heaven in a BITE :)

I've been thinking a lot about what heaven will be like. I imagine there will be HUGE, tall, green trees ALL over the place and there will be waterfalls and it will be sunny with a light breeze every day, except for an occasional warm rainfall. There will be music playing twenty four-seven and I will be best friends with Frank Sinatra. Painting supplies will grow out of the ground like flowers and there will be no such thing as money. And everyone will live on CAKE! and we won't gain any weight at all! In fact, we'll LOSE weight! One of the cakes that will be in heaven is this one, it's peanut buttery-chocolatey-caramely-GOODNESS in a bite! 

Marbleous Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze

Cake:

Nonstick cooking spray

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup sour cream

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 recipe Salted Caramel Glaze:

¼ cup unsalted butter

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup whipping cream

½-3/4 tsp. sea salt

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 10-inch fluted tube pan with cooking spray; set aside. In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

2.     In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition and scraping bowl frequently. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.

3.     Divide batter into two bowls. Stir melted chocolate into half the batter until well combined. Stir peanut butter into remaining half until well combined.

4.     Alternately drop spoonfuls of batter into prepared pan. Use a small metal spatula or butter knife to gently swirl the batters together (do not over-mix).

5.     Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes on wire rack. Remove cake from pan; cool thoroughly on wire rack. Drizzle cake with half of the Salted Caramel Glaze. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired. Pass remaining sauce. Makes twelve servings.

6.     To make Salted Caramel Glaze: In a heavy small saucepan melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in brown sugar and granulated sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in whipping cream and return to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in sea salt. Cool completely. Makes about 1 cup. 

give me a warm slice of this stuff and we're best friends :)