Best Peanut Butter Cake

I never turn down dessert. Some may call that a flaw, some may call that endearing. Anyway, I recently declined a piece of cake at my friend's son's birthday party. Later that night as we were debriefing the party over the phone (as we moms often do), she asked me about it, knowing there was something behind my shocking decline of a slice of chocolate cake. "Laurel," I confessed, "the reason I didn't have any of Jack's cake is that I'm totally having a love affair with another cake." I didn't have any of his cake because sitting at home, I had leftovers of my son's birthday cake. They were calling to me every day, encouraging me to plan all of my eating so that I would have room for a piece. This dense, moist Peanut Butter Cake with thick and fudgy chocolate icing is my favorite cake of all time, and actually pretty easy to make. Happy eating!

Cousin Kelly's Peanut Butter Cake

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 TBL baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter and peanut butter; gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Ice with chocolate frosting and cut into squares (makes 15 squares).

Chocolate Frosting

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Combine the chocolate chips, half-and-half, and butter in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and blend in powdered sugar. Set saucepan in bowl of ice water and beat with a hand mixer at medium speed until the frosting holds its shape. You have to mix the frosting for a pretty long time- the texture will change when its ready and it will be thicker and more fudge like.