pb & cake

Yesterday, I attended a lunch presentation about the state of obesity in Mississippi. (Basically, it's a problem.)

The yogurt parfait served as dessert, while good, did not satisfy my sweet tooth, even after I ate an extra one. So, last night, I made a cake.

It wasn't really my idea. After dinner, Kaytie said she wanted some cake. I always want cake, but I was feeling a bit lazy, so I wasn't really sold on making a cake until Kaytie started talking about peanut butter icing. That got me motivated, and since we are not obese, I looked up a Cook's Illustrated chocolate cake recipe. They suggested serving the cake with a dusting of powdered sugar, which I'm sure is nice.

But powdered sugar ain't got nothin' on this peanut butter icing.

(Because this is thick, it may be more accurately labeled as frosting, not icing, but when I was growing up, if it was spread on a cake, it was icing, no matter the consistency. Besides, who cares about semantics? It's delicious.)

Peanut Butter Icing

makes enough to ice a 2-layer 9-inch cake

1 stick room temperature butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

Cream the butter and peanut butter until smooth. (Note: if you decided to make this cake at the last minute, like I did, cold butter out of the fridge will do fine. It'll just take a little longer to get the mixture smooth.)

Beat in the powdered sugar. This may be easier and less dusty if you do it a cup at a time.

Finally, add the milk. Mix it all together until it is smoothly combined.

Ice your cake.

(Because of the milk, I'm keeping this cake in the fridge.)