Peanut Butter Pound Cake

This is from the most recent edition of Penzey's Spice catalog. You can download the catalog at their website.

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. creamy peanut butter
3 c. sugar
5 eggs
2 t. vanilla
3 c. cake flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk

Frosting:
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 c. heavy cream

Do NOT preheat the oven. It is easy to frost the cake if you put it in a cool oven.

Lightly grease and flour a 10-in tube pan and set aside. (I used 2 9-in cake pans then adjusted my bake time by approximately 30 minutes.)

In a large bowl, cream together the putter and peanut butter. Add the sugar and beat until light in color. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Add the vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix the batter until smooth and creamy. Pour into the cake pan.

Place in the COLD oven. Set the oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake until a tester inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 35 minutes. (Start testing to see if a toothpick comes out clean around 1hr 10 minutes.)

Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes before turning it out on the rack to cool completely.

For the frosting: Place the chocolate chips in a small mixing bowl. Heat the cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until boiling. Pour over the chocolate chips and stir until creamy and smooth. Let cool for 2-3 minutes. Brush any loose crumbs from the cake. Pour the icing evenly over the cake, allowing it to cascade and cover the cake. Move the cake rack to another clean baking sheet. Scrape the drips from the first baking sheet, reheat and pour over the cake.

Serves 16.