: Realize you don't have appropriate transportation solutions for what amounts to the stovepipe hat of the cake world.