Sky High Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake (and Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwich Cookies) With Vanilla Pudding Frosting

Sue and I may have gone a little crazy with our latest venture.

And when I say "may have", I mean we totally did. 

See, this post is sponsored by Hershey's Canada (Link HERE) and we have been compensated monetarily and with product. Our opinions, however, are all our own. 

Hershey's sent us 2 containers of their Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread with which we were to develop a new recipe. So develop we did. We came up with a monster layer cake, which even has a cookie layer on top, and then used our "leftovers" to make some cute and tasty sandwich cookies. 

Do you like peanut butter? Do you like chocolate?

Okay, first of all - that means we will probably get along great, secondly, you are going to love this cake and cookies. 

For realz.

See the rays of sunshine highlighting this cake. 

That's how fabulous it is. 

Even the sun can't stay away.....

Okay. 

Yes.

It is going to take you a little bit of effort. There are two recipes required to pull this off BUT I promise you will not regret it. 

First up... the cake!

Sky High Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Cake

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

generous pinch salt

1 cup butter, room temp

2 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 cup Greek yogurt (plain or vanilla)

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup milk

1 cup Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread

Vanilla Pudding Frosting

6 cups whipping cream

3 pkg (4 serving size) Vanilla Pudding mix

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line 3 - 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper (cut to fit the bottoms) and lightly spray with cooking spray, set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a larger mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in the sugar until well mixed. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the Greek yogurt and vanilla, again, scraping bowl as necessary, until smooth.

Once incorporated, add the flour mixture and milk alternatively until combined. 

Transfer half the batter into another bowl. Beat in the 1 cup of  Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread.

Drop the 2 different batters evenly into the 3 pans in random patterns.

Swirl the batter together slightly with a knife. Make sure batter is evenly spread out in the pans.

Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean and tops of cake are a dark, golden brown - about 30 - 40 minutes. (Keep an eye on them, do not over cook or your cake will be dry). Remove from oven to cooling racks to cool for about 10 minutes.

Run a knife around the outside of the cake then carefully invert on to the wire rack to cool completely.

While cakes are cooling - prepare the cookie layer and cookies.

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1 cup Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 3/4 cup flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. ALSO - for the cake - line an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper then lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in the Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread. Beat in both sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together baking soda, salt, and flour. 

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until stiff dough forms.

Take a heaping 1 cup of the dough and press into the prepared 8 inch pan.

Bake at 350 for about 10 - 15 minutes, until cookie is puffed up and appears dry. Sides will be golden brown. Don't over cook or cookie will be dry.

Scoop the rest of the cookie dough by the tablespoon full (small cookie scoop) into prepared cookie sheet. Roll each scoop into a ball in the palm of your hands. Place back on cookie sheet and lightly press with a fork to flatten slightly.

Bake at 350 for 7 - 10 minutes, until sides are just slightly browned. Do not over bake.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

While cookies are cooling, prepare frosting.

Pour the whipping cream into a large mixing bowl, add in the pudding mixes. Beat until mixture thickens and is smooth. Chill, covered, until ready to use. (NOTE - I know it may seem silly but be sure you pour the whipping cream in first AND THEN add in the pudding powder. If you put the pudding powder in first and then add the whipping cream the frosting will be lumpy!)

Assemble cake:

Place one layer of the cake on a serving tray. Spread a generous scoop of vanilla pudding frosting on top. Place 2nd layer of cake and another layer of frosting. Place the 3rd layer of cake and another layer of frosting. Place the 8 inch cookie on top of the cake. (NOTE - I trimmed the hard edges of the cookie off before placing on top to make it easier to cut through when slicing the cake!!)

Frost the sides of the cake with the frosting, using a long flat knife or spreader to make it smooth.

Place some of the frosting in a piping bag and pipe stars or swirls around the base of the cake and around the outside of the cookie layer.

Decorate as desired - we cut a few of the cookies into triangles to place on top.

Take any remaining frosting and place a spoonful on the flat side of one cookie. Lightly press the flat side of another cookie into the frosting. Repeat until frosting and cookies are gone.

Then serve and enjoy.

Let the photo explosion begin.

So pretty.

Layers and layers and layers of tastiness...

Want to join us for snacks?

We made lots. 

Who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate?

Weird people. That's who. 

One slice goes all the way to heaven.... or just about....

The inside is even prettier than the outside...

I really do enjoy treats. 

Even Sue was getting into the action.

FYI - when you are going to make the cookies and you ask your sister, "Hey, Sue (assuming your sister is also named Sue) where is the rest of the frosting?" and she replies, "It's over there on the counter," motioning only with her head, make sure you double check that it is, indeed, frosting and not a container of butter.

See...

The frosting is a lovely pale yellow color that could easily be mistaken for butter.

And, if you stick your knife in to steal a taste before doing the dishes and you haven't double checked to make sure it is the frosting, you may just end up with a mouth full of butter.

Which you don't want.

Trust me.

Anyways..... you should probably make this cake and/or cookies. Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate spread uses the hashtag #doyouspoon. And trust me, you will want to. 

We're sharing over at The Chicken Chick and Joy Love Food and Memories By The Mile and New Mrs Adventures and Lou Lou Girls and Carole's Chatter so be sure to pop over and check them out!