A Birthday Party

Yesterday my husband had a birthday.  The birthday boy wanted barbecue from his favorite place in Des Moines, Smokey Ds. http://www.smokeydsbbq.com/ and salmon.  This was a very simple request; he picked up the bbq and I seasoned the salmon with my favorite rub.  Of course the birthday boy got a very special cake too. 

Salmon Rub

This rub is the only thing I use on salmon.  I absolutely love it.  You can grill the salmon or broil it for about ten minutes.  I usually make a double batch and keep it in an airtight container.  We grill salmon a lot in the summer so it's nice to have the rub on hand.

What you will need: 1 TB brown sugar, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp allspice, salmon fillets.

Mix all ingredients together.  Experiment with the flavor a few times.  I like to add a little more sugar because it caramelizes on the fish.  I also add a bit more salt and coriander.  Simply spoon onto the salmon and rub into the fish using your fingers. 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake
I cheated a bit this time and used boxed cake mix.  I bought two boxes of chocolate cake mix and made them in 9 inch round pans.  So I ended up with four round cakes.

What you will need: 2 boxed cake mixes, 3 Tbsp butter, 1 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, a pinch of salt

Bake the cakes and let them cool.  In the meantime let the butter come to room temperature so it's soft.  Beat the butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar.  Add a pinch of salt and mix well.  Next you need to trim the cakes so they are level.  You can see by the picture I didn't do a great job at this. I'm still learning.  To put the cake together, place one cake on the plate or cake board and add a thin layer of the pb filling.  Then place another cake on top.  In the second layer cut a circle with the diameter of 4-5 inches out of the middle.  In the third layer, cut the same circle and then place on top of the second.  Fill the hole with the peanut butter filling and spread over the entire top of the third layer.  Place the fourth layer on top.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

What you will need: 2 sticks of unsalted butter, milk, powdered sugar, cocoa powder

Like many things I make, I don't really have a recipe.  With frosting I go by taste, but here is an idea of how I make it.  Make sure your butter is at room temperature.  Beat the butter and cocoa powder together, about 1/3 cup.  Add a splash of milk to this.  I eyeball the milk according to the texture of the frosting. If it's really stiff and pasty, I add more milk.  You don't want runny frosting.  Then add the powdered sugar, about 2 cups.  Add more milk it needed.  Beat the frosting to the consistency you like.  Add more cocoa for more chocolate flavor and more powdered sugar to increase the amount of frosting. 

Frost the cake.  Here's a video to help http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf5KQolKryE  I don't have a turn table so I think it's hard to make the frosting smooth.  Then I put a little cocoa in the mesh colander and held it over the cake and tapped the side so a nice sprinkle of cocoa would cover the cake.  I cut Resess Cups and placed along the bottom for decoration.

An inside few of a slice.  The peanut butter filling was very rich!  Next time I use the filling, I think I'll skip the hole in the middle and just spread a thick layer between each cake layer.