He Can Have His Chocolate Cake and I Can Eat It Too…with Peanut and Chocolate Butter Creams!

Earlier this week we celebrated sensitivehusband’s birthday with some nice dinners, presents…and cake! Like me, my husband enjoys chocolate, so I combined the flavors inspired by turtle cake and buttercream frosting recipes and made some calculations to remove the cane sugar. The result went over very well with the birthday guy and others who have sampled it. Fortunately for us, there is enough cake to eat all week! If you are not a fan of or cannot eat peanut butter, I suggest making extra chocolate buttercream for the in-between layer, or using cane sugar-free jam. Below is my recipe. Have a great day and let me know what you think!

Chocolate Cake with Honey Peanut and Chocolate Butter Creams

Cake:
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup honey
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
  
Honey Peanut Butter Cream:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup peanut butter
1/2 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1/3 cup honey
  
Chocolate Butter Cream:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
pinch of salt
1 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350°.  Coat bottoms of 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray or butter (do not coat sides of pans); dust with 1 tablespoon flour.

Combine boiling water and cocoa, stirring well with a whisk. Cool completely.

Place honey, butter and vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and cocoa mixture alternately to honey mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pans; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting the in-between layer with Honey Peanut Butter Cream, and the top and sides with Chocolate Butter Cream.

For Honey Peanut Butter Cream: Cream butter and peanut butter. Add the water, salt, and vanilla and cream again. Slowly add the honey and beat until creamy.

For Chocolate Butter Cream: Cream the butter, vanilla, water and salt until creamy. Slowly add the agave nectar and cocoa powder.

Please note: refrigerate the butter creams if either becomes too runny to use for frosting. A few minutes in the cool temperature will correct the consistency.

I am also sharing this recipe with Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, This Chick Cooks, Something Swanky, Food Trip Friday, Sweet as Sugar Cookies, Everyday Sisters, Joy of Desserts and on my Facebook page.