I did a mash up of a few different recipes, and my end result looks well… a bit ~unfinished~ to put it nicely. The second photo was the main recipe I followed… any thoughts on how hers ended up looking so presentable and mine looks like a mound of chocolate peanut butter mess? I did really slap on a lot of the peanut butter mousse I made… plus peanut butter chocolate chip cookies cause why not… could that be it? 🙃
(Main recipe link- https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/)
by Unlucky-Silver-5094
47 Comments
If you are looking for assistance with a specific result or bake, you may need to provide a recipe in order to receive advice. This community may not be able to help you without details from your recipe (ingredients, techniques, baking times and temps).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Baking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Idk how to help but it looks rly delicious to me 🤤
I don’t know if it is as messy as you think. I’m stretching here, but do you mean your Icing or the topping? It looks a bit bulky in spots if you are going for a glaze, but it doesn’t look like a mistake to me.
I think you’re being hard on yourself, it’s looks really nice
Help eating it?
Cause that looks delicious
ETA: FWIW, I had to do a double take because without reading, I thought it was the same cake on the second pic but cross section
yours honestly looks even tastier !!
If I saw the two of these on display, I’d choose yours.
I am very pregnant and I would commit several felonies to have a piece of this right now. It looks perfect.
Looks awsome! If you’re talking about the peanutbutter filling drooping, try refrigerating the cake. Should set the filling
I absolutely love the way yours looks. Much better than the reference. I understand you were expecting cleaner layers but yours looks like the dessert from a commercial! Mouth watering!
The only ‘help’ I can offer is ‘help you eat it’
I volunteer to help you eat this.
yeah there’s a lot of stuff piled onto the top as opposed to the photo lol. tbh tho yours looks better with that ganache-type topping instead of the whipped frosting
Good fucking god that would make my dietician *cry* while I ate it. And I would eat *all* of it.
It’s sin in cake form and looks beautiful!
Yummy! I will eat it! 😋
IMO the other looks mass produced. Your looks homemade and tasty
[removed]
I don’t see what the problem is, yours looks better!
If you need help eating this I’m ready!
Honestly, the only difference is her presentation. Put yours on a nicer board with different tools and a different backdrop, and yours will be the chosen one every time.
Did you pour the ganache from the center or try to drip the sides first?
Haphazard cookie placement is an addressable issue here. Smush up some of the larger chunks and cover the corner a bit more.
Gimme dat.
It’s probably mostly temperature. Refrigerate the cake before filling and frosting, make sure the mousse is properly set and cold, pipe on, and don’t push the glaze on top too far towards the edge, it will naturally settle and drip. If you make mini cookies, the top would also look cleaner. HOWEVER this is all just stuff for a more professional look, I’m sure it tastes lovely. If the cookies on top are not homemade, I would personally leave them off, but I’m a hater of “cookie” flavoured/garnished stuff in general.
I’m not even that big a fan of chocolate and am allergic to peanuts, but yes 😌 yes I will help you eat it.
I am a baker who sells stuff. I have the same thoughts about my stuff, when I analyze what is different about mine it’s usually not as precise (messier), & looks homemade instead of manufactured. The funny thing about that is the fact that the whole point of my baked goods is that they are homemade, by hand, individually with the best ingredients. Why I agonize over trying to duplicate the perfect versions posted all over social media eludes me b/c that’s not what my selling point is. It’s just so much pressure now to turn out canvas worthy cakes & other baked goods that belong in a gallery not in a tummy. Yours looks wonderfully homemade, just as it should. In fact, yours looks like the better tasting cake.
The one from the recipes photograph was designed for a photograph. Made to look artsy and neat. Likely cut down very carefully with a hot knife, any oozes wiped up to make it look sweet. A bit more focus has been put into the visual art of it than the hunger induction.
Yours, on the other hand, is gorgeously appetising and droolworthy. It looks INCREDIBLY delicious. The focus is more on the food of it than the photography.
Food photography is cool because most times the photographer manipulates and edits for more appealing but unauthentic food. Your looks better anyways. Throw a mint leaf and cherry garnish and be done
If you need to dispose of your failure, hmu
I moaned out loud at the first picture, fr
I think it’s the edges that are the “worst” offenders, you could scrape the sides to tidy them up a bit once they firm up after a short stint in the fridge?
Now, I can further help if you hand me a fork.
Yours looks way better, more appealing, and even more professional than the sample image from the recipe. Well done.
In my experience, the gooey/unstable desserts outperform the pin-straight/“presentable” ones by a long shot. If you’re going for presentation, these could use some work. If you’re going for delicious, I bet these nailed it.
Looks amazing to me too! That said, the mousse may not have set up firmly enough to stay put. Mousse can be tricky technique wise- like, simple if you know what you’re doing but also easy to mess up otherwise. I had an issue with a supposedly easy mousse cake a couple years ago- it appeared like it was melting and was hard to keep the shape together.
Yes I can help you eat it
Help with what? Eating it?
Ok 👍🏼
Yours looks 1000% better.
She probably refrigerated it until it was really set.
No help needed! Your version looks better than what your were trying to replicate
You’re having the chocolate drips and the peanut butter piled on like it that makes it look really good. Sometimes pretty is nice, but a little chaos can be a benefit.
Omg it looks incredible
help you eat it? sure!!! lol
i know you want perfection but i thibk yours looks ooey gooey delicious!
The best thing about desserts is they still taste great even if they aren’t beautiful.
Bruh. Your’s looks so much more delicious and sinful !! 😈😈
I would eat a lot of that by looks alone.
Not gonna lie, I’d choose yours any day over the second picture. Looks so delicious