Chocolate & Peanut Butter

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I just recently started a new job and am still adjusting to bakery hours. (I'm usually up at 4am now.) Also, I have a few other projects on the drawing board so things have been extra crazy. The main thing that has happened since I last blogged - LayersNYC.com is up and running!! We are definitely going to add more pictures and information in the upcoming months, but it was important for Emma and I to finally get it going. One of the parts of the website that was a challenge for us was deciding on flavors, both for cake and filling. There are so many that we just listed filling types and not necessarily flavors. We definitely will be changing that when we figure out the best way to do it! The problem really is - we can pretty much do ANY flavor! We put out a question on our Facebook page (look it up if you haven't - Layers NYC) asking out fans what flavors they'd like to try that you wouldn't be able to get in a conventional bakery. After scrolling through, we decided to try out a chocolate-peanut butter combo. I didn't want to just do a plain chocolate cake with a peanut butter buttercream - it had to be more intense than that. Also, peanut butter and chocolate are both dominating flavors and I wanted to make sure they were balanced. I decided to make a cake with both cocoa powder and melted chocolate in it. I diced peanut butter cups and folded them into the cake batter as well so that there would be a peanut butter presence and to make the cake a little fudgier. As for the peanut butter buttercream, I stuck with an Italian buttercream base and flavored it with peanut butter and Mexican vanilla extract, once again being careful to keep the flavors balanced. I am not really a fan of peanut butter, or chocolate for that matter but I have to say - this cake was delish! I made it for my brother's birthday so that my (brutally honest) family could give me feedback. It received rave reviews! Just to be sure, I saved a slice and delivered it to Judi, our fan who suggested this cake. She loved it, too! Looks like this cake will be available for order!!