Peanut Butter Cake

This cake is great for peanut butter lovers like myself! And with the addition of caramel/toffee sauce, chocolate and peanuts, it tastes just like a snickers bar! :)

For the cake itself, I used a basic Victoria sponge recipe.  I weighed my 4 eggs and then measured out the same amount in flour, butter and sugar.  I also added a drop of vanilla extract but you can always leave this out if you don’t have any around. When adding the egg in stages, the mixture will look a bit marbled so don't worry, but the end mixture should be pretty thick and creamy looking.

For the filling, I used a bit more peanut butter and toffee sauce than stated, but you can use as much or as little as you prefer.  The caramelised roasted salted peanuts do sound a bit odd, but they are delicious, although you really do need to watch them very carefully while toasting as they do burn easily.  Make sure you cut the cake just before the chocolate sets or else it will just break up and we don't want that! 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

220g caster sugar

220g softened butter

4 eggs, beaten

220g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

Drop of vanilla extract

For the filling and topping:

50g salted roasted peanuts

1 tbsp icing sugar

100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp caramel/toffee sauce

                                      

Method:

- heat the oven to180C

- prepare two 20cm sandwich tins by greasing them thoroughly

- beat the butter until pale and light, then add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy

- break the eggs into a separate bowl and beat them lightly

- add the eggs to the batter mix in stages, beating in each addition thoroughly before adding the next

- sift the flour and baking powder together and using a large metal spoon, fold in the sieved flour to the egg and butter mixture

- divide the mixture equally between the two prepared tins, bake for 25-30 minutes and then cool on a wire rack until completely cool

- turn the oven up to 200C

- toss the salted peanuts and icing sugar with ½ tsp water until well coated and claggy

- spread over a non-stick baking sheet and roast for 5 mins, tossing them a couple of times until golden and coated in a shiny caramel before tipping onto a lightly buttered plate

- put one of the sponges onto a plate, spread with 3 tbsp peanut butter (or more), then dot with the dulce de leche and spread with a palette knife

- sandwich the second sponge on top, then spread with the chocolate topping and scatter with the caramelised peanuts

- melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and leave to cool slightly