I grew up in a family that strongly believes in the power of comfort food. You know that old saying, “Feed a fever, starve a cold?” In my house, it was: “Feed a fever, feed a cold, feed, feed, feed.” My dad used to give me chocolate bars when I had strep throat.
Well, without getting too scientific here, I really do think that your heart and your stomach are linked in an important way. I’m not saying we should start eating our feelings all the time, but sometimes a girl just needs some chocolate-induced relief!
The great thing about food? It can fit any situation. Just aced your mid-term? Treat yourself to a nice frosty soft-serve twist in d-hall. Just found out that boy you kissed at Moorebid was actually the scum of the earth? Grab a pint of Cookie Dough ice cream and eat it with a spoon on the couch while watching reruns of The OC with your BFFs. Now that I think of it, ice cream is a particularly versatile dessert.
This all goes to say that it’s been a rough few weeks here in my house. So much so that it became apparent that some serious edible therapy was in order. So I sat down with the housemates to devise the ultimate cure-all dessert.
First we needed a name. We listed all the things that had been going wrong in our lives, eventually decided upon the acronym S.C.H.I.B.A.D. This is a food column, not Dear Abby, so I’m not going to give you the dish on what these things stand for. Let’s just say you can take your pick of letters and turn it into whatever is raining on your parade these days.
Then we needed ingredients. Chocolate was a no brainer. Cake seemed appropriately decadent for soaking up a miserable week. Okay, a chocolate layer cake. With creamy peanut butter frosting. Topped with Reeses, and M&Ms, and white chocolate chips sandwiched between the two layers…. Betsy tried to even get some no-bake cookies on top, but they didn’t make the cut.
But what did make the cut was the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever had. Super moist and perfectly dense and oh-so-chocolatey… And better each following day – as if it was continually absorbing all the S.C.H.I.B.A.D. feelings in our house and transforming them into chocolate peanut buttery goodness.
The bad news is that this cake didn’t make our problems go away. The good news is that it did the best it could to warm our hearts and fill our bellies. It’s just dessert, after all.
S.C.H.I.B.A.D Cake
Chocolate Cake:
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa at Home
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed coffee or hot water
Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup cream
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. Add the coffee/water and stir just to combine. Pour batter into pans and bake for about 40 minutes. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
To make the frosting, cream the butter and peanut butter in a bowl. Slowly beat in confectioners’ sugar. Add cream until frosting reaches spreadable consistency.
Frost cake and add any and all toppings you desire. Eat a fat slice with a big glass of milk in your pjs. 100% guaranteed to make your day just a little better.
P.S. Check this article out in today’s SkidNews!
A Sprinkle In Time 