Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

I know what you're thinking... what about healthy eating and New Year's resolutions?  But you guys, this is epic.

Peanut. Butter.  They'll ban me from elementary school cafeterias forever with this allergy-inducing concoction.  But then they'll taste it themselves and feel sorry for the poor kids who can't have it.

When I was visiting my Grandma in the nursing home, my cousins' grandmother MMM (3M!) came by with this moist, luxurious peanut butter sheet cake.  She brought it for Grandma, but insisted I take a bite.  I did, and I was so sad there wasn't more!  Well, apparently my Grandma noticed how much I enjoyed it, because she made me eat the entire slice, as she watched and laughed.  She always cooked things that made me happy, and in the nursing home she couldn't.  This was the next best thing.

I scoured the interwebz to find a similar recipe, then gave it a shot this afternoon.  My icing didn't turn out as soft as 3M's, but that was okay; it actually ended up tasting like peanut butter fudge.  I had to stop myself from eating it from the mixing bowl.

This cake is NOT for dieters.  It has LOTS of butter.  And sugar.  And brown sugar.  And powdered sugar.  A sugar trifecta.  A plethora, you might say.  But as my friend LD says, "Calories in, calories out!"  I don't diet.  I run 5 miles so I can eat a cupcake.  And I only kept a slice of this cake for myself before packaging the rest up to take to the office tomorrow.  That way, if I fail in my fitness quest, at least everyone around me will be a little chubbier too.  Mwahahahahaha.  <---evil peanut butter laugh

P.S.  I use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract when I bake... SO much more flavorful, and you can see the little beans!  :)

Recipe after the jump!

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake
from The Girl Who Ate Everything


Mix in pan and bring to a boil:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter

Sift the following and add to the above mixture:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Mix and add to the above mixture:
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Stir well and pour into greased or parchment lined cookie sheet pan (jellyroll pan).
Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Frosting
Mix in pan and bring to a boil:
3/4 cup butter
6 Tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup peanut butter
Take off stove and add:
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Pour over warm cake.

*Aubrey's Note: I think the frosting would have been pourable if I had kept it on the stove while mixing the sugar.  It cools into a fudge-like topping!