Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Balls

We. Love. August! ??❤️? Not only is it our birthday month, but this month has been especially packed with all kinds of fun celebrations. It is such a great excuse to bake all sorts of delicious treats, as well as come up with new recipes. ??‍? A few co-workers celebrate birthdays this month as well, and it didn’t hurt that my man of the house LOVES both peanut butter and chocolate (and it’s his birthday later this month, too!). He can’t have dessert that only features one of those flavors. He has to have both in order to be content. Therefore, who was I to say no to coming up with a new sweet treat that truly features both bold flavors? ???‍♀️?

Bake The Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray 2 9-inch Round Cake Pans with nonstick baking spray. Set aside.
3. Go ahead and remove your butter from the fridge (for the frosting) and set aside on your counter so that it can begin to warm to room temperature.
4. Place eggs in a separate bowl, and beat them lightly. Set aside.
5. Measure out 1 cup of your hot coffee and set aside (or, dissolve one instant coffee packet in 1 cup of hot boiling water, and set aside)
6. In a large bowl, add all your dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and thoroughly combine.
7. Next, stir in your wet ingredients one at a time in the following order (thoroughly combining after each addition)…vegetable oil, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and lastly, your hot coffee. Please be aware that the hot coffee will make your batter very thin. This is exactly how it should be, so don’t panic!
8. Fill your cake pans equally with your cake batter. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes, using a toothpick to test if the batter is ready (if the toothpick comes out clean, they are done baking). Allow your cakes to completely cool (I placed mine in the fridge to speed up this process).

Make your Peanut Butter Frosting:

1. To create your frosting, place your butter in a large mixing bowl and mix with a handheld or stand mixer until smooth.
2. Next add in your peanut butter and mix until smooth.
3. Slowly add in your powdered sugar a little bit at a time until fully mixed and smooth.
4. Lastly, add in your 2 Tbsp of milk and combine until smooth. Add more milk if your frosting is still too thick. If the opposite (too thin), simply add in more powdered sugar.

Create your Cake Balls:

1. Once your cake is cooled, cut or break up with your hands into smaller pieces and add to a large mixing bowl. Add in your frosting and stir until fully combined.

2. Place your cake/frosting mixture in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight to chill.

3. Once your cake/frosting mixture has chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Start forming 1 inch balls (or 1 Tbsp in size) from your mixture and place each on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Return your cake balls to the fridge to firm up for another 2 hours (or, again, you can leave them overnight to chill and firm up).

4. Melt your Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting wafers according to the package. The only note I have on this step is to not overheat. We started with 30 seconds, stirred, and then returned the chocolate to the microwave for another 30 seconds until the chocolate was melted all the way. You don’t want to overheat because it will make the chocolate too thin (or it will create a thickness that does not coat the cake balls with a smooth surface). Once melted, add in your vegetable oil and combine. Using a fork (or two), begin dipping each chilled cake ball into the chocolate. Let remaining chocolate run off back into the bowl and simply place each ball on the parchment paper to harden.

5. NUTTER BUTTER COOKIE CRUMBLE TOPPING: The chocolate coating will begin to harden pretty fast, so quickly sprinkle on top of each cake ball your Nutter Butter cookie crumble topping (or any type of topping you prefer) right after you place each cake ball onto the parchment before it hardens. 🙂

6. Let each cake ball sit on the counter and set for a couple of minutes. Then, move to the refrigerator to store. Enjoy! 🙂

You can store these in an airtight container for up to a week (mine were eaten well before that!). You can also place in an airtight container and keep chilled in the fridge. I personally LOVED the chilled option. ?

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