Reeses Cake

My brothers’ birthday is coming up this week. We’re getting together for dinner and cake at my mom’s house tomorrow night, and I (of course) volunteered to make dessert.

The thing is, even though they’re twins and obviously share a birthday, we have always made them their own cakes. When they were little, my mom was part of a “Mother of Twins Club” and it was one of the tips given to her by the other moms to help twins feel like individuals, even though they share so much.

So, every year, without fail, they get their own cakes. Who cares if they’re 25 now? What could possibly be wrong with MORE CAKE? I do not see any negatives in this scenario.

I text messaged them last week to ask if they had any special requests in terms of ingredients. Year after year, it seems like they both tend to want something chocolate. Tyler texted back and said he’d like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups incorporated. I happened to have just the recipe in mind.

I started with my favorite chocolate cake recipe (Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake) and went from there. I liked the sound of Katie’s peanut butter frosting recipe, so I went with that. And um, WOW. Very rich, but completely delicious. Have you ever had peanut butter balls? This frosting tastes just like those. Except instead of a small bite of peanut butter, it’s spread all over a chocolate cake.

If you like peanut butter, you’ll love this.

Ingredients:
– Chocolate cake (any recipe, but I used Hersheys), baked in two layers
– 1 stick butter, room temperature
– 1 cup creamy peanut butter
– 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
– 1/4 – 1/2 cup milk, divided
– Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:
1. Bake your favorite chocolate cake recipe according to instructions and let cool completely.

2. Place Reeses cups into freezer for later use.

3. In bowl of stand mixer, add butter, peanut butter and 1/8 cup milk.

4. Mix on slowest setting to combine well.

5. Slowly add powdered sugar, mixing on slowest setting.

6. Adding slowly, start mixing in remaining milk, just until desired consistency is reached (you may not need all of it depending on climate and temperature).

7. When cake layers are cooled completely, level off, and place one layer on serving plate.

8. Scoop about 1 cup of frosting onto top of layer and spread out with off-set spatula.

9. Place second leveled layer on top of frosting and frost cake fully, reserving about ½ c for decorating.

10. Remove Reeses cups from freezer, unwrap and use to decorate. Place cake in fridge until meal time. Remove cake from fridge 1-2 hours before serving to let it warm to room temperature.