Chcocolate Peanut Butter Monkey Cake

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the first day of the lunar calendar and it's the year of the Monkey. Wishing all my readers good health, prosperity and happiness. We had a little party at the weekend to celebrate the occasion. As it's a monkey year, I decided to make a monkey cake. Unfortunately I didn't deocrate it in time for the party so J has taken it to work today to share with his colleagues. It's a chocolate cake filled with peanut butter frosting. The decoration is simple yet effective albeit a bit messy to decorate! If you have kids, they will definitely enjoy decorating this cake with you. Chinese New Year goes on for 15 days so you have plenty of time to impress your family and friends with this cake. 

I'm sending this to #FoodYearLinkUp hosted by Charlotte from Charlotte's Lively Kitchen for Chinese New Year. 

It's also going to Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber UK. The theme this month is The Month Of Cake as it's the anniversary of the challenge. 

Finally to Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen as the theme this month is Anything Goes. There's 2 large free range eggs in this cake.

 The cake batter is very liquid - don't worry it bakes beautifully. 

 spread peanut butter frosting on top of the first layer of cake 

 Add second layer of cake. I used a cocktail stick to roughly draw an outline of a monkey face. I'm terrible at drawing!! 

 Spread the peanut butter frosting where the monkey face will be 

 

 Carefully spread the chocolate ganache over the rest of the cake including the sides

 Press chocolate rice cereal on to the chocolate ganache. I used 2 white candy melts for the eyes and piped some chocolate ganache for the eye balls, nose and mouth (which was a littlewonky!) The ears are tiny as I didn't have any ginger biscuits at home and used golden Oreo cookies instead. 

Recipe from Bird on A Cake 

I reduced the sugar amount, substituted chocolate extract for vanilla extract and used more milk in the frosting 

For the cakes 

1 cup (250mls) boiling water

350g caster sugar

220g plain flour  

85 cocoa powder, sifted

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 large, free range eggs

1 cup (250mls) buttermilk

1/2 cup (125mls) vegetable oil

1 teaspoon chocolate extract 

Peanut butter frosting

250g smooth peanut butter

113g butter

250g icing sugar

40-50 mls milk

Chocolate Ganache

175g dark chocolate 

80mls double cream

20g butter

To decorate

2 white candy melts

2 large cookies for the ears - I used golden oreos but they are too small, recommend ginger biscuits or digestive biscuit

Choco rice cereal 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in a bowl.
• Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil and chocolate extract.
• Mix well.
• Slowly pour in the water and continue mixing at a low speed until you have a smooth mixture. 
• The batter will be very liquid, this is normal.
• Divide the batter evenly between 2 sandwich tins and bake for approximately 30 - 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the peanut butter frosting, beat the peanut butter and butter until smooth.
• Add in the icing sugar and continue beating.
• Slowly add in the milk with the mixer running.
• You  may need to add a little more or a little less of the milk depending on the consistency of your icing. You want a smooth, spreadable paste. 
• To make the chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and heat gently until bubbles are just visible. 
• Add in the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
• Remove from the heat.
• Add in the butter and continue whisking until smooth.
• Allow to cool and set a little before using.
• Decorate the cake as shown above. 

Peanut Butter and Golden Oreo No Bake Squares

I love Oreo cookies and there are quite a few recipes using Oreo cookies on my blog. My favourites are the mint oreos and peanut butter oreos which I can only buy in America or at a huge cost and effort in UK. I was ecstatic to find out that Oreo have launched 2 new flavours in the UK and they are available in most major supermarkets. The flavours are Peanut Butter and Golden Oreo. I saw them at Asda recently and they are only 50p a pack! I couldn't help myself and bought a few packets so look out for more recipes!

I was sent 2 packs each of Peanut Butter Oreos and Golden Oreos to try. The Peanut Butter ones have the classic chocolate biscuit and a peanut butter filling whereas the Golden Oreos have a sweet golden biscuit and a vanilla creme filling. I love peanut butter but I actually prefer the golden oreos to the peanut butter oreos. Go figure! 

 Golden Oreos and Peanut Butter Oreos 

I decided to make a quick and easy no bake recipe with the oreo cookies. I'ts based on my mini peanut butter oreo cheesecake recipe which I said was the best dessert I've eaten! The base is made of peanut butter oreos which is filled with a cream cheese, peanut butter and cream filling and topped with a Golden Oreo. It's absolutely delicious particularly if you like peanut butter. It's really simple to put together and only requires 6 ingredients. 

 I used my individual brownie pain and placed strips of parchment paper in a cross fashion so it's easier to remove the squares later. 

 This recipe only makes 10 squares - this is the peanut butter oreo biscuit base 

 Fill with peanut butter filling 

 Top with a Golden Oreo

Makes 10 squares as shown

1 pack peanut butter oreos (14 biscuits)

10 golden oreo biscuits

50g butter, melted 

180g cream cheese

90g smooth peanut butter

70g caster sugar

90mls double cream

• Prepare the individual brownie pan as shown. Alternatively you can use a large rectangle pan and cut into squares. 
• Blitz the peanut butter oreos into crumbs or place in a sealed bag and bash with a rolling pin.
• Mix the cookie crumbs with 50g melted butter. 
• Place 1 - 2 tablespoons of cookie crumbs into each square and press down. 
• Place in the fridge to set whilst you make the filling. You can also put it in the freezer if you are in a hurry.
• To make the filling, beat the cream until stiff and set aside.
• Next, beat the peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
• Add in the beaten cream and stir. 
• Spread an even layer of the filling on top of each cookie base. 
• Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
• Before serving, place a golden oreo on top of each square. 

Disclaimer:  I was sent Peanut Butter Oreos and Golden Oreos for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

3 nut butter chocolate cookies with marshmallow

The cookie monster is back! This is an absolutely delicious cookie which incorporates all of my favourite flavours. The base is a chocolate and 3 nut butter cookie with the addition of peanut butter chips and hidden marshmallows inside. I felt like baking cookies one evening and had a look in the pantry to see what was available and this is what I came up with. I overbaked my cookies a little but luckily the marshmallow was still ooey and gooey as you can see! It has a dark chocolate base paired with saltiness from the nut butter and peanut butter chips and sweetness of the marshmallows.

I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary as I used up the end of a jar of 3 nut butter and opened packs of mini marshmallows and peanut butter chips.

 adding the lovely nut butters

 adding peanut butter chips 

 place a small scoop of cookie dough on a baking tray and flatten it. Top with mini marshmallows. 

 Cover with another flat disc of cookie dough and press together 

 melted marshmallow inside!

Makes approximately 20 cookies of the size shown

113g butter

50g brown sugar

50g caster sugar

125g three nut butter (use any nut butter as an alternative)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

125g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

100g peanut butter chips (you can also use white chocolate chips or plain chocolate chips)

approximately 100 mini marshmallows (I used about 4-5 per cookie) 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
• Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Add in the nut butter and egg.
• Stir in the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda.
• Finally add the peanut butter chips.
• Place a small scoop of cookie dough on the lined baking tray and flatten with your palm to form a disc. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough.
• Place 4-5 mini marshmallows on top of each flattened cookie dough. Cover with another piece of cookie dough and press to seal the edges.
• The cookies look quite large so allow enough space for spreading between each cookie before baking.
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes.
• The cookies will still be soft when you take them out of the oven but will harden as they cool on the sheet. 

Degustabox review and Molten Nut Butter and Chocolate Fondant Cake

It's time for another What's in my Degustabox? and a very exciting recipe. I've been receiving a Degustabox on a monthly basis for a few months now. It's like having a surprise delivery of goodies every month. Degustabox is a no obligation monthly subscription which costs £12.99 including delivery. You get 9 to 14 surprise products and it's usually a good mixed selection of goodies. I have a special discount code for all my readers if you are interested in signing up a box for yourself or for a family memeber/friend. You get a £3.00 discount when registering by using this code F3TJ1 which makes it just under a tenner for a goodie box including delivery.

This is my favourite box so far as I loved pretty much everything in it. There's quite a lot of sweet stuff and 2 items with peanut butter! I decided to create a recipe using the Whole Earth Three Nut Butter which I have tried previously. I love Whole Earth nut butters as they are very tasty and not overly sweet. I made a Molten Nut Butter and Chocolate Fondant Cake which sinfully delicious. It took a bit of trial and error and I think I ended up making these about 6 times before I finally got the timings right. The cake is cooked on the outside but has a gooey melting centre of chocolate and three nut butter. It was best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It would be a very impressive dessert at dinner parties but nerve wrecking as you may not get it perfect.

 February Degustabox 

 American Muffin Company Chocolate Brownie Bites. These are gluten free and wheat free and tasted more like cake than a brownie. 

 Beet it Sport bars which contain 400mg of dietary nitrate and is used by over 150 universities world wide for research into the benefits of lowering blood pressure and improving sports performance. 

 Jack Link's Beef Snack which is great for a protein snack on the go. 

 Whole Earth Three Nut Butter contains cashews, hazelnuts and peanuts. It's made with fresh ingredients with no added sugar and you can really taste the different nuts in them. 

 Peanut Hottie which is a peanut butter flavoured hot drink.I've already tried this as I received it as a gift from a friend and makes a good peanut butter hot chocolate! Perfect for a quick peanut butter fix.

Laimon Fresh - a refreshing, sparkling, lime,lemon and mint drink. If you like citrus then you will definitely like this drink. The mint adds another layer of freshness 

 Melba thins which are one of my faouvrites. The crisp toasts are individually packed in packs of 5 which makes it handy for lunch boxes. 

 Schwartz Flavour Shots - Spanish Paella and Indian Mild Masala Curry. These flavour shots contain a unique blend of herbs, spices and seasoning which you can use to create really tasty meals. There are also recipes available on their website www.schwartz.co.uk

 Lily O'Brien's Cocoa Cookie Crunch - delicious little bites of chocolate biscuit biscuits covered in chocolate. They were really tasty and I could have easily eaten the whole pack myself! 

 

  whisk the sugar, egg and egg yolk 

 add in the melted chocolate and flour 

 chocolate mixture 

 half fill the ramekin and add a generous teaspoonful of three nut butter in the middle

 cover with the remaining chocolate mixture 

 fresh from the oven 

 The cake is cooked and set on the outside

 soft, gooey, melting centre 

 I love the melting centre!

Recipe adapted from this recipe online which in turn is based on Donna Hay's recipe

Makes 3 ramekins

100g dark chocolate
50g butter + extra for greasing
1 egg
1 egg yolk
55g caster sugar
18g plain flour
3 heaped teaspoons three nut butter

• Preheat the oven to 200C. 
• Place the chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, egg and egg yolk. 
• Add in the cooled, melted chocolate mixture and flour and whisk again. 
• Butter your ramekins generously - this is really important as you don't want the cake to stick. I tried using the non stick spray but it turned out better with a generous rub of butter.
• Spoon the mixture into the ramekins until about half full.
• Place a generous teaspoonful or 2 teaspoons of the three nut butter in the middle of the batter. 
• Cover with the remaining chocolate mixture. 
• Bake in the preheated oven for 8-9 minutes. The timing will vary with your oven - 8.5 minutes was the perfect time for my oven. If it's undercooked then you get a very messy plate. If it's overcooked you don't get the molten centre. 
• Run a hot knife around the edge of the ramekin and turn the cake out onto a plate. It should come out easily if you've properly buttered the ramekin dish before baking.
• Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

Disclaimer: I was sent a Degustabox for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review or to create a recipe. All opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post.