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By Sarah Condley

I was in the mood for something sweet; imagine that, when I found a copy of this recipe for Peanut Butter Bundt Cake in my folder of cake recipes that I’ve saved over the years.  The recipe came from www.tasteofhome.com and the author, Karen Holt, said it was “heavenly.”

I sat the butter out on the counter to soften and after a few hours I was ready to get baking.  I re-read the recipe and realized the eggs needed to come to room temperature.  Since I hadn’t done that, I did it the quick way by putting the eggs in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes.  If you try this don’t use HOT water as it may begin to cook your eggs.  Use warm water and have some patience; quite the advice coming from someone who has no patience, huh.             

After greasing and flouring my Bundt pan, I loaded my stand mixer with the butter, peanut butter and sugars.  I turned the mixer on while I got the eggs out of the water and cracked them into a bowl.  I gently poured one egg at a time into the batter and let the mixer combine well before adding each additional egg.  Next, I added the vanilla and just after it was incorporated into the batter, I turned the mixer off while I combined the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl.  After whisking the dry ingredients together, I turned the mixer back on and gently poured some into the batter, alternately adding the milk.  After all of the flour mixture and milk was in the batter, I was ready to pour it into my Bundt pan.  No problem with that.

The cake baked for 70 minutes in the 325-degree oven and after cooling for a few minutes I removed it from the pan and let the cake completely cool on a wire rack.

Once the cake was completely cool, I was ready to make the frosting.  I’d let the butter soften in a large bowl and after adding the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and salt I turned the mixer on low and slowly started adding the milk, just until it was the consistency I wanted.  I ended up using 3 tablespoons of milk.

I placed the cake on my cake stand and scooped icing on top.  The picture that accompanied this recipe showed the icing only on the top of the cake, but there was enough to pretty much cover the whole cake.  And since I like icing with every bite of cake that suited me just fine.  Once the cake was iced, I placed the cake dome over it and held off trying it until that evening.

Once supper was over and the dishes were done, I cut both Brad and myself a piece of cake and we began our taste test.  Yum, yum, yum.  This cake is a winner.  The consistency reminded me of the pound cake I make.

We did share this cake with my mom, brother, and a few friends.  My mom liked the flavor but thought it was a bit dry.  My brother liked it because it wasn’t too sweet and he really liked the icing.  Our friends – well they all agreed it was delicious.

I’ll have to say this recipe definitely falls into the Nailed It category and I’ve added it to my self-made cook book.

Peanut butter bundt cake

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

5 large eggs, room temperature

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup 2% milk

Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 to 3 tablespoons 2% milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.  In another bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition just until combined.  Transfer to prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 65-75 minutes.  Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

For frosting, in a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, sugar and salt.  Beat in enough milk to achieve desired consistency.  Spread over top of cake.