Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bundt Cake #BundtaMonth

I was definitely excited when I found out that the theme for this month's #BundtaMonth was candy. Who wouldn't be thrilled to be asked to "bake us a bundt using your favorite candy"? Now my only problem was that I have two favorite candy bars - one from Australia and one from the US.  Which one should I use to make my bundt?

A mix of chopped cherries and coconut, smothered with Cadbury dark chocolate, the Cherry Ripe has always been from favorite chocolate in Australia.  It is also the oldest chocolate bar in Australia. However, I can't seem to resist little cups of chocolate filled with peanut butter - the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - that has always been my favorite chocolate in the US.  In the end it was an easy decision because I did not have enough Cherry Ripes in my secret stash, and Reese's Peanut Putter Cups are more readily available for the majority of people.  The Cherry Ripe bundt will have to wait for another day.

I wasn't sure if I should just wing it, but then I found this recipe at Wee Eats and it seemed to be just what I was looking for. After a few slight changes I was ready to bake.  To get a deep, dark chocolate color and flavor this recipe uses Dutch-process cocoa.  This type of cocoa is produced from beans that have been treated with an alkali that neutralizes the acidity.  It therefore it does not react with baking soda and needs to be used in recipes that contain baking powder, or a recipe that has other acidic ingredients in proportionate amounts, hence the sour cream. For a more detailed breakdown I found that David Lebovitz has an excellent explanation on his website, which can be found here.

This seemed to be the perfect occasion to break out my new Kaiser Star Bundt pan.  I may just have a little obsession with bundt pans now, but I have really restrained myself, and I only own two really nice ones.  This one has a lot of nooks and cranny's so I was a little concerned about the cake releasing from the pan.  It is always a good idea to grease the pan well, preferably using a pastry brush, but I also got some great advice on removing a bundt from the pan at Baker Street.

The combination of the dark chocolate cake and the salty peanut butter makes this a cake I will definitely be making again.  I loved the moist crumb of the cake and the richness of the chocolate ganache, and this is the perfect time of the year to experiment with different candies in the cake too with the proliferation of Halloween candy in the stores now.



Here’s how you can be a part of Bundt-a-Month:

• Simple rule: Bake us a bundt using your favorite candy
• Post it before October 31, 2013
• Use the #BundtaMonth hashtag in your title. (For ex: title could read – #BundtaMonth: Candy Bundt)
• Add your entry to the Linky tool below
• Link back to our announcement posts

Even more bundt fun! Follow Bundt-a-Month on Facebook where we feature all our gorgeous bundt cakes. Or head over to our Pinterest board for inspiration and choose from hundreds of Bundt cake recipes.


If you are looking for ideas make sure you check out these amazing bundts ~

• Banana Butterfinger Bundt Cake by Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
• Candy Corn Bundt Cake by Holly at A Baker’s House
• Caramel Apple Milky Way Bundt Cake by Heather at Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Chocolate Coconut Cake by Kate at Food Babbles
• Chocolate Hazelnut Candy Bundt with Nutella Glaze by Anita at Hungry Couple
• Chocolate Mini Bundts with Candy Coated Chocolates by Alice at Hip Foodie Mom
• Coconut Almond Bundt with Chocolate Drizzle by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Honeycomb Crunch Honey Bundt Cake by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Kit Kat Cream Cheese Bundt Cake by Anuradha at Baker Street
• M&M Nutella Cake by Kim at Ninja Baking
• M&M Cream Cheese Pound Cake by Laura at The Spiced Life
• Pumpkin Bundt with Salted Caramel Chocolate Sauce by Lora at Cake Duchess
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bundt Cake by Felice at All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
• Snickers Bundt with Chocolate Caramel Peanut Sauce by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Twix and Tween by Sandra at Sweet Sensations








Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bundt Cake
(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients
Cake 

• 1 cup butter
• ⅓ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 2 large room temperature eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup sour cream, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 Reese's cups (chilled), roughly chopped
• Mini Reese's, for decorating (optional)

Chocolate Glaze

• ½ cup chocolate chips (or 4 ounces chopped chocolate)
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoons light corn syrup

Preparation
Cake

1. Heat butter, peanut butter, and water over medium heat in a small saucepan until butter and peanut butter are just melted. Stir in cocoa powder and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350˚F and grease a bundt pan with butter using a pastry brush, then dust lightly with flour, removing any excess flour.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda until well mixed. 
4. Slowly whisk in the melted butter mixture until combined, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. 
5. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk to incorporate. 
6. Stir in sour cream until combined. 
7. Option 1: Pour half of batter into prepared pan, sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups, and pour remaining half of batter over the Reese’s. Option 2: Stir peanut butter cups into batter and pour into prepared pan. 
8. Bake 40 to 45 minutes until done. Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack and remove pan to finish cooling completely.

Chocolate Glaze

1. Place cream and corn syrup in a medium bowl.
2. Heat the cream in a saucepan on medium-high heat just until it starts to boil. 
3. Remove from heat and pour it over the chocolate, allowing it to sit for 5 minutes.
4. Whisk the mixture until smooth, cool slightly making sure you stir it often.
5. Drizzle over cake and decorate as desired.

Recipe slightly adapted from Wee Eats.