Ask any member of my immediate family what they want for a “special occasion” cake and they’ll tell you chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It’s a New England tradition! Well, after having moved to the south we thought we ought to alter the tradition just a tad and make it a peanut butter ice cream filled chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting!
Prepare the cake ingredients and bake the cake as directed below. Once it’s cool, fill the indent with softened ice cream. Homemade ice cream is the perfect texture to start!
Place the bottom layer on and invert the cake onto a plate, frost with the chocolate frosting. Place in the freezer for at least 2 hours prior to serving.
This is what happens if you cut it within the first twenty minutes because you don’t feel like waiting and you really want a piece. The ice cream is super soft and not set up yet!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake
Cake
You’ll Need:
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. Flour
3/4 c. Baking Cocoa (preferably Hersheys)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water
Chocolate Frosting:
1/2 c. Butter
2/3 c. Hersheys Cocoa
3 c. Confectioners Sugar
1/3 c. Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
You’ll need a filled cake pan, I actually received mine many years ago as a gift from my mom, but both Betty Crocker and Wilton make them.
Preheat the oven to 350°F – Grease the pans generously, do not flour.
For the cake- combine the sugar, flour, baking cocoa, baking powder & soda, and salt until well mixed. Add eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla, beating well with each addition. Stir in boiling water. The batter will be extremely thin. Pour into the greased pans. Depending on which set of filled pans you use you must fill the batter to the “Fill Line” of the pan.
Bake for 40 minutes, remove from oven, cool 10 minutes, remove the pan insert. (This is only if you’re using the Betty Crocker fill & bake pans, if you’re using Wilton, you won’t have this issue.)
(You can see that I didn’t grease the pan well enough and my cake stuck a little bit to the inversion pan!)
Fill the cake with peanut butter ice cream that has been slightly softened, (leave at room temperature for 5 minutes). Smooth the ice cream into the cake. Invert the cake bottom onto the filled cake, then invert the entire thing onto a plate.
While the cake is firming up in the freezer, combine the Hershey’s cocoa and confectioners sugar in a bowl, mixing well, add butter, vanilla extract and milk, beating well until smooth and creamy.
Place in the freezer for 20 minutes before attempting to frost.
Notes: You could make your own ice cream cake by making 3- 9″ round cakes, then use a bowl and cut the center out of 1 of the cakes, leaving about a 1 1/2″ ring of cake on the outside. Place a full 9 inch round on the bottom, add the ring,fill with softened ice cream, add a top layer and freeze for 2 hours before attempting to frost.
