Naked Peanut Butter and Jam Layer Cake

Back in October 2018, we were lucky enough to take a trip to New York City during Yash's half term break. Most people are excited about the shops, the sights and the buzz of the city. Not I. My preparation for the trip consisted of making a list of bakeries I needed to visit. I have always followed Milk Bar on social media and so prior to leaving London I booked on to one of their cake classes so that I could see how they made their signature naked sponge cakes.

The class was well worth attending and their technique is quite remarkable. Owner Christina Tosi recommends that you bake a sheet cake and use a cake ring to cut your sponges from it. This way, the cake sponges don't have the crust that they do when baked individually in a round tin. The excess sponge can be turned to crumb and used for other treats.

I decided to use this technique here to show a way in which to make a layer cake if you want less frosting, softer edges and perhaps only have one cake tin in the size you need.

For a 5 inch 3-sponge cake you will need:

For the 8x12 inch sponge:

125g unsalted softened butter

200g white caster sugar

60g brown soft sugar

3 large eggs

100g milk

70g oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

195g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

For the filling / deco:

2 tbsp butter

4 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsp peanut butter

splash of milk if needed to loosen

Raspberry Jam

Chopped peanuts

Method (shown in video above):

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees c (165 fan) and line a brownie tin with baking parchment (watch video to see my "diagonal corners" trick)

2. Cream your softened butter, then add the sugars. Mix together well.

3. Add room temperature eggs one by one (if they are straight out of the fridge, immerse in warm water for a few mins) and mix after each addition. Mix well and until fully combined.

4. In a jug, mix together your milk, oil and vanilla. Pour this in very slowly while mixing into your batter.

5. In another bowl, stir together your flour, baking powder and salt. Fold this in to your mix.

6. Pour into your baking tin, level out with a spatula and bake for 30-35 mins depending on the depth of your cake. Keep an eye on the cake from 25 mins onwards and do the skewer test when you see the edges browning.

7. Once baked, allow the sponge to cool. In the meantime, cream together your butter and icing sugar, add the peanut butter. If too sticky to spread, add milk.

8. Use a cake ring (or cake tin and sharp knife) to cut 3 cake rounds from your sheet cake. Save the excess cake in a tupperware box ( I will post a recipe soon showing you what to do with these).

9. Refrigerate the cake rounds for 10 minutes, allowing them to firm up and be easier to handle.

10. Take your cake board and add a smear of icing to keep the cake in place. Place a sponge on the board and top with buttercream and jam. Place your middle sponge on top and then smear more buttercream and jam on. Finally, place your top sponge on, smear more buttercream on and this time, spoon your jam into a swirl shape. Finish off with chopped peanuts.

ENJOY! xx