Good Taste is Elemental: Oopsy Daisy Cake

Given that I am such a huge fan of Baked and Baked Explorations, when I heard that Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito were coming out with a third cookbook, I immediately pre-ordered it. That was back in May, and my copy of Baked Elements finally arrived three weeks ago. Baked Elements contains recipes relating to Matt and Renato's 10 favorite ingredients: peanut butter, lemon and lime, caramel, booze, pumpkin, malted milk powder, cinnamon, cheese, chocolate, and banana. The first recipe I decided to try was in the peanut butter chapter, the "Oopsy Daisy Cake."

The cake gets its name from the fact that it was created by accident when one of the staff at Baked accidentally used milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate in a cake recipe. The oopsy daisy cake is a milk chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and vanilla peanut butter frosting, garnished with peanuts and chocolate.

For some reason, I was expecting the milk chocolate cake recipe to simply be a variation of the Baked "classic chocolate cake" that is used in many of Matt and Renato's other recipes, including the Grasshopper Cake and the Sweet and Salty Cake from Baked, and the Chocolate Coffee Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache from Baked Explorations. However, this recipe is totally different. To make the cake, you beat butter, sugar, and dark brown sugar until fluffy, add eggs and vanilla, and then alternately add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) and a liquid mixture made from coffee, chopped milk chocolate (it melts in the hot coffee), cocoa powder, and milk. This cake recipe only produces two 8-inch layers, compared to the "classic chocolate cake" recipe, which produces three.

You make the peanut butter filling by simply beating room temperature butter, smooth peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. The frosting is a typical Baked buttercream: you cook sugar, flour, milk, and heavy cream until they boil and thicken, move the mixture to a standing mixer and beat until cooled, and incorporate butter and vanilla. The frosting also has a small amount (one tablespoon + one teaspoon) of the peanut butter filling added at the end.

To assemble the cake, you level the layers and spread all of the peanut butter filling on the bottom layer, followed by a little bit (1/4 cup) of the vanilla peanut butter frosting. Then you stack on the top cake layer, frost the whole thing, and garnish with chopped salted peanuts and shaved dark chocolate.

This cake was freakin' delicious. I was surprised at how good the chocolate cake was -- deeply chocolatey (the coffee definitely adds some oomph), with a superfine texture, and very light. I thought that the Baked "classic chocolate cake" was the best chocolate cake ever, but now I'm not so sure. At some point I'm going to have to try the milk chocolate cake and classic chocolate cake side-by-side to make a direct comparison. And if you're a fan of peanut butter with chocolate, the combination of the filling and frosting and cake is spectacular. The filling is perfectly smooth, and the creamy and luscious frosting has just the perfect touch of peanut butter astringency. The peanut butter flavor in both is perfectly restrained so that it doesn't compete or take anything away from the amazing chocolate cake. This cake is deeply satisfying.

I never really had a doubt, but now I know that baking my way through Baked Elements is going to be one tasty ride!

Recipe: "Oopsy Daisy Cake" from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

Previous Posts:

• "What a Difference Three Years Makes: the Sweet and Salty Cake," April 6, 2012.
• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Coffee Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache," March 25, 2012.
• "My Cake Has a New Set of Clothes: Grasshopper Cake," January 24, 2012.