Heaven and Hell Cake With Peanut Butter Ganache

Name: Heaven and Hell Cake With Peanut Butter Ganache
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 16 serving(s)
Ingredients: 2/3 cup cake flour; 1 cup powdered sugar; 1 cup egg white (about seven or eight); 1 pinch salt; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; 2/3 cup sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1/2 teaspoon almond extract; 1/2 cup cocoa powder; 1 cup strong coffee; 1/2 cup shortening; 1 1/2 cups sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 cups cake flour; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 12 ounces cream cheese; 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar; 2 cups peanut butter, at room temperature; 3/4 cup heavy cream; 2 lbs milk chocolate, chopped; 2 cups cream

Submitted by Mirj2338

"A post by Claire inspired me to go off in search of this recipe. I haven't tried it yet, but will do so immediately!"

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photo by TheRedneckHippie

Ready In:: 1hr 50mins
Ingredients:: 24
Serves:: 16

ingredients

Angel Food Cake
²⁄₃ cup cake flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup egg white (about seven or eight)
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
²⁄₃ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¹⁄₂ teaspoon almond extract
Devils Food Cake
¹⁄₂ cup cocoa powder
1 cup strong coffee
¹⁄₂ cup shortening
1 ¹⁄₂ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 ¹⁄₂ cups cake flour
³⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Peanut Butter Mousse
12 ounces cream cheese
1 ³⁄₄ cups powdered sugar
2 cups peanut butter, at room temperature
³⁄₄ cup heavy cream
Ganache (Frosting)
2 lbs milk chocolate, chopped
2 cups cream

directions

ANGEL FOOD CAKE: Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cut a circle of parchment paper or wax paper to fit the bottom of a 9" cake pan.
Do not grease the pan or paper.
Sift together the flour and powdered sugar and set aside.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer.
Beat slowly while adding the salt and cream of tartar and continue beating for 1 minute or until soft peaks form.
Increase speed to medium, add sugar into whites by tablespoons until all is incorporated, then beat about 1-1/2 minutes longer.
When egg whites have stiff peaks, add vanilla and almond extract.
Remove bowl from mixer and sprinkle half of the powdered sugar-flour mixture and fold in again, using a minimum number of strokes so the egg whites do not deflate.
Gently spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown.
Do not over bake or the cake will sink in the center.
DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE: Preheat oven to 350°F.
Oil and flour a round 9-inch cake pan.
Sift the cocoa powder into the mixing bowl, then drizzle in the coffee while whisking to make a smooth paste.
Set aside.
(Might be more liquid than paste) Combine shortening, sugar, vanilla, and eggs and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Alternately add the cocoa-coffee mixture and the flour mixture to the sugar-egg mixture and continue beating until incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.
Test for doneness.
PEANUT BUTTER MOUSSE: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese until light and creamy.
Gradually beat in the powdered sugar, then the peanut butter.
If mixture looks lumpy, add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.
Continue beating until thoroughly incorporated and fluffy.
Transfer mixture to another bowl and set aside.
Place heavy cream in the electric mixer bowl and whip until stiff.
Carefully, but thoroughly, combine both mixtures; set aside.
GANACHE (FROSTING): In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil and stir in the chocolate.
Remove from heat, cover pan and let the chocolate melt.
Whisk to combine thoroughly then let cool to room temperature.
ASSEMBLING HEAVEN AND HELL CAKE: When both cakes have cooled, carefully slice them in half horizontally with a long, serrated knife so that you now have four layers.
Place one layer of the devil's food cake on a cake plate and spoon 1/3 of the peanut butter mousse on the top.
Place a layer of the angel food on top of the mousse and spread with another 1/3 of the peanut butter.
Continue layering until you have four layers of cake and three layers of mousse.
Whisk the ganache and spread with a spatula over the top and sides to frost generously.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.
Serve chilled; slice with a warm, wet knife.
Recipe Tip: slice thinly!
It's rich!

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Reviews

Good God...what a glorious ending to last night's Sunday dinner! I think my guests and I truly died and gone to heaven (and hell and back!) after one bite of this decadent concoction! Mirjam, if you haven't made this yet, please do so immediately! It's fantastic!

yooper
Fabulous! A lot of work, but so worth it. It was EVER so good! ~*~ I got the layers backwards - starting with Angel Food on the bottom - and it kind of squashed that bottom layer, but not too badly. I did cover it with a thin layer of marshmallow fondant and it held up well considering. I think if I'd have put the Devil's Food on the bottom as the recipe calls for, it wouldn't have squashed so much. (See pictures - mine's the one with the cocoa brown fondant draped on it with white lettering.)

TheRedneckHippie
Ooh lala! This is so very good. I made it today for Valentine's, baked in little heart-shaped pans. Then while the ganache was still wet, I sprinkled on little red and pink non pariels. TO DIE FOR!! I used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate for the ganache and it was sublime. Everything worked wonderful with this recipe. Thanks Mirj!

Snicklefritzie
Very good and rich. And heavy. This is NOT a photo of my cake.The angel food cake turned out to be smaller width than the devil's food cake though baked in same pan. The devil's food cake took 40 minutes to bake. Be sure to chop your chocolate very small or it won't completely melt. My Artisan Kitchen Aid mixer couldn't handle the volume of mousse. Had to transfer to a larger bowl and use the electric hand mixer. We sliced narrow pieces but it still turned out to be a lot of cake per person. +1000 calories. Wow! Next time I wil make 2 cakes of 4 layers instead of 1 8 layer cake. The cake certainly impressed!

svv17
"Heaven and Hell Cakeâ€� was created by Stephan Pyles at the Star Canyon restaurant in Dallas, in 1994. Itâ€™s now served at at his own Stephan Pyles restaurant in Dallas, and the dessert carries a trademark. Had it this past weekend at his restaurant, and it is fabulous. I have followed Stephan Pyles for a number of years now, and have all of his cookbooks. The man is a phenomenon.

Feisty

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Tweaks

Ooh lala! This is so very good. I made it today for Valentine's, baked in little heart-shaped pans. Then while the ganache was still wet, I sprinkled on little red and pink non pariels. TO DIE FOR!! I used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate for the ganache and it was sublime. Everything worked wonderful with this recipe. Thanks Mirj!

Snicklefritzie

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Mirj2338

Givat Ze'ev, 0

Come and visit me on my blog:  <a href=http://www.miriyummy.wordpress.com>www.miriyummy.wordpress.com</a>   October 2011: It's been 10 years since I came into Zaar one day at the recommendation of someone on another website. If you ask my husband (or my coworkers), I haven't logged out since! <a href=http://www.TickerFactory.com/> <img src=http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;15;0/st/20011021/e/I Joined Zaar%21/dt/6/k/f656/event.png border=0 alt= /></a> So what's happened in the ten years since I became addicted to Zaar? Well, I've been happily married, happily divorced, and happily married once again. (Wanna see wedding pictures? Click <a href=http://community.webshots.com/user/mirjamdorn>here</a>.) <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=chuppah2.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/chuppah2.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> Originally from the Bronx, I've been living in Israel since 1983. I'm married to a brilliant man with the most yummy British accent (this is the part where he rolls his eyes and says, Yeah, yeah, yeah). Let's call him Sushiman, even though he hates that name. <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/52282>Chia</a> gave him that nickname when I was trying to create a dinner to show off my culinary talents. I posted here on Zaar with questions about the menu and since sushi was the main focus of the meal, he became Sushiman. That dinner was just the first of what I hope will become a lifetime of meals together. This is a picture of us taken in September 2005 in Kew Gardens in London. It my favorite picture of the two of us. <a href=http://photobucket.com/ target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/Kew.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting /></a> This comes in as a close second, taken March 2009: <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=Wedding6.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/Wedding6.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> I have 4 of the most gorgeous daughters in the known universe (tfu, tfu, tfu, that's me spitting three times to ward off the Evil Eye). Sushiman has 4 kids of his own, so together that makes us a family of ten, together with my dog and my step-dog (sadly, since I first wrote this my step-dog, Honey, crossed the Rainbow Bridge). We're the Brady Bunch on speed. Not all eight live with us, but everyone is in and out all of the time, so we're thinking about replacing our front door with one of those revolving thingies. If you need help figuring out the whole complicated mess, you can check out <a title=Miriyummy -- A Guide to the Perplexed href=http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/about/ target=_blank>Miriyummy, A Guide to the Perplexed</a>. Here are my four beauties -- from left to right: Adiya, Sara, Nomi and Tehila <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=111.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/111.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> On March 18, 2009, my oldest, Sara, got married to Ariel. The wedding was a clash of cultures and traditions, and we had a blast! <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=171.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/171.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> Over 500 people attended our little party... <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=237.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/237.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> ... and Ariel was welcomed into our family in style! <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=225.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/225.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> If you want to see the photo album from Sara and Ariel's wedding, just go <a href=http://family.webshots.com/album/571020179JBDlvf?vhost=family&vhost=family&action=refreshPhotos&albumID=571020179&security=JBDlvf>here</a>. We're just one big happy family, most of the time, really! <a href=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/?action=view?t=098.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/mirj/098.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> Here on Recipezaar I am the host of the <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewforum.zsp?f=29>Kosher & Jewish Cooking forum</a>. Come on in, and let the Jewish Mothers of Zaar feed you senseless! I hope you enjoy my recipes. I have only posted recipes of food that I am willing to eat myself. Therefore, you won't find anything unkosher in my recipes. You won't find any stinky bleu cheese or goat's cheese either. You will find a lot of comfort food, I believe that comfort food is very important. Gay and Troy are always thanking us for making Recipezaar such a great place. I firmly believe that it's Gay and Troy themselves that deserve a multitude of thanks, from us! And I hope I live up to their expectations! 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