My Crush

A peanut butter cake that scented the house and managed to even waft out to the drive way (driving my neighbor crazy!). Fill with fresh peanut butter cream cheese and top with sweet butter cream. Don't stop there! You're going want to add a crunch to the top by rolling the top in crushed butterfinger bars! Forget the calories, you'll do anything for your crush!

Basic cake rules for S'mee:

Use whatever cake recipe you want. If you use store bought (don't come crying to me) no worries, just know they ain't what they used to be. Grab a good cook book and try out a recipe for homemade cake. It's easy as pie. Wait no, pie is hard, cake is EASY!

So you'll need one recipe for Vanilla. You're gonna change the recipe a bit.

Dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in the other.

With the vanilla I want you to add 1 cup of sour cream, 1 box of vanilla pudding mix - (say it with me) the kind you cook, and 1 cup of really good creamy peanut butter.

Blend all of your add ins before you blend the dry with the wet.

Fill your cup cake liners or cups to 2/3 and check them at about 20 minutes or whatever time your recipes calls for, using the first time. (like if your recipe say 20-23 min. go with 20) The idea here is that you want to catch them when they are "just" done, not over baked. It may take longer than the 20 minutes, but bring them out when they spring back or pick test clean.
Let them rest for about ten minutes and then your are going to seal them with a simple syrup. For 1 recipe 1/8 to 1/8 water and white sugar should give you plenty of syrup. Put the sugar and water in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil until the sugar dissolves, set it aside and grab a pastry brush. When the 10 minutes is up, brush the tops of the cakes with the simple syrup, turn them out onto a rack and let them cool.

The middle:
For the Peanut Butter: We're doing 3s. 1/3 peanut butter to 1/3 cream cheese to 1/3 butter cream frosting. Nuke to soften - about 20 seconds, blend with a spoon. Fabulous! Fill a pastry bag fit with an 802 round tip and pipe by pushing the tip into the center and middle of the cup cake. Press to fill until the top begins to puff, pull out and place the cakes in the fridge to cool and firm up the filling before you frost.

The butter cream: Again, use ANY butter cream recipe you want. I prefer my sister Robyn's over anyone else's I've tried - even Pioneer Woman's- and it spanks. Her recipe is:here. My exception to her recipe is as follows: I s-l-o-w-l-y add the water, and most of the time I don't use the full cup. Also I almost always use 50/50 butter and shortening. It may have something to do with where I live (Mojave Desert) and the amazingly dry climate coupled with the altitude.

Peanut Butter: Easiest of all. Butter cream piped on -some what thinly, like 1/4 t0 1/2 inch thick and flatish- on top of the cakes. The butter fingers can be crushed either via food processor or smacked to death via a ziploc bag and a hammer - weapon of choice is up to you. Roll the tops in crushed butter fingers. There you go, I can't help you any more than that!

All cup cakes are best covered and put in the fridge until about a half hour before serving... but again it won't kill you to do otherwise. I like those disposable baking tins that have the clear plastic lids. They are tall enough not to smash the frosting and large enough to carry a dozen, plus the lid keeps them nice and moist. Trust me, these are moist.