Peanut Butter Cup Cake

 Tomorrow one of my oldest friends turns 22. To celebrate the big day, we are having a memorium of all her good times of being 21 tonight at a birthday celebration. Wanting to treat her to something special, I whipped up this little puppy. Let it be known that 8:30 am is a perfect time to bake cake becaues all your roommates wake up in a wonderful mood from the aroma of chocolate wafting through the apartment. Of course that mood dissipates as quickly as the smell when you open the window when they find out they don't get to eat it...oops. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate are one of the more perfect food combinations. Peanut-butter fingers are one of my favorite treats. Last night as I thought about what kind of cake to make I decided to go with the typical college girls' cravings. PB and whatever: in this case, CHOCOLATE. 

The following may be unsuitable for some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

Layer # 1 Good enough to eat as is

But wait, why not put candy on top to make it pretty?

 Wanting to undermine the sweetness factor that something with the name "Peanut Butter Cup Cake" has, and not wanting to make it too rich, I used a chocolate sponge with sour cream. The chocolate frosting also has sour cream in it which gave it a nice tang, the light color is due to milk chocolate, which evens that tang out to just plain good. 

Oh yes, and then do it again! My mouth is watering just looking at it...

Let's take a closer look shall we? Peanut butter cups nestled into a peanut butter filling

 I have been in my kitchen all day, making this cake, applying for jobs, doing finances etc., all the time wearing my exercise clothes and trying to get up the motivation to exercise today. Sometimes convincing yourself is the most difficult step of any task.

Getting some perspective. How much exercise will it require to work off this one? Answer= none. All Treat Fairy treats are Calorie Free!*

My favorite way to frost: it makes you want to run your finger right across the icing for a taste. Don't worry. I resisted.

Okay, who wants a slice?

 A three layer cake was more than I was bargaining for this morning when I made this, but I think the end result is going to be supreme. Besides, three layers doesn't take any longer to bake than 2, it just takes an extra pan and the very last bit of your flour and sugar (I had to buy more this afternoon).

Don't forget the garnish. In total there are 12 Reese's cups in this cake.

The cake is moist and flavorful. The frosting and filling supreme. Thanks Jif Natural Peanut Butter. There are NO unnatural preservatives in this cake. I'm picky that way. You should be too: you deserve the best.

I left my friend with a good portion of the cake and saved a slice for myself and my dear roommates to sample. (They really were very upset when I showed them all these pictures and then said, as I showed them the last one, "It's in the fridge right now...". The thought that they were not going to get any was quite an unhappy one.

The lighting was bad for these next few shots so please forgive me, but, the cake looks amazing on the inside as well and I just HAD to show you. 

This cake succeeded in fulfulling the cravings of my dear roommate. She had been wanting no-bake cookies for three days. Same ingredients, and way better in my opinion.

Fiance and I shared this piece. What a beauty. The cake was moist, not too chocolately, and the peanut butter filling and cups on the top made it absolutely decadent. But definitely not too rich. A real winner.