Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Oh my goodness, does it get any better than chocolate and peanut butter?

When I saw the blog title "Chocolate and Peanut Butter Recipes" ,                                                                                                                                                                                               it didn't take me two seconds to click on the link and begin drooling over the yummy photos.                                                                                    I made note of several recipes but knew this cake was top on list.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

For the cake you will need......

1 Duncan Hines (my preference) Devil's food cake mix

1 small box instant chocolate pudding

1 8oz sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 bag miniature Reese's Peanut Butter cups- chopped (forget about all the tools and use a knife)                                                                                                                                 *****Note you can replace the Reese's with 2 cups mini chocolate chips for a scrumptious chocolate cake.... or leave out candy all together*****

Combine the first 7 ingredients together in a large bowl and mix until well combined.  Stir in the chopped candy.

Pour batter into cake pans of choice. I have 3 sets of cake pans but only two in each set. I like to bake my cakes in 3 layers (or more) and prefer to use the aluminum throw away pans. They are inexpensive, I can prepare all the pans at one time and no washing in between. ( Please note that I am cheap and will wash and reuse the panseveral times before they make it to the garbage can.)

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. The time will depend on the thickness of your layers.

Now for the frosting.......

1 cup Crisco shortening

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening until fluffy. Then add the sugar, salt and vanilla. Add a little mix and begin mixing.                                                                                                    When the ingredients are well combined add 1cup creamy peanut butter and the remainder of the milk.                                                                                                                                             Beat on high until frosting is fluffy.  * I had to add more than 1/3 cup milk to get the consistency I wanted.

On the original cake, the baker chopped a whole bag of peanut butter cup  (in addition to the bag in the cake) and covered the top and sides of the cake.                     

   I felt that would just be to much and decided to chop up 10  cups and just sprinkle on the top.