Reddit reviews Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some

You could do a lot worse than V8 for a meal supplement.

For me, I get my sodium from sea, kosher, and finishing salts. If you haven't had a steak with any of the numerous flavors of finishing salts, you're missing out! I learned about finishing salts from the wonderful book Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey.

For me, I ate my fair share of cured meats, so I was careful of additional sodium. I had no way of accurately measuring, so I monitored my water cravings. This subjective measurement did me well. . . I think.

Adapted from multiple sources including:
David Lebovitz/Robicelli's A Love Story With Cupcakes
Pickles, Pigs, & Whiskey by John Currence

For the Cake

• 3/4 cup (75g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
  
• 2/3 cup (160ml) very hot coffee
  
• 2/3 cup (160ml) buttermilk
  
• 1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil (such as canola or grapeseed)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 large egg
  
• 1 large egg yolk
  
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
  
• 1 1/3 cup (190g) all-purpose flour
  
• 1 3/4 cups (350g) sugar
  
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  
  For the PB Filling
  
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
  
• 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
  
• 2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 3 cups creamy peanut butter
  
  For the Ganache
  
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
  
• 6 ounces dark chocolate chopped
  
• pinch of coarse salt
  
  For the Pretzel-Peanut Topping
  
• 3/4 cup (110g) roasted peanuts
  
• 1 1/2 cups (90g) broken up large pretzels
  
  For the Cake
  
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour the bottoms and sides of two 8 or 9 inch round cakepans. NOTE: I used 6 inch cake ring to stamp out the cakes from a quarter sheet pan. I had enough batter left over to make 6 cupcakes.
   
   
2. Mix the cocoa powder and hot coffee together in a medium bowl, stirring until it’s a thick paste. In a separate bowl, stir together the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, egg, egg yolk, and salt. Gradually stir the buttermilk mixture into the cocoa, mixing until smooth.
   
   
3. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
   
   
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the cocoa mixture just until combined. Divide the batter between the two cake pans.
   
   
5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the centers lightly spring back when you touch them. Let cool completely.
   
   
6. Invert onto baking sheets and cool in freezer while making mousse and ganache.
   
   
   For the Mousse
   
   
7. Whisk the heavy cream, confectioners sugar, and vanilla on high speed in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
   
   
8. In the same stand mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream one third at a time.
   
   For the Ganache
   
   
9. Chop the chocolate into fine pieces.
   
   
10. Warm the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling.
    
    
11. Remove from heat and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. If it’s too thick to drizzle, add a touch more cream to thin it out.
    
    For the Topping
    
    Mix peanuts and pretzels together.
    
    To Assemble
    
    Place 1 layer of cake on serving dish. Spread PB mousse evenly over top. Place the 2nd layer of cake on top of the first, bottom side down. Frost the remainder of the cake with the mousse. Freeze the cake while making ganache.
    
    Prep the ganache.
    
    Once ready, remove the cake from the freezer. Pour Ganache on top.
    
    Decorate with pretzels and peanuts.