Serves:Makes one big cakeNutrition facts:200 calories20 grams fat
Ingredients
* Recipe adapted from Annie Rigg's book ‘Make, bake and celebrate’
525 g (875 ml) flour, sifted
22.5 ml (4½ t) baking powder
7.5 ml (1½ t) baking soda
225 g (225 ml) softened butter, 150 g (180 ml) sugar-free peanut butter
500 g (2¼ k) caster sugar
6 eggs, lightly beaten
7.5 ml (1½ t) vanilla extract
375 ml (1½ c) buttermilk
200 g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
2 x basic cream cheese icing.
45 ml (3 tablespoons) peanut butter
1 x basic chocolate ganache.
Cream cheese icing
Makes about 3 cups
250 g (250 ml) cream cheese
80g icing sugar
10 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
Beat the cream cheese until smooth with an electric mixer. Sift the icing sugar and mix thoroughly. Add the lemon juice and mix well.
Chocolate Ganache
Makes ¾ cup
Put 200 g chopped dark chocolate in a bowl. Heat 160 ml (2/3 c) cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Stir until smooth and pour over the cake.
Caramelized popcorn
55 g (60 ml) caster sugar
15 ml (1 tablespoon) water
25 g (25 ml) butter
500 ml (2 c) cooked popcorn
15 ml (1 tablespoon) good sea salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
1 Grease 3 x 17.5 cm cake pans with butter and line with baking paper. 2 Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. 3 Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. 4 Pour the beaten eggs in 3 additions into the butter mixture and mix well between each addition. Scrape the bowl periodically. 5 Add the vanilla and mix well. 6 Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately into the cake mixture. 7 Mix until smooth and fold in the chocolate. 8 Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared pans. 9 Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 10 Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out on a wire rack.
Caramelized popcorn
1 Place the popcorn in a large heatproof bowl. 2 Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat gently over low heat. 3 Wipe off the sides regularly with a wet brush to resolve all sugar crystals. Increase the heat once the sugar is dissolved, and simmer until you have a golden caramel. 4 Pull the pan from the heat and add the butter quickly, but carefully. Keep on shaking to form the caramel sauce. 5 Pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir with a spoon. Season to taste with sea salt. 6 Mix the cream cheese icing with 45 ml (3 tablespoons) peanut butter until smooth. 7 Cut the cakes in half. 8 Spread a layer of frosting between the cakes. Press lightly. 9 Spread icing on top. 10 Drizzle the cake with chocolate ganache and serve with the caramelized popcorn.