Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Devil’s Food Cake Cheesecake

GUESS WHO MADE THEIR FIRST CHEESECAKE! :) Now you must understand, there are two things that I do not mess with when it comes to baking. The first is yeast. I’ve never understood how something can be so dang touchy, like I’m sorry dough, just because the temperature wasn’t EXACTLY where you wanted it you aren’t going to rise?! And then there’s the whole kneading process and waiting for it to rise then cutting and waiting for it to rise again and THEN after all that if you over work it you will end up with a giant brick. All I know is, I can make a pretty mean batch of cinnamon rolls out of a can of Pillsbury dough and homemade frosting without even thinking about yeast. Maybe one day I will come around to experimenting with it, but as of now I am sticking with my store bought pizza dough. The other thing I don’t mess with are cheesecakes. In all honesty, this is because I became terrified after reading recipe after recipe talking about cracking and splitting and wrong oven temperatures. And why on earth does my cake need to take a water bath? But today I put on my big girl boots and faced my fears. Alright so maybe it was the easiest cheesecake recipe I could find and maybe it didn’t require a water bath or any of that technical stuff, but WHO CARES CAUSE IT TASTES DANG GOOD. It also did not crack on me at all so today I am a winner and there is nothing anyone can do about it. 

This cake is a mosh-posh of “what kind of crazy creation can Cailin throw together this time”. I had plans to go swimming today which unfortunately fell through (dontcha hate when that happens) so I had an entire day sitting in front of me and my creative juices started flowing. I didn’t really know where I was going with it, but I began with the cheesecake. I decided I wanted to add different textures so I made a peanut butter cookie dough layer. I let those two layers sit in the freezer to firm up while I made the cake layers. This is where things became a tad interesting – I can’t seem to bake without at least a little bit of chaos. So I tried out a new chocolate cake recipe, which I’m still not really sure why because I already have one that never fails me and is absolutely fantastic, but I thought I would give it a shot. My first problem with it was that it took like 10 THOUSAND YEARS to bake. I finally got it out of the oven and when I went to turn it out, yup you guessed it. It just completely fell apart on me. And the middle was still undercooked. It was for the best though because it was the most vapid chocolate cake I have ever tasted. We’re talking dull as dishwater. I ended up (surprise surprise) going back to my fav chocolate cake recipe and it turned out wonderful as usual – this is the one I have posted below. For the last layer I should have just gone with vanilla, which is what I started out with, but Cailin being Cailin I couldn’t just leave it with boring vanilla. The icing I used to decorate the cake had molasses in it so I thought it would be fun to add molasses to the cake batter. It turned out alright, but if I made this cake again I would stick with just the vanilla. I used a peanut butter dark chocolate frosting to fill and frost the cake. Over 80% of the things I bake are very decadent and rich, and this cake is definitely not lacking those two adjectives. So if you have a full day of nothing ahead of you, no matter if you’re a person who likes things on the lighter side or who can handle a bit of sweetness, bake this cake!! Because it will be a fun creative little adventure, I promise you :). 

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Devil’s Food Cake Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake Recipe

·         1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 cup granulated sugar

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         ½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

·         2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

·         1 cup hot black coffee

·         2/3 cup mayonnaise

·         1 large egg

·         2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1.       Grease and line a 9” cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2.       In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

3.       In another bowl add the cocoa and chocolate.

4.       Pour the hot coffee over the cocoa mixture, whisking until smooth.

5.       Whisk in mayonnaise, egg, and vanilla.

6.       Stir mayonnaise mixture into flour mixture until combined.

7.       Evenly pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs.

Cheesecake Recipe

·         2/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped

·         Two 8 oz packages cream cheese

·         2 eggs

·         ½ cup sugar

·         ½ cup cocoa

·         2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1.       Grease and line a 9” spring form pan with wax paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.       Melt chocolate in the microwave and set aside.

3.       In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the eggs, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla. Mix until smooth and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4.       Add the melted chocolate and beat until smooth.

5.       Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until set and the middle doesn’t jiggle (mine took about 35 minutes).

6.       Let cool to room temperature and then place in the freezer until ready to assemble.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Recipe

·         1 cup all-purpose flour

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         1/3 cup plus 2 tbs. brown sugar

·         ¼ cup granulated sugar

·         2 tbs. butter, melted

·         ½ cup peanut butter

·         1 tsp. vanilla

·         1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

·         1/3 cup peanut butter chips

·         2 tbsp. milk

Instructions

1.       Line a 9” spring form pan with parchment paper.

2.       In the bowl of a stand mixer mix together the flour, salt, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.

3.       Pour in butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.

4.       Mix until a dry dough forms.

5.       Add in chocolate and peanut butter chips and mix until combined.

6.       Add in milk one tablespoon at a time and mix on low speed.

7.       Press dough into prepared pan and freeze until ready for assembly.

Vanilla Cake Recipe

·         1 cup sugar

·         ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

·         1 large egg

·         1 egg yolk

·         1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

·         ½ teaspoon baking powder

·         ¾ teaspoon baking soda

·         ¾ teaspoon salt

·         1 cup buttermilk

·         ½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1.       Grease and line a 9” cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

2.       In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3.       Add the egg and yolk and beat until combined.

4.       In a separate bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

5.       Alternatively add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

6.       Mix in the vanilla until combined.

7.       Evenly spread batter into prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Assembly

1.       After allowing chocolate cake to cook, remove from pan, level, and place on cake board or plate.

2.       Spread on a layer of peanut butter frosting and then top with cookie dough layer.

3.       Spread frosting on cookie dough, then place cheesecake on top of this.

4.       Lastly spread frosting on cheesecake and top with the vanilla cake.

5.       Do a crumb coat with the peanut butter frosting on the outside of the cake then place in the refrigerator to set.

6.       Cleanly frost the outside of the cake decorating however you chose :)