Cake Week

It was a full week of birthdays meaning birthday baking. I have two cakes here.  Both what I call "semi-homemade".  Based off of boxed mixes for speed and ease but doctored up a bit.  Still pretty simple but delicious.  First is a chocolate peanut butter pretzel cake.  Second is a white cake with strawberries and cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cake (aka. The Don Juan)

Ingredients:
Crust
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
8 oz crushed pretzels
3 T brown sugar

Peanut Butter layer:
7 oz creamy peanut butter
2 T powdered sugar

Cake:
Chocolate cake of choice (I used Devil's Food cake mix)

Frosting:
16 oz vanilla frosting
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (other milk would work as well, this is just what I had on hand)
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease or spray bottom of two 8 or 9-inch cake pans (I used 9 inch pans)
- Crush pretzels and mix with butter and brown sugar.  Divide between the two pans and press to the bottom of the pan

















- Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar in a small sauce pan over low heat.  Stir frequently heating just until the mixture has softened to allow easier spreading.  Divide and spread a thin layer over the pretzel crusts.













- Prepare cake batter as directed.  Divide evenly between the two pans and pour over the pretzel crust. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

- Remove pans from oven and place on rack to cool.  Once cooled completely level cakes and brush with a simple syrup (for simple syrup I dissolved 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 cup boiling water and allowed to cool).

- Prepare frosting by mixing ingredients with hand mixer until blended.  You can also mix by hand or use stand mixer as desired.  Add additional powdered sugar if needed for desired consistency. 

- Apply crumb coat to cakes prior to frosting.  Frost bottom layer of cake with frosting and sprinkle with crushed pretzels.  These pretzels will soften quickly so I would omit these if you are not going to serve the cake within 24 hours.













- Repeat for additional layers.  










- Decorate as desired.  I used additional twist pretzels and chocolate covered pretzels as well as a chocolate drizzle on top made from melted chocolate chips and paraffin. 

The Strawberry Juice

Not much to this recipe.  It's just pretty.
I used a standard white cake mix as directed.
Cream cheese frosting.
Chocolate covered strawberries and sliced strawberries for garnish.
In between the layers is the cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries.