She’s filled with humility and kindness. May she leave you licking your fingers like a child scraping the last bit of peanut butter out of the jar.
INGREDIENTS
CAKE 6 large eggs 400g castor sugar 1 ¼ cup milk 150g butter 3 tbsp peanut butter 1 tbsp vanilla essence 350g cake flour (2 ½ - 2 ¾ cups) 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp baking powder ICING 80-100g smooth peanut butter 230g cream cheese (1 tub) 1 tbsp vanilla essence 300g icing sugar ¼ tsp salt SALTED CARAMEL 1 tin caramel treat 1 tsp coarse salt
METHOD
CAKE 1. Prepare 2 round cake tins (21-23cm) with baking paper and non-stick spray. 2. Preheat your oven to 170°C and position the oven rack in the middle of the oven. 3. In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy (±5min). 4. Place the milk and butter into a microwave jug and heat the mixture until the butter is melted. Stir regularly. 5. Add the peanut butter and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir until dissolved. 6. Sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. 7. Fold in a third of the dry ingredients into the egg and sugar mixture. Fold in half of the milk mixture, then a third of the dry ingredients, the other half of the milk and end off with the remaining dry ingredients. 8. Divide the cake batter between the cake tins (Tip 1). 9. Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake (Tip 2). 10. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool down in the cake tins for 10 minutes before loosening the sides and demoulding onto cooling racks. ICING 1. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk together the peanut butter, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. 2. Sift the icing sugar and salt over the mixture and whisk until well combined and lump free. SALTED CARAMEL 1. In a medium bowl, mix the caramel and salt until smooth and spreadable. ASSEMBLE 1. Once the cakes are cooled, you can cut each layer in half. 2. Place your first cake layer on your cake board and top with ½ of the salted caramel. 3. Top with the second layer of cake and top with ½ of the icing. 4. Top with the third layer of cake and add the remaining caramel. 5. Finish off with the last cake layer and icing.
TIPS 1. To get even layered cakes, divide the batter by weight into the cake tins. 2. If there’s only a few crumbs on the cake tester, you can remove the cakes from the oven to prevent overbaking the cakes. If there’s still wet batter on the cake tester, bake the cakes for another 3-5 minutes and test again.