NUTTERBUTTER CAKE

This cake was inspired by the one and only "Nutterbutter" Cookies. Those cookies were one of my favorite treats growing up, and I was really craving something along those lines this weekend. So I decided to take some of my all time favorite cake and frosting flavors and put them together to create something delicious. It turned out so yummy, and so I had to share it with you guys ASAP!
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NUTTERBUTTER CAKE RECIPE:
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Vanilla Cake
By: The Blonde who Bakes

Ingredients:
3 Cups Cake Flour (I used Lehi mills Cake flour)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 Cup Butter, room temperature
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
4 Eggs
2 Egg Whites
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1/3 Cup Greek Vanilla yogurt or Sour Cream (Not both)
1 Cup Milk


Tools needed:
Electric Mixer or Large Bowls
Whisk
Oven
Baking spray
3 Cake Pans (6” cake pans or 2 - 8” pans)

Baking Instructions:
-Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

-Prepare three 6” round cake pans OR two 8” pans with non-stick spray Spray again. Set aside. (I highly recommend the “Bakers Spray” or “PAM Baking Spray with flour”.)

-In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

-In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar for 3 to 5 minutes on medium-high speed.

-The mixture should be light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and begin to add the eggs and egg whites on medium speed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between addition, continue beating on medium-high speed until the texture is smooth and the volume is nearly doubled, about 3 to 5 minutes.Add the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.

-Add the the full Measurement of the vegetable oil. Mix well and incorporate.

-Add in the Greek Vanilla yogurt OR sour cream. Mix well.

-Slow the mixer down as much as possible, add then in 1/2 of the of flour mixture,

-Add 1/2 of the milk. Let mix for 40-60 seconds.

-Add in the final measurements of flour and milk. Let mix until fully incorporated. 2-3 minutes. The batter should be smooth.

-Pour cake batter into each of the prepared three 6”cake pans. Or 2 8” pans. Level out all the batter in each pan.

-Place in over to bake at 325°F for 32-36 minutes.

-To check doneness, you can touch the top of the cake very lightly. If it stays firm and holds it shaped, almost bounces back, your cake is done.

-You can also insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If comes out with a few moist crumbs on it. Let cool in the pans for about 15-20 minutes and then remove from cake plans and place cake on cake board.

-Place cake layers in the freezer for 4-6 hours.

-After cold and solid, it’s time to decorate!
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WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1.5 Cups White Chocolate Chips
1 Tsp Vanilla extract

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Instructions: 
-Boil the Heavy Cream in a small sauce pan
Once boiling, remove from heat.
-Pour your chocolate over the very hot Heavy Cream,
-Let cream and chocolate sit for 3-5 minutes before mixing.
-Mix until fully incorporated. Your ganache should become thicker the longer it sits and cools. So let it cool completely before using.

CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:
2 C Soft, Unsalted Butter 
1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter
3 lbs Powdered Sugar 
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract 
1 C - 1 1/2 C Heavy Cream

Instructions: 

1. In a stand mixer, use your paddle attachment and cream your butter. Mix on medium/high speed for 2-3 minutes. Or until creamy. (Make sure there are no clumps) 
2. Once creamy, add in peanut butter. Mix until fully incorporated.
3. Turn mixer down to low speed and add in your vanilla extract
4. Add in all of your powdered sugar, let mix for about 1 minute. 
5. Scrape down bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. 
6. Add in your heavy cream and mix for about 5 minutes or until creamy. (Add cream AS NEEDED. Don’t use all of it if you don’t need it. Too much cream will make your frosting runny) 
7. Once fully mixed, take off stand mixer and mix your frosting with a wooden spoon and get out any extra air pockets and create a smooth creamy finish. 

How I assembled the cake:

-For this cake, I started with my frozen vanilla cake layers and filled those cake layers with my creamy peanut butter buttercream and white chocolate ganache. And for every other cake layer I also added some of my Vanilla Buttercream, and filled the center with peanut butter buttercream.
the Vanilla Buttercream is completely optional, but I feel it helped balance out the flavors well.

​-Here is the recipe for my VANILLA BUTTERCREAM just in case you would like to add that to your cake.

-For a bonus topper, you can crush up some “Nutterbutter” cookies and sprinkle those inside some of the cake layers. These cookies will soak into the frosting well, but some will stay crunchy to add a fun crunch to soft cake.

-After filling the cake layers, I crumb coated the cake (first layer of frosting) with the Peanut Butter Frosting

-Once you’ve applied the the first layer of frosting, place in freezer to allow the frosting to set and harden. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
-After this, I applied the rest of the White Chocolate Ganache for the final layer to coat the cake. I topped it with small rosettes made with the peanuts butter buttercream, and placed mini Nutterbutter cookies on every other one.

This was such a fun cake to create. I love my Chocolate Peanut Butter cake, and so switching it up and using the vanilla cake was a good change up. If you are a Peanut Butter fan, this is definitely a cake to try!

If you do end up trying this cake recipe, I would love to hear and see how it went for you! Tag me in your creations @theblondewhobakes on Instagram and TikTok.