Red Panda Cake: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with [Chocolate] Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing
It’s Bea’s 9th! To celebrate, we created this Red Panda Cake! It’s a Chocolate Peanut Butter Lover’s Dream!!!
RED PANDA CAKE
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
makes 2 9-inch layers or the 4 shapes required for a red panda cake
Ingredients
2 c all-purpose flour
.75 c unsweetened cocoa powder [preferably dutch processed]
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk [or sour milk]
.5 c vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract
.3 c smooth peanut butter [we use no name 25% less sugar]
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Baking Pans
2 9-in pans
OR
1 11-in round baking pan
1 6-in heart-shaped or round baking pan
2 disposable aluminum pot-pie pans or 2 rounds of a cupcake tin
Method
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
If you are using them, mold the 2 disposable aluminum pot-pie pans into triangular ear shapes, raising the edges of the pans up [think of it as lifting up a collar] so that they will be as tall as your other pans and hold more batter.
Spray each baking pan with baking spray.
Line the bottoms of each pan with parchment paper cut to size.
[Trace around the bottoms of the pan with a pencil to create a guide.]
Spray the tops of the parchment with a bit of baking spray.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder into the bowl of an electric mixer using a sifter or a wire-mesh strainer.
Add salt and sugar to the bowl, and with the mixer set to low speed, beat for 30 seconds or so until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.
With the mixer set to low, add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and blend until just combined.
Place the peanut buter in a large measuring cup and pour coffee over top.
Whisk tihs mixture until the peanut butter is melted and fully blended with the coffee.
Beat the coffee & peanut butter mixture into the cake batter until fully incorporated.
You will have about 6 generous cups of batter when completed.
Pour about 3-3.5 cups of batter into the largest pan, 1-2 cups of batter into the smaller pan, and less than 1 cup of batter into each of the small tins for the ears.
Look to see that the level of batter is even in each of the pans. Adjust accordingly.
Set the filled pans in the middle rack of your oven.
Bake cakes for a total of about 30 minutes, until a butter knife inserted into the centres of the cakes comes out clean.
[Today, our smaller cakes took 28 minutes, and our larger cake took 32 minutes.]
Cool the cakes in their pans on top of wire racks for at least 30 minutes.
Then, invert the cakes on the wire racks, remove the parchment circles, and cool completely.
[Chocolate] Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing
Makes about 4.25 cups
Ingredients
1.25 c light cream cheese
.5 c butter
5 c icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c smooth peanut butter [we used no-name with 25% less-sugar]
[5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted & 3 tbs coffee]
Method
In a mixer, blend the cream cheese and the butter.
Add the vanilla and the peanut butter and combine until fluffy.
Scrape sides of bowl occasionally.
Slowly add the icing sugar until well combined.
[For the chocolate version, add the melted chocolate and coffee and stir.]
RED PANDA CAKE CONSTRUCTION
Additional Needs
Gel icing colours: Copper, Red, Black, White-White [Optional]
1 mini peanut butter cup
2 chocolate covered nuts
Black Licorice Laces
[or a tube of black pre-made icing or Chocolate peanut butter cream cheese icing placed in a piping bag]
A picture of a favourite red panda face to use as a guide.
Prepare 1 recipe of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Divide the Batch into 1 small bowl (about .5 c) and 3 larger bowls (about 1.25 c each)
To the smaller bowl, add copper icing gel
Leave one large bowl of icing beige or add white-white icing drops to brighten it a bit
Add Copper, Red and Black Icing Gel to achieve a reddish brown colour in another large bowl.
To the final large bowl, add 2 oz melted bittersweet chocolate and 1 tbs coffee and combine well, adding an additional dot or two of black icing gel if so desired.
Remove the parchment from the cake bottoms and trim the tops of the cakes if so desired.
Lay the large cake trimmed side down on a large serving platter.
Using the heart- (or small circle) shaped parchment you removed from the small cake as a guide or outline,
spread the chocolate flavoured icing in an upside-down heart-shape towards the centre bottom of the of the 11 in cake.
Place the smaller heart (or circle) cake trimmed side down upon the icing.
Use chocolate flavoured icing to attach the ears, trimmed sides down, at the 2 and 10 o’clock points on the 11 in cake.
Use the icings to decorate the cake as you please:
It may seem counter-productive, but I began with the white icing and the copper icings as highlight colours, adding the darker reddish-brown colour afterwards.
I placed the peanut butter cup as a nose and the chocolate covered nuts as eyes about half-way through the icing process in order to use them as guides for further icing and decoration.
Finish by icing the outside edges or sides of the cake with the chocolate flavoured icing.
Cut a few lengths of thin black licorice laces to use as whiskers.
Celebrate, Slice and Enjoy!!!
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An Icing Tasting Party
This weekend is all about the run-up to Bea’s 9th Birthday. Last year, we hosted the big craft-heavy birthday pARTy for Bea and her girlfriends [see our pARTy archives for all of the details]. On the kids’ odd-numbered birthdays, however, we host family-only affairs. Since Bea’s big day falls at the end of a long weekend [the kids had a PA day today], there are going to be a lot of activities leading up to the celebration itself. This year, she wants a birthday cake in the shape of the face of one of her favourite animals: the red panda. And, she wanted to experiment with new cake and icing flavours for her big O-Nine. So, after a great day of perusing the Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants from Gondwana exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum [This is by far the best temporary exhibit we've seen at the ROM, and, frankly, the best dino exhibit we've ever visited!], we came home and whipped up a few micro batches of Peanut Butter icing for the cake.
Peanut Butter Icing Recipes appear to be divided into two camps: the ones with and the ones without cream cheese. So, we made micro batches of two peanut butter icing recipes from the web. And, thinking that we might want an even richer frosting for the layers or for a future cake, we made a chocolate version of each of these favourites to test as well. Since our aim is to ice some sort of rich chocolate cake (perhaps a chocolate peanut butter cake!!!), we dropped small teaspoons of the icing on bits of Presidents Choice Brownie Little Penguins soft cookies.
ICING TASTING PARTY: MICRO RECIPES
Tasting Batches 1&2
(Top Left and Right)
Cream Cheese Based Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
This is 1/4 of the Recipe for Peanut Butter Frosting from Smitten Kitchen’s Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake [adapted, in turn, from Alisa Huntsmans' Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes], with this quarter-batch further divided in half, with cocoa or chocolate added to one of these halves.
Ingredients
2.5 ounces light cream cheese
2 tbs butter
1.25 c icing sugar
1/6 c smooth peanut butter (we used no-name with 25% less-sugar)
1 tbs cocoa powder or .5-1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled.
Method
In a mixer, blend cream cheese and butter.
Slowly add the icing sugar until well combined.
Add the peanut butter and combine until fluffy.
Divide the icing in half.
To one half, add cocoa powder or cooled melted chocolate and blend.
Tasting Batches 3&4
(Lower Left and Right)
Traditional Peanut Butter and Chocolate Peanut Butter Icing
About 1/4 of the Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction Blog, divided in half, with Cocoa Powder or Melted Unsweetened Chocolate added to one half of this micro batch.
Ingredients
1/4 c creamy peanut butter (we used no-name 25% less sugar)
1/4 c icing sugar
1 tbs and 1 tsp butter
.5 tsp vanilla
.8 tsp salt
.166 c table cream
1 tbs cocoa powder or .5-1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled.
Method
In a mixer set to low, blend all ingredients except the cream [and cocoa or chocolate].
Slowly add the cream and beat on high until light and fluffy.
Divide icing in half.
To one half, add the cocoa or cooled melted chocolate and stir.
THE TASTERS, TASTING
THE RESULTS
Peanut Butter Icings, Suitable for Gel Colouring: Batch One, With Reservations
Above, the kids are pointing to the cream cheese option (Batch One, our micro-batch of the Smitten Kitchen recipe), but with reservations. They loved the tanginess of the icing, but they didn’t think it was quite peanut-buttery enough. And, later, after we did our official polling, Tobes seemed to lean slightly more towards the non-cream-cheese option as his fave. My husband liked the mild flavour of Batch One, but I had to agree with the kids as to the batch’s being a bit too mild. This recipe was designed to frost a rich, multi-layer cake, however, so I can see how such reserve makes sense. If we were to make no changes or alterations to the recipes, above, I would use the stiffer, less peanutty cream-cheese based option for frosting cakes and the creamier, peanuttier non-cream cheese option for frosting moist and delicious cupcakes, for which purpose that recipe was created.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Icings: Batch Four
The winner for the chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting recipe went entirely the other way. The kids thought the non-cream cheese based option, our cocoa-powder-added version of the Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction Blog was much tastier. We all agreed on this one. To be used as a possible icing for the interior layers of Bea’s birthday cake, this icing would be perfect. And, we’d slather it all over the outside of a dark chocolate celebration cake or cupcakes ANY TIME, too! That being said….I think our choice of cocoa-powder as opposed to melted chocolate here put the cream-cheese option at a distinct disadvantage. The cream cheese based icing was a bit sandy or crumbly, proving quite the contrast to its cocoa-free sister. Had we added melted chocolate to the cream-cheese option, we might have had a bigger battle on our hands. Although, I think we’d likely need to add more peanut butter [subtracting an equal amount of cream cheese] to the cream-cheese option to really balance out the chocolate flavour there.
Our tasting party over, we haven’t quite yet arrived….
For our red panda cake, we’re leaning towards a peanut-butterier version of our Batch 1 recipe.
As we’re leaning towards having fewer layers of cake with our red panda cake, we’ll keep the non-cream cheese chocolate peanut butter option, Batch 3, in our recipe box for a future celebration! It’s a sure-fire winner!
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This Year, Everyone’s Sitting at the Kiddie Table!
When we go back to our big family get togethers in the States, I still feel as if I’m sitting at the kiddie table, no matter how old I get. I think it has to do with the fact that my parents’ extended families are large in number whereas I’m “only” one of two children, with “only” two children of my own. The older I get, though, the more I want to celebrate this feeling.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a link to a photo from Country Living entitled “Embrace the Idea of a Kid’s Table.” By this, the editors of the magazine meant that you should make your holiday kiddie table fun and exciting for the little ones. They dressed up a kid-sized art-table for Thanksgiving by covering it in brown craft paper, setting out cups of crayons, and drawing “frames” beneath each place setting in black pen. Pretty plates, a little fruit, and large print place cards set the tone for a fun space for the kids to eat their Turkey and to draw some turkeys, too.
Taking the idea of “Embracing the Idea of a Kid’s Table” to the next level, I decided to set the table for our entire family’s [Canadian] Thanksgiving Feast in a similar manner. [We do our dinner on the holiday Saturday as opposed to the Sunday, so as to enjoy our left-overs all weekend long.] My daughter and I picked up a roll of brown craft/packaging paper and a thick black marker at the dollar store. We used the box top from one of her holiday barbies, of all things, to trace out a rectangle at each place setting. Then, we gave each person a customized “place mat” by adding different edges to each rectangle. Some were simple swirls or triangles. For our special guests, the grandparents, we drew a 3D-ish book of award winning poems and a fancy crackle-edged photograph “held down” by photo corners. Instead of making separate place cards [too fussy for us], we wrote each guest’s name beside their drawn-in placemat/frame. And we set a couple of markers and coloured pencils in a cup in the centre of the table. Et voila! This year, everyone sat at the kiddie table. And we all had a marvelous time!
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BIRTHDAY pARTy: DIY Frida Kahlo Flowered Headbands
November 8-13
BIRTHDAY pARTy: Take Home Activity
DIY Flowered Headband “Loot Bags”
Inspired by Frida Kahlo
Theory & Practice : Supplies : Preparation : Printables
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Originally, I thought we were going to have the time for five activities at the party. Inspired by both Frida Kahlo and my daughter, both of whom tend(ed) to draw their self-portraits with flowers in their hair, I assumed that some sort of flowered hair accessory would be in order. After purchasing the supplies necessary for my Frida Kahlo Flowered Headbands, I realized, however, that it would be difficult to give the guests the individual attention they would need to complete the project in a short-enough stretch of time. Thinking about the four activities I already had planned, I figured we would be lucky to finish 3.5 of the four activities with time to enjoy our cupcakes before parents began to arrive to take the girls home. The supplies, however, were already bought. [Ironically, most of them came from the art store as opposed to the dollar store, maxing this craft out at the top of my $30 per craft budget. So, if one left this activity out of the picture, so to speak, the craft budget would likely max out at just $100 - not bad at all]. Instead of keeping the supplies to use for something else, I decided to go ahead and send the girls home with a take-home version of the headband that they could complete with the help of their parents. A loot basket filled with the four sets of objects we had already made at the party was surely “loot” enough. Still, I figured we might as well go for the gold and package these items up “to-go style” for everyone to enjoy. The headbands were a big hit – I had several of the girls from the party come up to me in teh schoolyard on the following mornings to report their progress. With this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that on its own, this craft would make a good “loot bag” for any party!!
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Supplies
Sheets of Felt in 2 Colours
2 sheets/1 per colour per 3-4 guests
Sparkly Buttons
Plastic Headbands
Embroidery Floss
Embroidery Needles
Small Clear Plastic Loot Bags
Curling Ribbon
1 Pair Sharp Scissors
Multi-Coloured Index Cards
11.5×16.5 cm, 1 per craft per guest
Paper Clips
mine looked like tiny clothes pins
Computer
Printer
Printer Paper
Optional Loot Basket for all Activities
9x12in Plastic Basket for each guest
Avery Label printed with each guest’s name
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Since I was packaging up this take-home activity in a small lootbag, I planned to include the five index cards/instruction sheets that I had designed for each of the party crafts. On sheets of 11.5×16.5cm cardstock I found at the dollar store, I printed out the double-sided instruction/artist-bio cards I designed for each activity, choosing a different colour for each craft. You’ll see the text and a downloadable version of each index card on the web-page for each activity. I have also included links to those word docs below in the Printables section. Additionally, the text of the Kahlo activity and the word version of that card are both among the Printables. - For this headband activity, I designed patterns for the large and small headband flowers, scanned them into the computer, and printed multiple patterns on plain paper. You’ll find these in the Printables below.
Then, using the “collage” feature on my favourite photo site, http://www.picnik.com, I put together a photo-strip of head-band making in action. I printed them out on plain paper so that the guests would have a visual guide to go with their instructions. (See Printables section below for all of these templates.)
Cut and Package
I cut my pages full of flower patterns and how-to photos into individual images, 1 of each item per guest. - Using SHARP scissors, I cut my felt into 10cm/4in squares, reserving 2 squares of each colour for each guest.
(They only need 1 of each colour, but I wanted to leave room for error.) - I cut the embroidery floss into 60cm/24in lengths, one length for each guest.
I pinned one button to one of each of the guests’s squares of felt using the embroidery needle I wanted to include.- I used a pretty paper clip to secure sets of the five index cards for each guest.
I packed all of these items, along with a plastic headband, into a clear plastic loot bag and tied if off with some pretty purple curling ribbon.
Here’s the finished product:
Optional Loot Basket: The week before the party, I picked up a 9x12in basket for each guest at the dollar store and placed an avery label with their name on one of the handles. I had these stacked in a pile at the outset of the party. These came in handy as a place for the guests to deposit their finished crafts after we’d finished each one. Towards the end of the party, I snuck in this pre-wrapped take-home activity, and I placed their plastic-wrapped Mini Action Painting in this bucket, too. This way, each girl went home with a basket full of goodies.
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Here’s a sheet of Photo How-To Strips you can print, cut, and include in your loot bags.
Here are sheets of Large Flower Pattern templates and the Small Flower Pattern templates.
Here are the word-docs for the four main project Index Cards: Mini Action Paintings Index Card : Pop Art Index Card : Secret Wish Fashion Photo Ornament Index Card : Chanel Chic Pearl and Ribbon Jewelry Index Card
And, here’s the printable Frida Kahlo Flowered Headband Index Card I provided to the guests in the loot bag. You’ll also find the text below! Good luck!!_______________________________
TAKE HOME CRAFT: Frida Kahlo Flower Headband
Supplies: Headband, Two Colours of Felt, Button, Needle & Thread, Sharp Scissors, (Optional: Hot Glue Gun), Flower Patterns
Using the patterns provided and a pair of sharp scissors, cut the gray felt into a larger sized flower and the purple felt into a smaller sized flower. Thread your needle and knot it at the end.
Stack your felt flowers (smaller on top) and place a button at the top and center of these flowers. Starting from the bottom center of the felt, sew up and through the hook on the back of the button and back down through the center. Continue sewing up and through the button and back down again about 5-7 times. If you are NOT using hot glue, keep your needle and thread attached to the flower. If you’re using hot glue, knot and trim your thread, and attach the flower to the headband now.
To continue with the sewing method, place the flower where you would like it on the headband. Wrap the thread underneath the headband and sew back up and through the button, Sew back down through the flower, around the band, and back up through and button, etcetera, another 5-7 times. Now, knot and trim the thread!
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INSPIRATION: FRIDA KAHLO (1907-1954)
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter.
She was known for her self-portraits.
She often painted herself with flowers or pretty dragonflies in her hair.
Kahlo was a survivor. She was often very sick, but she would not stop painting!
She said that she painted her own portrait so often because she knew herself better than anyone else!
How well do you know yourself?
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