Oatmeal Cake and Peanut Butter Frosting

I made some cupcakes a few weeks ago on a whim and a craving for a chocolate-peanut butter combination. (It has been more than a month now...oops!) I used a boxed cake mix (Pillsbury's Moist Deluxe Devil's Food Cake) and some homemade icing/frosting (recipe below). I had some fun with my piping tips as you can see in the photos:

 can you find the sea-anemone cupcakes!?

same cupcakes just from a different angle

this one spells K-N-I-T because I was heading out to the "Knittany Sweatshop" that evening (my weekly girls-night-knit)

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

(from Wilton Recipes)

1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lb. powdered/confectioners sugar
4-6 Tablespoons milk

• Cream the shortening and butter together
• Add the peanut butter and vanilla
• Mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time (when complete the frosting will appear dry)
• Add milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency

Somehow, I managed to have some icing left over after all of this decorating! (Store in an airtight container in the fridge)

*FAST FORWARD ONE WEEK*

I was going to bake a cake from scratch for my boyfriend in an attempt to say I-am-sorry-for-being-so-rude-to-you-so-early-in-the-morning...but I only had 2 eggs left in the house! GAH!!! I scoured all of my recipes and landed on this one from my Better Homes and Gardens Plaid Cookbook.

OATMEAL CAKE

(from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook) 

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup boiling water 

1 cup old-fashioned or rolled oats*

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

*NOTE* I do not believe that instant oatmeal can be substituted in this recipe, but I may be wrong...

• Remove eggs and butter from the fridge and allow to reach room temperature (approx. 30 minutes)
• Pour the boiling water over the oats in a bowl that can stand the heat :P
• Stir well and let stand for approx. 20 minutes
• WHILE YOU WAIT:
• Cream the butter and sugars together until well combined
• Add the eggs and vanilla
• In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg
• Alternately add the flour and oatmeal mixtures to the creamed mixture
• Pour batter into a greased bundt pan
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center
• Cool cake in pan for 20 minutes
• Remove to a cooling rack for at least one hour more (glutton for punishment!? :P)
• ENJOY!!! :D

Woah buddy! This cake is YUM YUM YUMMER YUM-YUMMY!! One slice of this at the end of the day with a heaping spoonful of that Peanut Butter Frosting and I completely forgot about that mountain of chores waiting to be tackled!

More recently (i.e. today) I made some Molasses & Ginger Cookies...but I'm sleepy, so that fairy tale adventure will have to wait until tomorrow :P (or the next time that I remember that I am trying to keep an updated blog...)

Sweet Dreams and Goodnight!

-M-