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Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layer Cake with Caramel Popcorn

Author Izy

Ingredients

  • 1/2 batch of this caramel popcorn , (or about 4 cups of store bought caramel corn)

Chocolate Cake:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups milk

Peanut Butter Frosting:

  • 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp softened butter
  • 1/4 cup cream cheese
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Chocolate Glaze:

  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 4 tbsp water
  • 4 tbsp butter

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease and line four 6" (or 3 8") pans and an 8" square pan.

For the chocolate cake:

  • Cream together the butter, sugar and eggs until pale and fluffy. Cream in the baking powder, salt and cocoa until smooth. Add 1/3 of the flour and stir in until just combined. Add half the milk and stir until just combined. Add another 1/3 of the flour and stir in until just combined. Add the rest of the milk and stir until just combined. Stir in the last 1/3 of the flour until just combined.
  • Divide the batter equally among the circular and square pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto cooling rack to cool completely (remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cakes too).

For the peanut butter frosting:

  • Stir all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. If you need to, add a splash of milk to make the frosting thinner or add some more powdered sugar to make it thicker. It should be a spreadable consistency.

Assembly part 1:

  • Cut the cooled, square cake layer into four 3" circles using a pastry ring. Level any domed circular cake layers so that they're flat.
  • Stack up the 4 large (6") cake layers with about 2 tbsp of the frosting between each layer (don't frost the top layer)
  • Separately stack up the 4 small (3") layers with a heaped teaspoon of frosting between each layer.(don't frost the top layer)

Make the glaze:

  • Place the chocolate, water and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a simmering pan of water. Stir until melted then remove from the heat and stir in the butter.

Assembly part 2:

  • Pour the majority of the glaze over the top layer of the large (6") cake and spread it out to the edges. Place the small (3") cake on top of the large cake layer and pour the remaining glaze over the top of this small cake. Spread it out to the edges.
  • Decorate the cake with the caramel popcorn and serve.