Pin ItI would count my 39th birthday as one of my all-time favourite birthdays. For one thing, I can still say I am in my thirties without lying through my teeth…yet. For another, I had a visit from my father over my birthday weekend, and spending time with family these days to me always counts as time to be treasured. And the birthday festivities themselves were some of the most fun, happy moments I’ve had of late. Much needed for this tired old mother of three. If you didn’t see me post about it on Twitter or Facebook, my husband sweetly surprised me a few weeks early with a night away from the kids. We didn’t go far afield, we actually just stayed the night in downtown Boston, but every second was amazing. Having the time away from the little ones to reconnect and actually talk to each other? Priceless!

On my actual birthday, we decided to take a little walk down memory lane, and we brought some of our closest friends along. We revisited our old neighbourhood in Boston and went to a beloved Italian restaurant tucked into a courtyard in the heart of Roslindale Square. I haven’t laughed so much nor dined so well in a long time. Should you ever chance to be in the area, I cannot recommend Sophia’s Grotto enough. And my own choice for dinner was without a doubt the hit of the night…mussels in a spicy chorizo tomato sauce. Everyone at the table kept dipping their spoons in and stealing my sauce. It was heaven.

And for the day after my birthday, to allow the kids to celebrate with us, I made this cake. I had envisioned this cake quite a while before and was tempted to make it earlier but I managed to hang on long enough to have it be my birthday present to myself. As you know, peanut butter and chocolate together is well loved by me. It rivals almost any other flavor combination as number one in my heart. I’ve done quite a bit with that particular combo on this blog, but it’s actually been quite a while. I think my last recipe was my Peanut Butter Caramel Shortbread Bars, and that was four months ago. So I have clearly been remiss in that regard and I knew this cake would rectify the situation.  

The Results: Yes and rectify the lack of new peanut butter and chocolate recipes it did. I can honestly say that this cake met and exceeded my expectations. The batter was quite thick and didn’t seem to be rising for a while in the oven, so I was a tad worried. But it baked up beautifully in the end and it released nicely from the pan as well, always a dicey prospect with gluten free bundt cakes. Now, one error I did make was not flipping it out directly onto the serving platter. It was a tiny bit fragile, so moving it from the wire cooling rack to the serving plate meant I ended up with a couple of cracks. But that was easily masked by the chocolate glaze and it didn’t seem to cause any issues when serving. I will say this. Keep a big glass of water or milk nearby when eating. It’s rich, for one thing and as with many peanut butter based goodies, it is dense and thick. But it’s wonderful, no question.