Fluffy Peanut Butter 9x9 Cake

Active time: 20 minutes | Bake time: 32 minutes

Story time! I’ll keep it short, I promise. So my boyfriend and I just started travel nursing which essentially means we move to a new place in the US every 3 months. The tough part is that you generally get accepted to a job around 3-4 weeks before starting the job so you have very limited time to secure short-term housing. We are spending this summer in Rapid City, SD which has a huge tourist season, so we have really struggled finding housing. All we could find for the first month is a super cute airbnb, but the catch is that it has NO KITCHEN. That’s obviously an enormous challenge for a couple who both bake and cook just about daily.

Long story short, we bought a small convection oven and a few other things to create a make-shift kitchen. My now limited baking tools has lead me to develop a mini-series of recipes for people who also have makeshift kitchens, tiny kitchens, camper/RV kitchens, etc.

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

• 113g (½ cup / 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

• 130g (½ cup) creamy peanut butter

• 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

• 200g (1 ¾ cup) cake flour

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp baking soda

• ¾ cup (255g / 9 ounces) buttermilk, room temperature

For the Ganache:

• ⅓ cup (114g / 4 ounces) heavy cream

• 44g (⅛ cup / 2 tbsp) light corn syrup

• 180g (1 cups) semisweet or dark chocolate (chips or finely chopped baking chocolate)

• 1 tbsp butter

Directions:

1. For the Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper, set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter together with a spatula. Add the granulated sugar and cream until smooth and very well combined.

3. Mix in eggs and vanilla until combined.

4. Add cake flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Fold in dry ingredients until incorporated.

5. Pour in the buttermilk and whisk until mixture is even and smooth.

6. Transfer the batter to your lined pan and bake for 27-37 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

7. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for around 30 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before topping with ganache or other icing.

8. For the Ganache: Heat heavy cream and corn syrup in a saucepan until bubbles appear at the edge of the pan.

9. Remove from the heat, pour the chocolate overtop. Let stand for 2 minutes.

10. Add butter, whisk until smooth.

11. Once smooth, pour your warm ganache over the top of the cake and enjoy!