Peanut Butter & Condensed Milk Cake

Peanut butter and condensed milk-a flavour combination which always reminds me of  Hong Kong cha chaan teng- literally meaning tea restaurant. Cha chaan tengs are like very informal cafes, their menus often varied and eclectic but very affordable. Spam and instant noodles anyone? French toast with lashings of butter and golden syrup, egg and ham toasted sandwich and the list goes on... but a favourite of mine is the peanut butter and condensed milk sandwich. Toasted, please. 

This sandwich is a favourite in our family and we often make it at home. So for my dad's birthday I made his favourite into cake form. Super fluffy cake with peanut butter buttercream and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. Did I also mention that there's condensed milk sandwiched in between too? It may sound very sickly- but surprisingly it wasn't! I think main reason being I didn't frost the sides (those always get left behind anyway, don't you think?). Then again, this is coming from the person who will happily eat spoonfuls of condensed milk straight from the tin. 

For this cake I'm afraid I don't have the recipe for the buttercream. I happened to have a bit of swiss meringue buttercream left in the freezer so I mixed a generous amount of peanut butter in to taste. I usually judge by the colour- if the buttercream is looking pretty darn close to the colour of actual peanut butter then you'll know it's very peanut buttery…yum. You'll probably need around 300g of buttercream or more if you prefer more buttercream on your cake. 

The cake is taken from Kitchen Tigress' Strawberry Shortcake and is leavened only by the eggs which are whisked to thick ribbon stage, so be careful when incorporating the other ingredients so you don't deflate the eggs. You can watch her YouTube video here so you have a better understanding of the method as this is quite a tricky cake to make.

PEANUT BUTTER & CONDENSED MILK CAKE

Yields 1 x 2 layer 8" cake

Cake recipe from Kitchen Tigress

Cake

This is the recipe for 1 8" layer so you'll need to repeat the process twice for 2 layers. This can be a tricky cake to make so please refer to Kitchen Tigress' tips and comments on her page beforehand.

10g liquid glucose (helps the sponge stay super fluffy-however i've tried it without and was still fluffy)

150g eggs

60g caster sugar

60g low gluten flour, sifted (or plain flour, if you don't have low gluten flour to hand)

Pinch of salt

45g vegetable oil 

1 tsp vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Buttercream

Approx. 300g buttercream, or more depending on your taste.

Peanut butter, to taste

To Decorate

2 tbsp chopped, roasted peanuts

Sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line and lightly grease two 8" sandwich tins. The sandwich tins need to have sides of at least 1.5" high.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or you may wish to do this by hand using a hand held electric whisk) add the sugar, eggs and liquid glucose. Whisk until the thick ribbon stage. 
3. Sift the flour into the egg mixture in 3-4 batches, adding the salt in the last batch. Mix gently with a regular hand whisk, stirring just the top half of the batter until lump free. 
4. Drizzle in the vanilla extract and oil and gently fold into the mixture until liquid is incorporated into the batter.
5. Pour into one of your prepared cake tins. Tap the tin sharply onto the worktop a few times to dislodge any large air bubbles and bake in the centre of the oven for around 15-17 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake as the cake will become too dry. 
6. Let the cake to cool in the tin until just cool enough to handle. Run a knife along the sides of the cake and gently flip onto a wood surface, remove the pan and the baking paper. Place cake on a wire rack, right way up and leave to cool completely before decorating. Repeat the process for the second cake layer.
7. Make the buttercream to personal preference- make sure it is a soft piping consistency otherwise may break the soft cake when spreading on top. Spread buttercream on top of one layer to approx thickness 0.5-1cm. Drizzle some condensed milk in the centre and top with the second cake layer.
8. Spread more buttercream on top and make a pretty swirl on top, if you wish. Drizzle condensed milk on top around the edges, allowing it to drip down the sides in places. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.
9. Store cake in an airtight box at room temperature. Cake can be stored in the fridge but allow cake to return to room temperature before eating.