Warm sticky peanut butter cake with candied peanuts, salted caramel, and chocolate chile ice cream ($7)

Being a peanut butter junkie almost since birth, I take every excuse I can find to keep something peanuty on the menu, and given the arrival of cold weather, I thought a hot & sticky peanut cake would hit the spot. And since we're on the subject of peanut butter, let's talk about chocolate and caramel. If all other non-seasonal flavor combinations for sweets up and disappeared one day, I'd be fine with those three things for the rest of my life, I just love peanuts and chocolate and caramel.

The cake is a fairly simple preparation with organic Arrowhead Mills peanut butter. What makes it extra great is that we go light on the sugar and heavy on the salt, going after the same sweet/salty peanuty awesomeness of a Payday bar, one of my favorite candy bars. It's popped in the oven as soon as it's ordered, so you have to wait for this one but it's worth it - 15 minutes, or maybe 20 when it's really busy on a Saturday night. Once it comes out of the oven it's inject with caramel made from Kilgus cream, burnt sugar, and a hint of Caudill's sorghum molasses. The caramel also sauces the plate up a bit, which is then strwen about with crushed candied peanuts because you know, texture. I love that crunch with the soft and sticky cake and oozing caramel. Chocolate chile ice cream is a super potent confection made from Moore Family farm eggs, Kilgus Cream, tons of cocoa since we really want to play up the bitter side here, and hints of allspice and cayenne. It's almost like one of those Aztec hot chocolates.

Altogether here you get to enjoy the joys of peanut butter and chocolate with caramel, and we have hot, cold, sweet, spicy, bitter, salty. It's a party in your mouth, so what are you waiting for?

Pairing: Cappuccino, or a good sipping bourbon

farmer (local/regional) and sorghum