Chocolate-Sour Cream Cake & Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

“I really can’t fault this recipe in any way on taste – it is what my kids want on each of their 3 respective birthdays.Just wish it was prettier – the icing is so delicious, but a real pain in the bu** to spread, and clumpy-looking, get past that, and you ‘ll think you’re eating a Reese’s. *Edited on March 31, 2011*I tried adding 2 tblsps of heavy cream to the frosting while I was beating it, and it came out wonderfully.”

“I should have believed my gut when I noticed there was no actual chocolate anywhere in this recipe but the picture was so tempting. The cake was moist and fluffy but rather bland. I meant to add coffee to it and if I make it again I would use half strong coffee half water or maybe even all coffee! The frosting had a weird life of it’s own, sliding off the spoon cleanly and oozing after the cake was cut. Somewhere between frosting and fudge, I think. It needs actual chocolate not cocoa powder; it was weak even after I added instant espresso granules. I doubled the amount of peanut butter (I could hardly taste it) and only used four cups of powdered sugar plus extra milk to thin it out again. The only plus, my boyfriend loved it! I think we have different tastes…”

“Delicious cake: as Marg promises, it is indeed very moist, rich, and dense! It held up very well over the course of several days, although it almost didn’t need to… I made the mistake of eating several pieces the day I baked it, and it took about a week for my arteries to forgive me 😉 I did double the amount of peanut butter in the frosting, to give it a really noticeable peanut-butter flavor, and if I made the recipe again, I’d also increase the amount of cocoa in the cake so that the chocolate was strong enough to hold up to the peanut butter. This recipe’s definitely a keeper.”

“I only made the icing; it was fabulous!!!It tastes just like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.I will use this again for sure!Thank you.”

“This tasted ok,not as chocolatey as I thought it would be.The cake needs more flavour in my opinion.As alot people have said,the icing is indeed very strange,not like any frosting I have ever used before.It is definately like play dough but with peanut butter flavour.”

“Awesome, I followed the recipe and this came out beautifully moist and wonderful! Would make this again for sure. Thanks so much for sharing, worth the extra effort! It did take a little longer to bake then the recipe states but it could be my oven too….. yum! I cut the cake in half and used half the icing in the middle and sprinkled half the peanuts on top of the cake and mixed half into the icing.SOOO GOOD!!!”

“fantastic recipe! having never made chocolate cake from scratch, i was nervous but i went with it. decreased the sugar by half and added twice the amount of cocoa to the cake and decreased half of the sugar in the frosting and added twice the amount of chunky peanut butter and milk. perhaps next time i will decrease the butter to account for the extra pb. the frosting turned out more like a ganache this way and was soooo super shiny! but omg, wow! it was a super duper successful birthday cake. the compliments included – how did you get this so moist and the frosting is so shiny and not too sweet. thank you so very much.”

“I made this for my moms birthday and she loved it -:) Now I’m going to make it for Mothers day too! But I do add a chocolate bar, chocolaate pudding and some extra milk.. other people have said the frosting was fudgy and yes, it is! But my mom says that’s why she likes it =:) you havta stick it onto the cake like play-dough! haha :D”

“This cake and frosting is FABULOUS!!!!Addendum to my original review.This cake is fabulous and very easy to put together.If you would like more chocolate flavor add 1/2 cocoa to the batter which is what I do.The frosting I wouldn’t change a thing with.It is fabulous as is.”

“Just made this cake for the family and it is delicious.Super moist, perfect texture, great flavor.I will make it again but I will make it in a sheet cake pan.”

“I LOVE this cake.I have made it several times but am just now getting around to rating it.I’d rate it a 10 if I could!One day a few months ago my friend called and asked if I had a good recipe for a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing.Her little girl was having some friends over for dinner after school and they wanted a special dinner followed by a special dessert.Her daughter requested a chocolate cake with pb icing.So I gave her this recipe.I talked to her later on and asked how it was.She said everyone loved it.Talk about a match made in Heaven … chocolate and pb is just that!Thanks Marg.I love all your recipies!”

“I have a new favorite cake recipe with this one!!!Made it for my neighbor’s birthday and it got rave reviews.So moist and I actually liked it better warm but it is good anytime!My boyfriend says this is better than is mom’s chocolate cake he has had since childhood.”

“This has been my family’s favorite cake for years!The cake is moist and flavorful and the frostingis delicious.I’ve been asked in the past to make two batches of frosting – one for the cake and one for eating like candy.”

“beautiful cake! I made it for my boyfriends birthday- he doesn’t like peanuts so I just covered it in whipped cream. Made it again aweek later for my brothers birthday with the peanut butter icing and everyone loved it. Might become our family birthday cake too.”

“I made the cake with whole wheat flour.That may have been my first mistake.I don’t know what I did wrong but this turned out to be the ugliest cake I have ever seen!The frosting was as thick as peanut butter.It was a weird cake, we ended up throwing most of it away.”

“This was fantastic! My husband loved it and he is not even a fan of chocolate. Very easy to make.”

“I made this recipe last night in cupcake form. Very easy recipe, but I felt the cake was lacking some particular flavor. I’ve looked at many chocolate cake recipes on this site and I’m thinking it may be the lack of coffee in the recipe.Also I had intended to add vanilla extract but forgot, so that would also probably help. I used a traditional buttercream frosting which was so good that the cupcakes would probably taste good if they were made out of cardboard.Not a bad recipe, a good standby. But I’m looking for the absolute most amazing chocolate cake recipe ever that I will never stray from.Still on the lookout =”

“I made this cake for a birthday party.The cake was excellent.Only about half of the people at the party really liked the frosting.I think this cake would be better with just a chocolate or plain peanut butter frosting. I will make the cake again.”

“I made this for my friend’s birthday, it was a smash hit, nothing but crumbs left.I only needed half the icing though.”