Reese’s Cake

Normally I wait until the weekends to make things, but I made an exception for my brother’s birthday.  He requested a Reese’s Cake.  So I accepted the challenge and started to look online for a recipe.  I decided to go with one I found on CreationsbyKara. It looked good, the reviews were good, and the directions looked quick enough for a weeknight.

After reading a few other google searches on Reese’s Cakes, the boxed devils food cake mix seemed to be a good idea.  I noticed other people saying they had problems with the cake being too dry when making it from scratch.  Since I don’t have a ton of cake making experience, I figured I would just go with the box mix.

Ingredients:

• 1 box devils food cake (and ingredients required on the back of the box!!)
• 1 bag miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups (I bought family size bag)
• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream (You may need a little more than 2/3 cup)

Make your cake mix like it says on the box and bake in 2 round 9inch pans that have been greased and floured.
You’ll know it’s finished baking when you can stick a toothpick in the center and it is clean when you pull it out.

Make sure the cake cools completely before you add the icing or it will all drip off the sides!

For the icing, mix peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, butter, and cream together. I added a little extra cream so the icing would be really smooth and easier to ice the cake.

Now for the fun part:
Place one layer flat on a plate and spread a layer of icing on top.  Sprinkle with crumbled Reese’s.  (If I make this cake again, I would try layering either whole Reese’s throughout the middle, or cutting them in half horizontally and laying them out like that.  If I get the chance, I’ll update this and let y’all know how if went!)  Next, place your second and final cake layer on top.  Spread icing over the entire cake, both the top & sides. Decorate with Reese’s that have been cut in half.  The original recipe suggests finely chopping the remaining Reese’s and sprinkling in the middle.  I decided to use them to try and write Happy B-day Nate, which was a little challenging, but I like puzzles.

I had a good bit of leftover icing and candies (many of which were open and broken from trying to write on the cake.)  I saved a few in the freezer for my brother and broke up the rest and mixed them into the icing.  I took a cookie sheet and covered in with foil, then put small dollops of the mixture onto the pan and put it in the freezer.  This was very messy, but licking your fingers afterwards makes it all worth it!

After a few hours in the freezer, the “inside-out Reese’s candies” weren’t sticky anymore and I wrapped them individually in small pieces of plastic wrap.  They turned out to be a pretty yummy treat.  If I make this again here is what I want to try:   1. Find lollypop sticks to stick in them before freezing, and 2. Melt some chocolate to dip them into before freezing.  Another idea, if you have a bunch of whole Reese’s left (instead of broken ones) you could make these “lollypops” with a whole Reese’s cup inside.  That might be a little messier, but probably still worth it!