Happy Valentine’s Day, Ya’ll!
We aren’t huge on the whole celebrating Valentine’s Day thing in our house…this morning I left Mark and Justin a few little treats on the kitchen table with cards from Macie, Gray and myself, but everything was tiny and from the dollar section of Target! 
On the other hand, I’ve been craving chocolate a ton recently and couldn’t resist the opportunity to whip something up and blame it on the holiday.
Behold, the Chocolate Box Cake Upgrade with Homemade Peanut Butter Frosting
For the cake, I used this set of box cake upgrade instructions that I’ve seen floating around Pinterest. It’s super simple…you basically just make a box cake terrible for you and extra delicious all at once!
Method:
Grab a standard box cake from the grocery store
(I went with Devil’s Food)
Pre-heat over according to the box
add the eggs called for on the box
add 2 more
(for a total of 5 eggs)
Use melted butter instead of oil
Use double the amount of butter than the called for amount of oil
Use milk instead of water
Add 2 tsp of vanilla
(I skipped this step for the Devil’s Food)
Bake according to the box
Now, the frosting is a bit more intensive.
And by a bit more, I mean I think store bought might be my style from here on out.
I used this recipe with the peanut butter addition listed:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup room temp butter
8 cups sifted powder sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
Method:
cream the peanut butter and the butter together
(I used my stand mixer)
slowly add in 2 cups of the sifted powdered sugar
slowly add in the milk
slowly add in the vanilla
add in the remaining powdered sugar until the icing becomes a spreadable consistency
While the recipe is not hard to understand, sifting 8 cups of powdered sugars is a bit tedious and I actually found that I did not need all of the powdered sugar the recipe called for.
Apparently, making sure the butter is room temperature is a big deal and honestly, waiting for that butter to warm up took forever! The recipe specifically states not to melt the butter but let it warm on its own….but goodness, who has time for that?
While my finished product is not glamorous or gorgeous, it tastes decadent and amazing. I’m sure if I were more of a pro I could have beaten the icing into a more appealing consistency but you know what? It’s the thought that counts! 
The heart topper is actually out a a pack of foam hearts from the Target One Spot. I cut a straw to the height that I wanted and taped the heart to the straw. Jam that puppy in the center of the cake and there you have it: Valentine’s Day! 
Gray, Macie, Justin and I wish you all the love in the world this Valentine’s Day!
xo