Cake or cupcake, peanut butter

Susan Reid’s selected peanut-butter cake incorporates creamy peanut butter directly into its brown-sugar batter. This version forms two round layers with a tender, rich crumb and offers prepared seven-minute frosting as an optional finish.

Creamy peanut butter, softened unsalted butter and the selected light brown sugar are beaten smooth. Vanilla, baking powder and table salt follow, then two of the five eggs and a small initial portion of the flour.

The remaining three eggs are beaten in one at a time. The rest of the same flour and the milk are incorporated in alternating portions, with the bowl scraped and the batter beaten briefly to finish mixing.

The batter is divided between two greased round pans and levelled. The layers bake until their tops spring back and their edges begin to pull away from the pans, then rest in the pans before moving to a rack to cool completely.

Peanut butter supplies the flavour throughout the cake itself, while brown sugar and vanilla give the batter a sweet setting. Reid’s suggested seven-minute frosting can finish the cooled layers for a fluffernutter-style dessert.