Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Moist, rich, decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. Two layers of soft chocolate cake, with a not-too-sweet peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and topped with a peanut butter fudge ganache!
Servings: 12
Calories: 560kcal
Equipment
- wire whisk
- 2 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans
- parchment paper (for lining pans; optional)
- electric mixer
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup flour (125 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups sugar (250 grams)
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder (30 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil (112 grams)
- ½ cup yogurt (112 grams)
- 1 egg
- ¾ cups water (170 grams)
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar (15 grams)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (3 grams)
Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting
- 6 ounces cream cheese (¾ cup/170 grams, at room temperature)
- 5 tablespoons butter (70 grams, at room temperature)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (360 grams)
- 6 ½ tablespoons peanut butter (104 grams)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache
- ⅔ cup semisweet chocolate (113 grams/4 ounces, in pieces)
- 1 ½ tablespoons peanut butter (25 grams)
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup (20 grams)
- ¼ cup half and half (57 grams)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Line the bottoms and sides of two 8-inch or 9-inch round (metal) cake pans with parchment paper, for easiest release.Or, grease the pans, or spray them with cooking spray. Sprinkle a little flour and cocoa powder in each pan, and tap the pan until all surfaces are coated with dry powder. Tap out any excess.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add vegetable oil, yogurt, and egg, and use a whisk to combine. The batter will be thick at this stage.
- Whisk in water, vinegar, and vanilla. This will thin it out considerably.
- Divide batter evenly between the two pans. Bake on the same rack in the middle of your oven, for about 18-25 minutes at 350F.
- Check for doneness a few minutes early. The cakes will dome up slightly by the time they are done, and if you press on them with a finger, the cake will mostly spring back. Stick a toothpick into the center of a layer; it should come out clean, or with only a crumb.
- Cool cake layers completely, in the pan, before making the frosting.
Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting
- Freeze the cake layers, in their pans, for 30 minutes before assembling the cake. This helps keep the very tender cake together better as you frost it.
- Using an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add the peanut butter, and mix until well combined.
- Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, scraping the bottom occasionally. Then, beat until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Thorough beating will make the cake easier to frost.
Cake Assembly
- Take a cake layer from the freezer. If you greased and floured the cake pan instead of using parchment paper, run a thin cake spatula or rubber spatula around the edges to loosen it up. Place a wire rack on top of the pan, and flip the cake out onto it. If you didn't use parchment, you may need to go back to loosen up the cake a little more underneath the edges.
- Transfer the cake layer to your cake plate, top side up. (The top side is less prone to breakage.) Place strips of waxed paper underneath the edges of the cake to cover the cake plate and keep it cleaner while you frost.
- Place about ⅔ cup of frosting on the layer and spread to almost, but not quite, the edge.
- Turn out the second cake layer as you did the first cake layer. Place it on the frosted layer, top side up again.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake with a thin layer of frosting. It will get crumbs in it, but that's okay, because this is the crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for 15 minutes to set the frosting and (mostly) seal the crumbs in.
- Spread the remaining frosting on the top of the cake, and then the sides. I tend to add frosting at the bottom of the sides, and swipe toward the top. You may still get a crumb or two in the cake, but it's much better looking than the crumb coat.
- Chill the cake for another 30 minutes while you make the ganache.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache
- Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and corn syrup in a heat-safe bowl placed over a saucepan filled with ~1 inch of water.
- Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted and everything is smooth. My experience has been that this melted chocolate is very thick. Be sure not to overheat, or the chocolate will clump up.
- Stir in the half-and-half, and mix until everything is combined and smooth.
- Immediately pour the ganache on the chilled cake, spreading it out to the edges, but not over the sides. I recommend letting the ganache set for a while before serving.
- Store the cake in the refrigerator. Pull it out 15 minutes to let the ganache soften before cutting. If you have trouble cutting the ganache, try sawing through it rather than pressing down and squishing the cake.
- I tend to cut slices as we want them. Press a layer of plastic wrap against the cut sides of the cake to keep it moist in the refrigerator. If you're concerned about it picking up off flavors, store in a sealed container.
- Cake is still delicious 4-7 days after it's made.
Notes
This is an incredibly tender cake. I highly recommend you follow the freezing/chilling steps as written, as I've had luck with them. You'll have even more luck if you use parchment-lined cake pans, unlike what I did.
I believe that this cake could be made wheat-free (gluten-free flour blend) and egg-free (flax egg), but not dairy-free.
Baking times vary based on how heavy your cup of flour is, whether your cake pans are shiny or dark, the size of your pans, and how hot your oven is. Follow the toothpick test and other cues for doneness.
I use smooth peanut butter. You can try substituting chunky peanut butter in the frosting, but don't try it in the ganache, or the ganache won't be smooth. Don't use "natural" single-ingredient peanut butter.
Don't use dark chocolate in the ganache, as it makes it too thick. The cake is rich enough that a not-too-rich semisweet chocolate works fine.
This recipe makes a 2 layer cake, instead of a 3 layer cake as written in 2013. Cake and ganache were reduced by half. I've made roughly a 60% amount of frosting as compared to the original recipe.
This cake recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes.
Calorie counts calculated in MyNetDiary and are an estimate only.
Originally written 2013 and rewritten in 2020. Completely rewritten, with updated and corrected quantities, in May 2025.
Nutrition
Calories: 560kcal
