Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter Frosting

This chocolate cake was on GMA this morning and is going to be the dessert I bring to Patti's for superbowl.  Picture to come when I make it (hope I remember - to take the picture and to make it.)

Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter Frosting

Click here for link to original

Servings: Unknown
Difficulty: Moderate
Cook Time: 30-60 min

Ingredients
For the Pretzel Crust
2 cups pretzels, finely crushed
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup hot French vanilla coffee

For the Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream milk as needed to thin


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with a non-stick
spray.
In a medium bowl, mix together the pretzels, sugar, butter and
salt. Add to the bottom of the pan, press down for even
distribution and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove and set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, cocoa powder and
baking soda together.
In a large bowl, add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk and oil. Beat
until creamy, then add the dry flour ingredients and combine,
then slowly add in the hot coffee.
Pour the cake mixture over the pretzel crust and bake for 30 to
35 minutes, let cool.
To make the frosting, add all the ingredients together and beat
until creamy. Check for consistency, add milk to thin as needed.
(I use Chocolate Cashew Milk for this, but use whatever milk you
have.) Once the cake is cooled, frost it and cut into slices and
serve. Drizzle with a chocolate sauce, if desired.

Recipe courtesy Gina Ferwerda.

Recipe styled by Karen Pickus, chef/food stylist, "Good Morning
America.”

Copyright © 2016 ABC News Internet Ventures

My Note:  After making this I calculated the WW Smart Point Values.  And after calculating I think the best idea if you are watching your weight is to just to take a lick off someone's fork.

The totals for each section are:
Crust:   120
Cake:    152
Frosting;  113
Total:   385
Now how many servings?  If you have a 1" x 1" piece then there are 117 servings which would put it at only 3 SPV per piece.  However realistically if you do a 2 x 2 piece you would get approximately 29 pieces which would be 13 SPV or a 1"x2" would be 6 SPV.  Probably before smart points it wouldn't be so much but there is a lot of sugar in this recipe and the points are really high for sugar.
But it's for the Super Bowl.  I'm sure I'll never make it again.  Hope everyone likes it and I don't have to take any home.

There is a ton of frosting and it is really soft so could be swished off, but it is good!!