ingredients

cookie layer

• 1 cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus more for greasing the pan
• ½ cup/110 grams light brown sugar
• ½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract, or scrapings from ½ vanilla bean
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2½ cups/320 grams all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
• 1 cup/140 grams whole salted, roasted peanuts, finely ground, plus about ½ cup/70 grams roughly chopped salted, roasted peanuts

honeycomb layer

• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1½ cups/300 grams granulated sugar
• ¼ cup/60 milliliters honey

chocolate topping

• 4 ounces/115 grams dark chocolate, chopped (about ⅔ cup)
• ½ teaspoon vegetable shortening
• Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

instructions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch metal pan, and line with parchment paper, leaving plenty of overhang on the long sides.
   _
2. Make the cookie layer: Combine 1 cup butter, the light brown sugar and the granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed. Add vanilla and salt; beat to combine.
   _
3. Add 2½ cups flour and all peanuts, and beat until crumbly. Transfer the dough to the pan. Using floured hands, pat out the dough evenly but lightly, without compacting. Prick surface all over with a floured fork, and freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. Bake until firm at the center and golden brown all over, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven, set pan on a wire rack, and cool completely.
   _
4. Prepare the honeycomb layer: Have a large metal bowl, a whisk, the measured baking soda and the baked peanut cookie layer ready by the stove. In a wide, shallow saucepan, combine granulated sugar, honey and ¼ cup water, and whisk to combine. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil, gently swirling the pan without stirring, and using a wet pastry brush to wash down any sugar crystals clinging to the sides of the pan. Clip on a candy thermometer, and cook the mixture until the thermometer reads 300 degrees, 5 to 6 minutes.
   _
5. Quickly and carefully pour and scrape the honey mixture into the metal bowl, then immediately whisk in the baking soda. (The mixture will puff up quite a bit.) Briefly whisk to dissolve the baking soda, but don’t overbeat. Immediately pour the hot mixture on top of the peanut cookie layer. Aim to cover the shortbread while pouring, then tip the pan around a little to distribute the honeycomb as much as possible. (Resist the urge to spread it out with a spatula, which will knock the air out of the honeycomb, making it hard instead of airy.) Cool completely. Run a small sharp knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Using the overhanging parchment, lift and transfer to a work surface.
   _
6. Use the point of a small, sharp knife to break the cookie into 2- to 3-inch shards and arrange them on a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet.
   _
7. In a metal bowl set over a small saucepan filled with an inch of simmering water, combine the dark chocolate and the shortening, and stir until smooth and melted. Remove from heat. (You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave instead: Transfer the chocolate and shortening to a microwave-safe glass bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Whisk to combine, then heat in 20-second increments, whisking between each, until melted.)
   _
8. Using a small spoon, drizzle the chocolate over the cookie shards. Sprinkle with sea salt. Pop into the freezer to harden the chocolate, about 5 to 10 minutes. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.
   _
9. Frost with chocolate buttercream. To make the buttercream, beat the butter, milk, cocoa powder, and half the powdered sugar on medium for several minutes, until mixture is smooth. Add in more powdered sugar (perhaps all) and more cocoa powder as needed.
   –
10. Frost the cake at room temperature with frosting at room temperature.

From: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020656-peanut-shortbread-with-honeycomb

ingredients

cake

• vanilla cake mix
• 2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 8 oz powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

*NOTE: dad said the frosting was too chocolatey and next time make frosting lathe way it says to on the powdered sugar box

instructions

1. Make the cake.
   –
2. Frost with chocolate buttercream. To make the buttercream, beat the butter, milk, cocoa powder, and half the powdered sugar on medium for several minutes, until mixture is smooth. Add in more powdered sugar (perhaps all) and more cocoa powder as needed.
   –
3. Frost the cake at room temperature with frosting at room temperature.

With some help from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11467-magnolia-bakerys-buttercream-vanilla-icing

ingredients

cake

• chocolate cake mix (and probably like eggs and milk?)
• heavy whipping cream
• cocoa powder
• powdered sugar

instructions

1. Make the chocolate cake.
2. Frost with whipped cream, flavored with powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
3. Maybe throw some sprinkles on there

ingredients

cake

• 12 tablespoons (170g) butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F
• 1 teaspoon salt, (1 1/4 teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
• 1 1/2 cups (298g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (71g) light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (170g) sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups (283g) milk, anything from skim to whole, at room temperature
• 3 3/4 cups (450g) unbleached all purpose flour
  

filling

• 1 cup (213g) dark brown sugar or light brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
  

topping

• 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, (if you use unsalted butter)
• 1 cup (120g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted

instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan, or two 9″ round cake pans.
   –
2. Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring until well combined. Set the topping aside.
   –
3. Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Note that the cocoa powder is used strictly for color, not flavor; leave it out if you like. Set it aside.
   –
4. To make the cake, in a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
   –
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
   –
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream or yogurt and milk till well combined. You don’t need to whisk out all the lumps.
   –
7. Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/sour cream mixture, beating gently to combine.
   –
8. Pour/spread half the batter (a scant 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you’re using two 9″ round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.
   –
9. Sprinkle the filling evenly on the batter.
   –
10. Spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don’t combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.
    –
11. Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.
    –
12. Bake the cake until it’s a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9″ x 13″ pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9″ round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.
    –
13. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.

Tips from our [King Arthur’s] Bakers lol

• Dress it up for guests: Make a glaze with ½ cup confectioners’ or glazing sugar and 1 tablespoon milk; drizzle glaze over the cooled coffeecake.
  
• It’s easy to spread half the batter in the pan when you know how much it weighs. If you have a kitchen scale, half the batter weighs about 28 ounces.
  
• Want to prepare this coffeecake the night before, then bake in the morning? It’s easy; simply cover the unbaked cake with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Next morning, bake the cake as directed. Start testing for doneness at the end of the suggested baking time; you’ll probably have to add 5 minutes or so to the total time, to account for the batter being chilled.

From: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/cinnamon-streusel-coffeecake-recipe

ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packet
• 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

instructions

1. In a large heavy bottom sauce pan/pot on medium heat- melt butter.
   –
2. Combine sugar, salt, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk.
   –
3. Once the butter is fully melted, combine remaining ingredients in the large pot on the stove. Turn heat up to medium-high until mixture begins to boil (10-15 minutes).
   –
4. When the mixture begins to boil, turn the temperature down to medium, add the candy thermometer and set to Firm Ball Stage (248 ° F) and stir constantly. This can take 20-30 minutes.
   –
5. Once the mixture has reached 245 to 248 ° F and become thick and paste like and is a deep dark caramel color, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Careful as it will bubble rapidly during this step.
   –
6. Immediately pour the caramel into the prepared pan to cool. After 20-30 minutes of cooling, sprinkle the finishing sea salt all over the caramel.
   –
7. Allow to cool overnight to completely firm up. (But if you’re in a rush, put it in the fridge, but don’t cut it until it’s come back down to room temperature).
   –
8. Carefully pull the parchment paper with the caramels out of the pan and place on a large cutting board. Using a knife or pizza cutter (this works best), cut 1×1 inch squares and wrap in wax candy wrappers.
   

From https://eatmorecakebycandice.com/the-easiest-sea-salt-caramel-recipe/

ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 box vanilla cake mix, (or white/yellow cake mix)
• 1 (3.4 oz) box instant pistachio pudding
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup milk
• green food coloring optional

For the frosting:

• 1 (3.4 oz) box instant pistachio pudding
• ½ cup milk
• 1 (8 oz) tub frozen whipped topping (COOL WHIP), thawed

instructions

To make the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray two pie pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
   –
2. Combine dry cake mix with dry instant pistachio pudding. Mix those together until combined. Then add in eggs, oil and milk. Stir just until combined. Stir in about 6 to 8 drops of green food coloring until fully incorporated. Pour into prepared baking dish.
   –
3. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. If you insert a toothpick into it, it should come out clean when done. Allow cake to cool completely before making frosting.

To make frosting:

1. Pour instant pistachio pudding mix into a mixing bowl. Add in ½ cup cold milk. Stir until combined.
2. Stir in the thawed whipped topping.
3. Put in a few drops of green food coloring to really bring out that green color. About 5 drops or so.
4. Spread frosting onto cooled cake.
5. Slice and serve. If you like, sprinkle with some crushed pistachios.

from https://www.thecountrycook.net/pistachio-cake/