Chocolate Peanut Butter Dessert Cups

Today I will teach you what you can do when your cake, that you put a lot of work into and came out looking perfectly (I mean, I think these were the best I’ve made and they were my own recipe), tumbles down to the floor and breaks into many pieces.

It was my sister’s birthday and I was making the cake for the celebration. I was planning on chocolate layer cake with peanut butter mousse filling/frosting and cool chocolate decorative designs that I had made earlier in the week. It was all going according to plan…But then, while the cakes were resting on the cooling rack and I was cleaning up the kitchen, a cord of something I was putting away got stuck in the cooling rack as I was dragging it away…

And the cakes fell down to the floor.

I didn’t feel like starting over nor did I want to waste those yummy cakes, so I decided to transform the birthday dessert into individual cake “parfait” dessert cups. My mom was very helpful in fixing the situation and went out with me to buy adorable dessert cups and spoons, enough for everyone at the party. I filled the bottom of the cups with crumbled cake pieces, then topped them with some peanut butter mousse and a piece of solid decorative chocolate.

Result: 

Don’t let accidents ruin everything, learn how to use them to make something even better!

These tasted sooo yummy and people enjoyed this unique, surprise birthday treat even more than a standard cake. My favorite treat I’ve made.  Read on below for the recipes.

Hot Chocolate Cake:

150 g cake flour

50 g cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 g baking powder

5 g baking soda

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

100 g white sugar

100 g brown sugar

1/4 cup melted chocolate

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla

8 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon canola oil

Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the whole eggs and egg yolk one at a time.

In a mixing bowl, sift the flour and combine with the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Combine the melted chocolate, buttermilk, and vanilla and heat up to make hot chocolate.

Alternate adding dry ingredients and the hot chocolate to the creamed butter/sugar.

Lastly, mix in the tablespoon of oil by hand.

Divide batter between two prepared 7 in round pans. Bake at 350 for ~25 mins. If you are making the dessert as pictured in this post, crumble up the cakes into little pieces.

Peanut Butter Mousse

1 cup peanut butter

8 oz cream cheese

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup cream

Beat the peanut butter, cream cheese, and honey until fluffy. In another bowl, whisk the cream until peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make chocolate decorations:

First way: Temper some chocolate and place it in a squeeze bottle. Use the bottle to draw out designs like letters or shapes.

Second way: Temper some chocolate and spread it thin on a granite or marble surface. Use a scraper and very quickly scrap a strip of chocolate away from you causing it to curl. Alternatively, hold your finger on the chocolate on one side as you scrape to create a fan shape.

To assemble the dessert cups:

Spoon cake crumble into bottom of cups. Spoon peanut butter mousse on top. Garnish with a piece of chocolate. Enjoy!