Peanut Butter Cup Cake
Today, I turn 34 years young, and I have the most serious of serious questions to ask. Does this mean I’m now in my mid-30’s? If the answer is yes, don’t tell me. It dumbfounds me to think that at 34 years old, my mom already had a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old. I barely feel like a grown-up, save for the mortgage payments and general responsibilities that come with not being 18 anymore.
If time is going to keep on moving, we might as well welcome it with open arms and some phenomenal cake, right? I have had this cake on the brain for months, but decided to shelve it and save it for my birthday. I couldn’t think of anything more perfect for me than an overdose of chocolate and peanut butter to the highest degree.
I basically took my favorite chocolate cake, my favorite peanut butter frosting, tons of peanut butter cups, and smooshed it all together into one of the most fabulous cakes I have made to date.
For someone who could eat chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this cake is a dream come true.
The cake is the same one I used for my Snickers cake last year; do you remember how much I went on and on about how it’s the best chocolate cake ever?
Well, it’s still the best chocolate cake ever.
Case closed.
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The peanut butter frosting is a double batch from my chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes, and I love it because it’s silky smooth, super peanut butter-y and not at all too sugar-y. I would love to just eat it from a bowl with a spoon. However, I’ll settle for it on this cake along with tons of chopped peanut butter cups, because, of course, there needs to be peanut butter cups.
I plan to spend my birthday relaxing, going to a hockey game, and eating a ridiculous amount of dessert.
That’s what birthdays are for, right?
One year ago: Italian Easter Pie
Three years ago: Tiramisu Cupcakes
Four years ago: Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Six years ago: Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy
Watch How to Make the Peanut Butter Cup Cake:
Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2½ cups (312.5 g) + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (86 g) + 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) salt
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1½ cups (360 ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1½ cups (355.5 ml) strong black coffee, hot
- ¾ cup (163.5 ml) vegetable oil
- 4½ teaspoons (4.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- 2 cups (516 g) creamy peanut butter
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
- ⅔ cup (158.67 ml) heavy cream
For the Chocolate Ganache:
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- ¾ cup (178.5 ml) heavy cream
- 30 miniature peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped, divided
Instructions
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper, grease the parchment, then flour the insides of the pans, tapping out excess; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer (or large mixing bowl if you’re using a hand mixer), sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for an additional 20 seconds (the batter will be very thin).
- Divide the batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pans in the oven. Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs), about 12 more minutes. Cool the cakes (in the pans) on wire racks for 20 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely.
- Make the Peanut Butter Frosting: Place the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the heavy cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth (do not overbeat).
- Assemble the Cake: If your cakes baked up uneven or have domed on top, level off the tops. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Cover with 1 cup of the peanut butter frosting and sprinkle 10 of the chopped peanut butter cups over the frosting. Top with a second cake layer and cover with another 1 cup of the peanut butter frosting, and top with another 10 chopped peanut butter cups. Place the final cake layer on top face-down. Frost the cake with the remaining peanut butter frosting, finishing it as smoothly as possible. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour, until the frosting is set.
- Make the Chocolate Ganache: While the cake chills, make the chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate in a 4-cup measuring cup; set aside. Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and warm until it just comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Begin whisking the mixture in the center, gradually working your way outward until the ganache is completely smooth. Set aside to cool, whisking occasionally, until it has thickened slightly, yet still a pourable consistency.
- Garnish the Cake: If the ganache was mixed in a bowl, transfer it to a 2-cup measuring cup. Slowly pour the chocolate ganache into the center of the cake, letting it push itself outward and flow over the sides of the cake. Top with the remaining 10 chopped peanut butter cups. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes, giving the ganache a chance to set up. Keep the cake refrigerated, removing it from the refrigerator about 20 minutes prior to serving.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This is by far the best chocolate cake recipe I have ever made. It is rich, moist and delicious. Definitely my go to now.
Love this cake! It’s my hubby’s fav and I make it for him every year for his birthday.
I have been making this cake for my kids birthday every year for the last 8 years. It is the BEST chocolate peanut butter combo ever. The frosting is to die for. Thank you for allowing me to make beautiful memories with my children with this delicious cake! Food IS love in our family.
I have made this cake NUMEROUS times for years now! Exactly as is and also in cupcake form. Never had a problem with it. This chocolate cake recipe is probably my favorite chocolate cake. I’ve used it lots of times as a base for other cakes/cupcakes. The texture is perfectly moist (sorry if you hate that word but how else do you describe? lol) All my chocolate peanut butter fan friends request this for any of their special occasions. Tastes delicious and looks great too!
The recipe didn’t make enough frosting to cover the cake and be generous enough between the layers. Almost need another 50% of frosting.
I’ve now tried this recipe TWICE and it doesn’t work. The cake turns out horrible. Sides crumble and fall apart when the cakes are taken out of the pans. The center sinks so it’s about half the height of the sides. An absolute mess. Clearly the ingredient amounts are incorrect. Avoid this recipe! I’ve wasted two days trying the make this cake.
By far the BEST recipe for a cake I’ve ever found! The chocolate cake alone is rich and deliscious but add that peanut butter frosting… OMG!
We leave off the top ganache and just add chopped resee’s cups. We have been on the look out for a pie just as good and took me a while to find your website but we are trying your pie this Thanksgiving!!
Can’t wait!
I love this recipe. It has always turned out fabulously and if you are a peanut butter fan it is hard to go past.
I sometimes make it into cupcakes and just use the peanut butter frosting (not chocolate ganache) also.
I have made this cake countless times. It is my family’s absolute favorite. They all ask for it for their birthdays. Will be making tomorrow again for my wife’s b-day!
There’s no way anyone baked these for 32 minutes and they were ok, at least double that time
We LOVE this cake. My son has requested it for his birthday cake for so many years now that I’ve lost count. Sometimes I make buckeyes and to add to the top. I also use this chocolate cake recipe as my base for other cakes because it’s so delicious.
I made this cake for the second time over the weekend for a family birthday celebration. It was a hit! This is a moist cake paired with the perfect peanut butter frosting. The ganache just puts it over the top! The recipe is not hard, but it does take some time to pull it all together. When I was checking my ingredients on hand, I missed that the heavy cream is used twice – fortunately, I had enough in the fridge without making a second grocery run. If you bake for a Reese’s lover, you have to try this recipe!
I have more of question than a comment. The cake just came out of the oven. I had to bake it 10 minutes longer than indicated. I noticed as it was baking that I missed the extra tablespoon of flour and cocoa. I noticed that my cake has sucken slightly in the middle and it seems to have crater like center. Could this be due to the missing tablespoon of flour and cocoa? Or could it be something else? It smells really good. I have yet to taste it since it just came out. Please let me know what you think may have gone wrong. Thanks!
I just wanted to add an update. In
spite of my mistakes, the cake
turned out amazing. I agree with
the others that this is the best
Chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever
had. I also read on Sally’s baking
addiction that that sometimes
with chocolate cake recipes the
middle can sink slightly due the
amount or cocoa powder (I believe)and that this is not an issue. I realized that too since my cake was perfect and truly the most moist chocolate cake ever.
This is an AMAZING recipe! I feel like a hero every time I bring it to a birthday party.
I have made this cake a number of times, always stay true to the recipe, and it always comes out so deliciously awesome. However, this go around, my ganache was pretty thick from the start and I know what it is supposed to look like. I was wondering if you could tell me what may have gone wrong, I didn’t get water on anything, so I’m completely lost on a reason. Thank you for your time.
I made this cake for Easter (2022) and it was delicicious! Out of this world! I took the rest to work and by lunch time it was gone. Very easy to make and really impressive!
Could we substitute something for the coffee?
Absolute winner!
Always, always a winner. The cake itself is amazing, moist and rich. I usually simplify to a two-layer and (gasp) skip the peanut butter cups but that doesn’t make it any less fun. I’ve baked it more than 6 times now.
Myself I make a slightly larger batch of icing to really indulge in the peanut butter deliciousness.
Make sure to let the ganache really cool down before pouring it; I have a bad habit of being impatient and starting too soon. Then you get streaks of melted icing in the ganache. I also make more ganache, to really cover it entirely.
Just a general heads-up to readers – in case you hadn’t really noticed from the recipe, this is a proper big cake. If you don’t have a lot of people to feed, be prepared to spend a week or so working your way through it. Whether that’s a bad thing is, of course, a matter of perspective. 😉
I’m plotting how to use the cake part in more recipes. Either black forest or mocha…or hazelnut crunch…
And guaranteed: The friends will allllll want to get the recipe.
I’ve made this cake a few times and it’s always a hit!
I’m trying to make it for thanksgiving but have to drive a few hours the day before and was wondering if it can be frozen before hand to keep it fresh? Thanks!
Do you have a tutorial on rotating pans? Just not sure where I should start each pan and how to rotate them (on different levels or just front to back?) Thanks!
Last year I prepared this cake for our sons birthday because he enjoys Reese’s peanut butter cups. This year he has requested it again. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
From a brown eyed baker in Alaska.
My son requests this cake every year for his birthday!
Made this cake for my brother’s birthday back in January.
Well, to be more honest, I used the “triple chocolate cake” from Sally’s Baking Addiction (will fight to the death for that recipe), but used your peanut butter frosting and ganache.
It was FANTASTIC!
Your peanut butter frosting is the tastiest I’ve ever had, and the ganache was the perfect consistency for pouring over a cooled cake.
I garnished the top with crushed Reese’s Pieces and chopped up mini Reese’s cups. This was SO GOOD.
Unfortunately – one member of my immediate family had covid and didn’t know yet, and we all caught covid that day (except for my fiancee – somehow immune).
So this has become known to us as the Covid Cake. I sincerely apologize.
My husband only wants me to make this cake for his birthday! It is also a crowd pleaser. I make as per recipe with a minor decrease in sugar. Thank you for sharing!!
Hands down, this is one of the best, moist, rich, delish cakes I’ve ever made. I made this for my teenager birthday. Everyone invited, highly complimented this cake on how it looked and tasted. For chocolate & pb lovers, you will definitely not be disappointed. I was told to make sure to save this recipe. 😂❤💯 and that’s exactly what I did. Lol