TL test cook tries to ‘healthy up’ a copycat recipe
Layers of chocolate and peanut butter cover the cake — but you’ll notice that in the pan my chocolate doesn’t quite stretch over all the peanut butter.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
The peanut butter layer went onto the cake when the cake was still hot from the oven. The chocolate layer was added after it cooled.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Why did I buy 16 small candy bars instead of 1 or 2 larger ones? They seemed to be a bargain.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Who among us has never eaten a storebought Kandy Kake, previously known as a Tandy Kake and baked by the Tastykake Co. of Philadelphia? Unless you’re allergic to peanut butter, or chocolate, you’ve probably had at least one, or dozens, or hundreds, right?
As it turned out, earlier this week I discovered that one of my reliable taste testers, sportswriter Kevin Carroll, never had a Kandy Kake of any type until I brought my version of a copycat recipe to the newsroom.
The verdict? He liked it.
“The chocolate and peanut butter taste really good together,” he said, adding he expects he’ll seek out and buy some of the actual Tastykake product, now that he knows what it’s like.
Of course, my version from the Times Leader test kitchen wasn’t exactly like the originals. For one thing, I couldn’t resist using whole wheat flour — something reporter Jen Learn-Andes, page designer Ashley Bringmann and my husband Mark at home noticed immediately.
While each of them pointed out they were aware I hadn’t regular all-purpose flour, none of them complained on their own behalf.
“You used whole wheat flour, didn’t you?” Mark said. “Actually, it makes a good strong base for the peanut butter and chocolate. But other people might not like it.”
“I really like it,” Ashley said. “It’s just that if somebody was expecting (a lighter cake) they might be disappointed.”
“I know how you are about trying to make things healthier, and I like it,” said Jen who makes her own version of this cake at home, with white flour, and reported her cake is “more spongy.”
Those three all do their own baking; taste tester and columnist Bill O’Boyle, not so much. He didn’t notice anything unusual about the cake itself, and he liked it, but made his usual plea for milk to accompany baked goods like this.
“If you would have brought in milk, I would eat the whole thing,” he said, indicating the containers I’d brought in.
“It’s very good, Mary Therese,” page designer Lyndsay Bartos said later, when I handed her a sample about a minute after she walked into the room. She didn’t mind the whole wheat base at all.
“Nicely done, nicely done,” reporter Sam Zavada said, adding he sometimes thinks Kandy Kakes from the store have too much peanut butter flavor, but my ratio of peanut butter to chocolate to cake was ideal.
My first experience with a copycat Tandy Cake (it seems to usually be spelled this way in recipes, with the conventional “C”) came a few years ago, when I interviewed a home economics teacher and her class for a story. They happend to be making this kind of cake that day.
I decided to make a copycat Tandy Cake myself when I recently spotted a recipe in a cookbook. I went out and bought roughly 8 ounces of Hershey chocolate bars to use for the topping, as it directed, as well as a 12-ounce jar of Jif creamy peanut butter for the middle layer.
But I soon realized I couldn’t follow that particular recipe, because some of the ingredients for the cake portion were missing. So I consulted some other recipes online to find out how much sugar and baking soda would go with the 4 eggs, 2 cups of flour, and 1 cup milk, etc.
With inspiration from several recipes, here’s what I ended up doing:
Copycat Tandy Cake
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
12 ounces creamy peanut butter
16 Hershey milk chocolate candy bars (half ounce each)
Preheat oven to 350°Fahrenheit. Line a 10×15” jelly roll pan with foil or parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour together with the baking powder and add to the egg mixture a little at a time while continuing to stir..
Heat the milk together with the butter until the butter has melted and fold into the flour mixture.
Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Spread the peanut butter gently over the warm cake. This will help the peanut butter to spread evenly.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes to cool.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or use a microwave if you prefer). Pour the melted chocolate evenly over the cool peanut butter and spread quickly and gently with a spatula. (Don’t work with this step too long or the peanut butter and chocolate layers will combine.)
Allow the chocolate to set. Store in airtight container.
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