Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

My new favorite chocolate vegan cake, just got an update, a new taste.  This cake is so versatile you can do anything you want with it.  It's one cake that I know my vegan son will eat, he loves it!  I know some will say, vegan eeewww!, but this is not the cake you will be saying that too, I promise.  Now, I used regular peanut butter on mine, but by all means try whatever you like, almond butter or cashew butter will work too.

Some ingredients to get this recipe started.

You don't even need a mixer, that is the best part, less cleanup.  This is my old standby for making sure it doesn't stick to the pan. 

Got the cake baked, let it cool, spread on the peanut butter, chill for an hour, then pour on the frosting.  This is so easy!

And D-E-L-I-S-H-I-O-U-S!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients for the cake

Bakers Joy or use canola oil and flour

2 1/4 cups of unbleached four

1 1/2 cups of white sugar

1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of strong coffee, cooled or water (see note)

1/2 cup canola oil

41/2 teaspoons of white vinegar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of peanut butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish or pan with Baker's Joy, set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until all the lumps are gone. With a spatula or whisk, stir in the coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Scrape bowl from the bottom up to make sure everything is combined. Pour the batter into the baking dish/pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted, comes out clean. Cool the cake for about 1/2 hour, then spread on peanut butter, refrigerate for 1 hour. While peanut butter is setting up on the cake, make the frosting.

Frosting
1/2 cup vegan butter ( Earths Balance is what I used)
1/3 cup almond milk with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, stir together
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 lb box confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the sifted sugar in a large bowl and set aside. Combine butter, milk, and cocoa in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, while stirring, until the mixture just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour into sifted confectioner's sugar. Beat until smooth, stir in the vanilla. After peanut butter has set, spread frosting to completely cover the peanut butter on the cake. Makes 12 servings.

NOTE: I use 1 cup of coffee and 1/2 cup of water. The coffee brings out the flavor of the chocolate, but the cake does not taste like coffee.

The Ole Switcheroo!

After cleaning out the my closet on Sunday, I switched out the curtains in the master bedroom.  I had new curtains in a bag in the closet, they needed to be hung where they belonged.  They were in that bag for about 2 months taking up space.  These are a little heavier than the cream colored curtains that were hanging, I like the new ones better, they soften the light in the room.  The master bedroom has 8 windows that need to be covered, a lot of windows and it's expensive!

Before.....

and after.

I still get a lot of light though, until I pull the curtains closed.

 So I found my curtains at Ollie's, a little discount store that my sister-in-law introduced me too (thanks, girl!)  

They were only $12.99 per pair!  WOW, you can't find them this cheap per pair anywhere else, and beleive me I've tried.  With so many windows to cover, it costs a lot of money!

 So here are the old cream colored curtains and the new soft teal and cocoa flocked curtains with grommets, love the grommets, you can easily pull them closed.  They are pretty and add more color and texture to the room.

Up close picture of the pattern.

 Moved a couple of pieces of furniture around.

 Cleaned up and cleaned out, and the room is done.

Who Wants Ice Cream!

I've made vanilla, raspberry and peach ice cream this summer and they were really good, check out the recipes in some of my earlier blogs. This is the first time I made chocolate ice cream, and let me tell you it is AWESOME!  Rich double chocolate flavor and creamy texture, all in one. It's not hard to make at all and it is better tasting than store bought.  Recipe below.

Always use whole milk and heavy cream it has a lot to do with the texture.  Cream and milk heating together.

Chop up the semi - sweet chocolate.  It should look like this.

Add the rest of the ingredients and you have ice cream in the making.

Creamy and smooth and into a cold bath to cool off.

Cover the top by lightly pressing the plastic wrap onto the mixture so a skin does not form. Put into the refrigerator to thicken and then transfer to the ice cream maker.

Churn it up, freeze it and it's ice cream time!

Rich Double Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, sometimes labeled whipping cream
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
4  1 oz. cubes of semi - sweet chocolate
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
Combine the milk and cream in a large heavy saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat.  In the meantime, very finely, chop up the chocolate cubes so they will melt easily.  When milk/cream is simmered, little bubbles around the edges but not boiling, turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa until there are no lumps and completely combined. Then add the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted.  Set aside.

Prepare a cold bath by filling a large bowl halfway with ice and water. Set up another bowl with a mesh strainer on top.  Keep these to the side for use later.

Whisk the egg yolks until smooth, then gradually add the sugar until the mixture is very light yellow in color and becomes thick.  Slowly pour 1/4 of the chocolate milk/cream mixture into the egg/sugar combo, stirring quickly as you are pouring, so the eggs don't scramble. This is called tempering.  Once it is combined, pour that mix back into the saucepan with the remaining chocolate milk/cream mixture and stir everything together. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens, when you run your finger over the back of the spoon and the mixture does not run back together it's done.

Remove from the heat and pour through the mesh strainer that is over the bowl.   Lightly pushing with the back of a wooden spoon, press on the strainer so any remaining chocolate goes through it and there are no lumps. Scrape the bottom of the strainer.  Place the bowl into the ice cold water bath and let sit for 30 minutes to cool.  When cooled place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture so a skin does not form. Cover the bowl with another piece of plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator for 4 hours.  Remove the plastic wrap and scrape any of the mixture off.  Churn according to your ice cream makers instructions. It should only take about 20 -30 minutes to churn.  Transfer into a covered container and freeze overnight.