Boyfriend turned 21 yesterday! Unfortunately, yesterday was also Monday of finals week. His parents drove down on Sunday and we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse, where we also celebrated his 18th (or was it 17th?) birthday. You just can’t beat a Bloomin’ Onion. To celebrate the fact that he was turning 21 in a way that would allow him to feel good for his 10 a.m. final, we went to the store at 12 a.m. and he bought two six packs. After his final, we went and got him some nice beer glasses. Then we went home, ordered a pizza, and he played video games and drank his beers for the rest of the day. It was relaxing and nice.

Finals week or no finals week, he needed a cake. So, after a week of careful planning (namely watching his candy-buying habits), I settled on a devil’s food cake with Reese’s baked into it and an intense peanut butter frosting, with Reese’s sprinkled on top, of course. I know that his birthday is Pi day, so it would only seem appropriate that I bake a pie, but I did a pumpkin pie laster year and he isn’t thrilled about any other kinds of pie.

I went to Michael’s the night before I planned on baking the cake to get a display case for a signed 1975 Oregon football my mom got Boyfriend, when I found this:

I NEEDED this. Immediately I began thinking of all the things I could bake in it. Cakes, loaves of bread, dip… so many options! So Boyfriend’s cake was a football cake. Entirely appropriate, if you ask me.

I ended up having to baking this very, very quickly and at night, so I did not have time to take quality pictures of the process, but here are the recipes! It was extremely simple. Not to mention, I have an awesome cake decorating roommate that frosted the whole thing!

Didn’t she do a beautiful job? I love the idea of putting the crumbled Reese’s around the edge of it.

This cake was INCREDIBLY rich. I made a chocolate ganache, too, because I was paranoid it hadn’t cooked evenly, but it so did not need it. The chocolate-peanut butter combination was awesome. Also, we discovered left over peanut butter frosting is awesome on waffles, pancakes, french toast, etc.

Devil’s Food Cake
Adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
  • 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or chocolate chips
 
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the Reeses or chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan or cupcake tin. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate.
 
Peanut Butter Frosting
 
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup milk, or as needed
 
Directions
Beat butter and peanut butter together until paler in color and fluffy. Alternate adding the confectioner’s sugar and milk until frosting has reached desired consistency. Beat until fluffy.