Demon Possessed

Megan’s peanut-butter cake

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup packed dark brown sugar (dark muscovado sugar is best; Megan gets hers at a gourmet grocery store)

¼ cup peanut butter

3 tablespoons butter or margarine (butter works better)

Stir together flour and brown sugar. Use a pastry blender to cut in the peanut butter and butter until mixture is damp and sticky, like wet breadcrumbs. Set aside.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup packed dark brown sugar (again, muscovado preferred)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt plus another pinch or two

1 cup milk

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs, well beaten (this is a fairly stodgy cake; you want to introduce a lot of air into the eggs to get it really to rise)

2 tablespoons white sugar, approximately

In a large bowl, mix the cake ingredients. Beat these with a mixer on high speed for three minutes, scraping the bowl frequently.

Grease a 13-inch-by-9-inch-by-2-inch baking pan. Pour the mixture into it. Sprinkle topping mix over the top.

Bake at 375 degrees for about thirty minutes; test with a toothpick for doneness.

Don’t panic if it smells a little burned. It’s the sugar topping.

This cake is much better the second day. It’s good the first but excellent after it’s had a chance to sit (covered, of course) at least twenty-four hours.