Another great birthday celebration at work and another delicious cake! Life is so sweet!
The decadent Cheesecake Layer…
Add the cream cheese and sugar to your mixing bowl…
Cream together about 5 minutes until smooth and then add the eggs…
and the vanilla…
and the cream…
Pour the bag of Reese’s Minis in and give it a stir…
Pour into your cheesecake pan sprayed with nonstick spray…
I always put a layer of parchment paper on the bottom of the cheesecake pan…
this helps me to be able to better place the cheesecake layer on the cake…
I also wrap the spring form pan in heavy duty foil and then set it in a water bath…
Look how perfect and non-cracked it is!
Here’s the fast-forward to assembly…
Oh my!
Heat just a bit of the chocolate frosting…
Make the lines…
Press the 2nd bag of Reese’s Minis on top…and…ta-da!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- Reese’s Mini CHEESECAKE LAYER:
- 2–8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1cup sugar
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 8 oz bag Reese’s Minis
- The Cake Layers:
- 1 3/4 cup cake flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup boiling water
- The Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (More or less as needed for consistency)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- The Chocolate Frosting:
- 1 3/4 cup cocoa
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
To Make the Cheesecake Layer:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of the 8 inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Spray the sides with nonstick spray.
Wrap the spring form pan with heavy duty foil so that you can place it in a water-bath while baking.
In your mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the heavy cream, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth.
Stir in the Reese’s Minis and pour the batter into your prepared pan.
Set in a larger pan and pour in about 1 inch of water; this will help your cheesecake bake with no cracks. Bake about 1 hour. Set out of water to cool. Remove foil and run a knife around the edge, gently.
Place in the refrigerator to cool completely for a couple of hours.
To make the Cake Layers:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
Whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large mixer bowl.
Add eggs, milk, butter and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in water (batter will be thin).
Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
Making the Peanut Butter Frosting:
With mixer, combine the butter and peanut butter. Beat until smooth and well-combined.
Add the confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time until combined. Add just enough of the heavy cream to get the desired spreading consistency.
Making the Chocolate Frosting:
Sift the cocoa, 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar it, into a large bowl.
Bring the cream to a simmer on the stove or in the microwave, and whisk into the cocoa mixture.
At first the mixture will look grainy; continue whisking for a minute.
The lumps will disappear as the sugar dissolves and the cocoa hydrates. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Place the butter, salt, and 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Beat until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla
With the mixer running on low speed, add the cocoa mixture a spoonful at a time until it’s all incorporated. Scrape the bowl, then beat at medium speed for one minute more.
Assembling the Cake:
Place one cake layer into the center of a cake plate or cake board.
Frost the top of the layer with a generous amount of the peanut butter frosting.
Place the cheesecake layer gently on top of this cake layer.
Carefully frost the top of the cheesecake layer with some of the peanut butter frosting.
Place the 2nd cake layer on next and frost the top generously with the peanut butter frosting.
Next, frost the sides carefully and generously with the chocolate frosting; reserve about 1/2cup to make the chocolate lines on top. (I heated it about 20 seconds in the microwave and was able to pour on the design.)
Use the 2nd bag of Reese’s Minis to place in the peanut butter frosting.
Place the cake in the refrigerator overnight to let cool completely before serving.