Happy National Chocolate Cake Day on January 27th! Here's my award-winning recipe for my Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Cake with a Peanut Butter Frosting. Three years ago I was invited on Good Morning America for a chocolate cake taste-off and my cake won first place. It was so much fun! I've shared the video and recipe in case you want to make this cake in honor of #NationalChocolateCakeDay.
This cake is also featured in the Winter Chapter of my new cookbook, Meals From the Mitten: Celebrating the Seasons in Michigan. Pick up your copy today! Available online on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Cake with a Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
Pretzel Crust-
2 cups pretzels, finely crushed
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
Chocolate Cake-
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 cup hot french vanilla coffee
Frosting-
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk of cold coffee brew
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with a non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, mix together the pretzels, sugar, butter and egg. Add to the bottom of the pan, press down for even distribution.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda together. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter on high speed using the paddle attachment, until creamy. Turn mixer to low and slowly add the eggs, vanilla and milk. Beat for 2-3 minutes. Add the dry flour ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined, then slowly add in the hot coffee. Scrape down the sides, as necessary. Continue to mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
Pour the cake mixture over the pretzel crust and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes clean. Let cool.
To make the frosting, add all the ingredients together and beat until creamy.
Frost the cake when cooled, then cut into desired servings. Refrigerate remaining cake.
Note - Feel free to line the entire pan with parchment paper beforehand. When the cake is done baking, it will be easy to pull out, frost and cut.
Here's another tv segment where I showed the cake recipe to the WZZM viewers shortly after my GMA appearance.
Want to see this award-winning cake in action? Tune into Daytime TV Show on Wednesday, February 13th at 10 am EST. I'll be making this cake for Valentine's Day.
