Peanut butter chocolate birthday cake!

Ok! I have a backlog of recipes that I want to post, but I will start with a birthday cake that I recently made.

I used a recipe from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek called Blackest Forest cake, only I don't like black forest cake so I used the alternative suggestion of using peanut butter frosting. Here it is:

Batter:

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour, sifted (I actually used cake flour)
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c baking cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c plus 2 tbs soy yogurt
1 cup soy milk
1/2 c oil (I used canola)
2 tsp vanilla
1 c boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two 9 inch cake pans with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the rest excluding the boiling water. Use a hand mixer if you need to but I was too lazy. Add the water. The batter is thin, but it is supposed to be. Divide batter evenly between two pans and cook 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake before icing.

Middle layer:

peanut butter, less than 1/4 c to spread thin layer
1/2 c chocolate chips (I used carob) melted to spread thin layer (I used leftovers to drizzle on top as well)

Frosting:

1 8-oz container soy cream cheese, room temp
2 tbs margarine (vegan margarine!)
1/4 c peanut butter (or more to taste)
2 to 2 1/2 c sifted powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat chream cheese, margarine and peanut butter with an electric mixer. Add powdered sugar and blend. When cake is completely cooled, spread peanut butter and melted chocolate between layers. Ice with peanut butter frosting. I also sprinkled some ground peanuts on top.

I had to make this cake several days in advance and I was worried it would be stale when i served it but it was moist and delicious even after being in the fridge from Thursday until Sunday. I just waited to ice it until Sunday morning. I think the batter turned out the best out of all the recipes I have used. It really reminds me of the Hershey cake that my grandma makes, which also uses boiling water. More recipes coming soon!

PS Happy Birthday Randy!
xox