Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake – Make it from scratch, layering homemade chocolate cake with a decadent peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Dessert recipe made for chocolate lovers.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake is a chocolate lover's delight. Pairing together chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting is the stuff dreams are made of.
In my opinion, chocolate and peanut butter go together like Baby and Johnny, Princess Buttercup and Westley, Sam and Annie, Terry and Nickie, classic yellow cake and chocolate buttercream frosting… Well, you get the picture. I'm so in the mood for a rainy day, a stack of old movies, and this scrumptious chocolate cake to go with 'em!
When deciding what kind of frosting to make with this cake, I could have used my favorite buttercream frosting; or I could've made a double chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.
But I knew I wanted to use cream cheese in the recipe.
Mixing peanut butter into a cream cheese frosting, it makes for a really smooth, creamy frosting that lends just the right amount of sweetness to each bite of this decadent cake.
If you're a chocolate lover like I am, this chocolate cake recipe is definitely for you. And for a chocolate cake from scratch recipe, it's relatively easy to make.
I JUST WANT THE RECIPE! TAKE ME TO THE RECIPE FOR PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CAKE!
If you’d rather skip all of my cooking tips, important cooking info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the scrumptious peanut butter chocolate cake recipe – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card.
Tips for how to make homemade chocolate cake:
- Grease your pans really well with a good layer of cooking spray or by rubbing them with shortening/butter and coating with flour.
- Anytime you make a cake, I highly recommend sifting your flour before adding it in with the other dry ingredients.
- To make sour milk, just combine the milk with a tablespoon of vinegar.
- Use a toothpick or cake tester to check whether or not your cake is done at the end of cook time.
Tips for how to make peanut butter cream cheese frosting:
- Make sure the cream cheese and butter are softened before attempting to mix.
- Let your cake fully cool before adding the frosting.
- I do like to refrigerate this cake once it's made, mainly because of the cream cheese frosting.
- When you do go to serve it up, try cutting a slice and warming it up in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Mmmm, just like it's fresh out of the oven.
More chocolate cake recipes you may enjoy:
Raspberry Chocolate Cake for One
Moist and Delicious Chocolate Cake
Kitchen tools you may need to make chocolate cake from scratch:
Round cake pans – This is a layered cake, so you'll need a couple round pans for baking.
Mixer – You can use any kind of mixer, but this ensures a smooth, creamy cake batter.
Small saucepan – You'll need to cook the butter mixture on the stovetop.
Sifter – I never make a cake without sifting.
Wire rack – for cooling the cakes before frosting.
PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake from Scratch
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups pure cane sugar
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°.
- Grease 2 round cake pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, including the sugar, sifted flour, salt, and cocoa powder.
- In a small saucepan, bring 2 sticks of unsalted butter and the water to a boil.
- Remove the butter mixture from the heat and mix together with the dry ingredients.
- Dissolve the baking soda in buttermilk or sour milk. (You can make sour milk by combining milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar.)
- Beat the eggs into your milk mixture.
- Add the milk mixture and vanilla extract to all the other ingredients in the mixing bowl; mix well for 1-2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before removal to a wire rack to fully cool.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for a peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Start by mixing together the cream cheese, softened salted butter, vanilla extract, peanut butter, and milk.
- Add the powdered sugar to the frosting mixture, and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Once the cakes have fully cooled, layer and frost to your desired thickness.
- Tip: I do like to refrigerate this cake once it's made, mainly because of the cream cheese frosting. When you do go to serve it up, try cutting a slice and warming it up in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Mmmm, just like it's fresh out of the oven.
I don’t see much peanut butter cake, so I find this so amazing. The cake looks absolutely yummy! Thanks for sharing!