I don’t know if this cake looks messy — or fantastic — but I DO KNOW it’s delicious! What do you think? Does it matter as much to you what it looks like?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Chocolate and Peanut butter make for a sinfully delicious duo!
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
For the Chocolate Cake:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder not dutch processed
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsps baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup coffee freshly brewed, strong
For the Peanut Butter Swirls:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 2 egg whites room temperature
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream room temperature
- 1/4 cup whole milk room temperature
- OR about 1 cup peanut butter chips added to batter just after pouring onto pans so they can be distributed evenly.
For Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2-4 tbsp heavy cream
For the Italian Buttercream:
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- pinch salt
- 16 ounces unsalted butter room temperature cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Ganache:
- 1 cup dark chocolate
- 1 cup heavy cream or less if you want a firmer ganache and shorter drips
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour four 6-inch cake pans. Add damp cake strips.
- In a medium, sift the dry ingredients together and give them a good whisk.
- Cream the butter and sugar, then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just combined.
- Same steps for the peanut butter mixture. (mix dry, mix wet, combine)
- Pour chocolate batter into the pans, add dollops of the peanut butter batter and give a swirl. You will have enough left over PB batter to make a few cupcakes for later. 🙂
- Bake for about 30 min or until centers springs back when pressed.
To Make the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- Cream the butter and peanut butter together
- Add sifted powdered sugar and mix
- Add in cream as needed to reach desired consistency (this also depends on the brand/ type of peanut butter used)
For the Italian Buttercream:
- Beat the egg whites and 1/3 cup of sugar until soft peaks form.
- In a medium saucepan add the remaining sugar and 1/3 cup water then place on low heat. Stir constantly until sugar melts and becomes clear. Maintain at medium high heat until temperature reads 235-240F. Drizzle the sugar into the mixer immediately. Run mixer until merengue is body temperature. Add room temperature butter into running mixer one piece at a time. Beat until butter is combined and mixture has reached a silky consistency.
- I used an 869 tip to pipe the dollops on top by the way.
For the Chocolate Ganache:
- Melt chocolate and cream in a microwave at half power in 2-3 30 second bursts. Allow to sit for a few minutes then whisk until consistency is smooth.
For the Assembly:
- Pipe the peanut butter buttercream in between each layer. Pipe a crumb coat. Smooth with an offset spatula and bench scraper. Chill for about 10 min.
- Pipe on italian meringue buttercream. Smooth with an offset spatula and bench scraper.
- Save some plain italian meringue. Add various amounts of chocolate to the remaining italian meringue.
- Add chocolate italian meringues, white italian meringue and ganache to the sides of the cake. Smooth with a bench scraper.
- Add ganache drip and smooth.
- Pipe dollops of italian meringue to the edge of the cake.
This cake. I can’t. It’s not going to be left on the stand looking pretty for long… Also, why have I not made peanut butter frosting before?! I’m already planning some PBJ cupcakes… I loved the combination of super-rich chocolate cake, with swirls of peanut butter batter covered in peanut butter frosting then finished off with Italian buttercream, which is less sweet than the regular kind and didn’t overpower/ compete with the other flavors in the cake. The chocolate ganache was just right; in all honesty I’d put chocolate ganache on literally anything and be happy. Did I mention I made two versions of the cake? If you’re short on time you can add peanut butter chips to the cake batter instead doing the marbleization. Both versions taste great!
Hi, did you put the peanut butter frosting in between the cake layers and then the italian buttercream outside? Also what and how many Colours did you add to the buttercream in order to achieve this look? did you also add chocolate on the outer look? Thanks
Hi Anum — Yes, peanut butter for the cream and the crumb coat. Buttercream for the outside. I personally did two different intensities of chocolate, buttercream and final slash of ganache before smoothing. Hope that helps. Thanks, John
This is gorgeous! And it sounds so good! I definitely have to try this out
I love this! Who wouldn’t love chocolate and peanut butter!?!
Question.. how do you serve cakes with 4 big layers like that? I wanted one like that at our wedding and then was wondering if it would need to be cut once vertically and once again horizontally.. (the weddings over, but I’m still curious!)
Good question! I have slightly larger dessert plates, which can accommodate the taller cake pieces. ?
This is almost too good looking to eat, But I would certainly try
The cake is stunning! I loved the video as I always wondered how that style of frosting/decorating the sides is achieved
OMG This is an amaazing cake! Seriously, can’t stop looking!
Wow, gorgeous cake! Chocolate and peanut butter = heaven!
This looks amazing! Did you use butter in the chocolate cake batter, or only
For the peanut butter swirls?
Thank you! Only the peanut butter swirls. Vegetable oil was used for the chocolate cake.
OMG I can’t stop looking at this beautiful cake! This is my dream for Christmas Day!
What ingredient’s did you use for the decorations on top of the cake?
Hi Cindy — I used a chocolate ganache drip with dollops of buttercream. Hope that helps. Thanks, John.
this is so amazing, i tried this for my dads birthday and everyone loved the cake! thank you!
This looks amazing…question, you have 1/2 cup sugar at 200 grams and 1/4 cup butter at 170 grams..which one is correct?
Hi Stephany — The post should have the correct measurements now. Thanks, John.
I’d like to make this cake but not so tall. Any suggestions for size of rounds for making a 2 layer cake?
Michelle,
Use two 8-inch pans instead!
John
Hi,
I have been following your Youtube channel and wanted to make this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. However, I notice the ingredients list for the cake is different from the one on your Youtube channel and the one on the website. Which one should I use?
Thank you
Phoebii,
Use the recipe from the blog post! Hope you love the cake!
John