38 years of Chinese sweet crazy lady livin’ on this planet, guys. I turned 38 over the weekend and destiny called: the universe told me I had to make the most epic peanut butter chocolate cake recipe I could possibly muster. How could I say no!? Peanut butter and chocolate is my deadly kryptonite, sparkling green-bright, cartoon pain crystals on another planet waiting to take me down. I wanted creamy salty sweet peanut butter frosting, rich dark chocolate cake layers and I wanted to STUFF this muthah with peanut butter cups. Then, I looked to my fave cake sistah from another mistah, Katherine Sabbath, for design inspiration – drips, shards and sweet little brightly coloured meringue kisses!
For the chocolate cake, I wanted to try something different from my usual recipe. Years ago my mother-in-law gave me The Barefoot Contessa At Home. How LOVEABLE is Ina Garten! Like a warm hug on a cold day, I used to cozy up to her show, dreaming of having a big gorgeous house with a bright and fancy kitchen. I found it so soothing and relaxing to watch. Ina and Jeffrey = dream team! I like to imagine them cuddling the shit out of each other on a perfectly comfy taupe couch while dining on crisp roast capon. I’d forgotten about Ina’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake Recipe until I came across it again on The Vanilla Bean Blog while searching for recipes. It did not fail me. The texture was so tender and springy I wanted to punch the air in CAKE VICTORY. The layers were deeply chocolate with a hint of coffee flavour.
Another year older – another year cram jammed full of life. So here it is: the motherload of cakes, the cake my husband told me “I think this might be the best cake you’ve ever made” … a little something for you all. Let’s celebrate!!! With this peanut butter chocolate cake recipe and a lifetime hashtag of #muffintop4evah.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
ingredients
For the chocolate cake
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup of Dutch process cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee, I used two shots of espresso topped up with hot water equal to 1 cup
For the peanut butter frosting
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter
- 1 cup of supermarket peanut butter, I used Kraft smooth peanut butter
- 2 cups of icing sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- dash of milk
- 2 packages of Reese’s peanut butter cups, chopped
For the chocolate glaze
- ½ cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, diced into small pieces
instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three 7-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper circles.
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Make the frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter on high speed for 1 minute.
- Scraping down the sides of the bowl, add the icing sugar, vanilla and dash of milk, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the first cake layer from the cake pan and place on a cake plate or pedestal. Frost generously with peanut butter frosting. Read here for how to frost a cake.
- Add one half of the chopped peanut butter cups on top of the frosting, pressing down into the frosting.
- Add the second layer, frost, fill with peanut butter cups.
- Add the final layer of cake, frosting the top and sides to a crumb coat.
- Chill in freezer for ten minutes to set crumb coat.
- Frost a final coat of peanut butter frosting and set aside.
Make the glaze
- Using a bain-marie or heatproof bowl set on top of boiling water, melt together the butter and chocolate.
- Mix together slowly with a wooden spoon.
- Set aside to cool for 20 minutes; it will thicken slightly. Pour on top of peanut butter frosting covered cake, using an offset spatula to gently ice the glaze to the edges of the cake for maximum dripping.
- Top the cake with chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups, meringue kisses, chocolate shards or sprinkles.
Amanda Vuu
Hey follow Scorpio! It was my birthday this weekend too! Happy birthday!!
Ohmygosh when I was 16 I would curl up with Ina Garten’s book too and dream about having a bright kitchen like hers. Oh, and Jeffrey and Ina = the epitome of cute couples.
I love the peanut butter cups between the cake layers!
xo
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
haha omg we need to start an Ina fan club. that beautiful woman has secretly or not so secretly inspired so many of us!! happy happy birthday, scorpio buddy! xo
danielle @ this picture books life
Happy Birthday! Clearly, you rocked it! :)
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
ahh thanks danielle! it was a goodie! ^__^
steph
lady, it sounds like you had a wonderful birthday!!! and dat cake!! SWOON.
i absolutely love the pic of you and your fam and your three cakes. so, so sweet :)
cheers to 38 bringing you even more joy in life!!!!
xoxo
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
ahhhh my sweet blogger BFF!!! thanks so much for the birthday wishes! xoxo
Nancy @ gottagetbaked
Happy belated birthday, Lyndsay!!! I love you so much –> “I wanted to punch the air in CAKE VICTORY” “I like to imagine them cuddling the shit out of each other on a perfectly comfy taupe couch while dining on crisp roast capon”. Damn, you’re hilarious. You make me laugh all the time by your brilliant, witty, fabulous kookiness. Please don’t ever change. And lady, you deserve those three cakes (I love the look of pure unadultered glee on your face). This PB cake is absolutely glorious – it’s gorgeous and you can’t get any better than chocolate ‘n PB. I hope you enjoyed every sweet, decadent bite!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
nancy!!! you and maybe 2.7 other people find my writing funny and actually read my posts, and for this, i thank you … and it’s why i keep on blogging sometimes, finding little gem comments like yours!! xo
gyozagirleats
that cake was as you say amazeballs!! soooo gorgeous and cute at the same time and yes rt might be right in saying the best cake yet! love this post. you are the best writer. always have been! happy 38th birthday lil sis! xo
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
sweet sister of mine … ahhh it makes me happy that you read my blog …. thank you!! love ya!!
Nicole
Oh my nom nom! Happy birthday- this is going on the bake list for sure!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
aw thanks nicole! let me know how it turns out! my bake list is so massive… haha… ^__^
janice
Oh man! Happy belated bday, you spring chicken! I feel like I never have time to read blogs, never mind comment…but oh man, what a cake!!! Mouth-watering looking and reading!! Ina’s one of my go-to’s, too! What are you going to dream up at 38, cake queen Lyndsay?!? Will check back to see! X
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
aw thank you sweet janice!! xo
Anne @ Sugar Baby Bakes
That photo of you with the three cakes is AWESOME! That’s some cakey love right there! Hope you had an amazing birthday.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
thank you anne!! i was eating cake for literally days and days. ^__^ no complaints!!
Tamsin | A Certain Adventure
Happy belated birthday, lovely lady! Here’s to many more years of you coming up with fabulous cakey creations. I love the shapes and textures on this one – those shard pieces are like sails, mountains – and they’re fantastic! x
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
thank you so much tamsin!! the textures are so fun to eat, too! thanks for stopping by! xo
Elizabeth @ SugarHero.com
Happy happy birthday Lyndsay! This cheerful cake is the perfect way to celebrate. I hope you had an amazing day! xo
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
aw thanks lady!! ^__^
Fiona
Hihi!! You made awesome cakes which make me drool hehehe can I check with your I can change the amount of coffee to buttermilk instead? As I’m allegy to caffeine. Thanks so much!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Aw thanks! Hey that’s a good question – the coffee is what makes the chocolate flavour really shine – I haven’t tried this exact recipe with only the buttermilk but you should give it a try and let me know what happens!! You might need to add a little more liquid to make up for the hot coffee – I’d add it in small increments of 1/4 cup (but don’t overmix the batter!)
Stephanie
You are so talented! How did you make the drip so picturesque? I feel like if it’s dripping on all sides at the same time, it would fall too quickly on one side etc and the white background would get smudged… but if you did one drip at a time, then the chocolate might set and become resistant to movement…
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
that is an excellent question. the drip is neither too thick nor too runny – follow the recipe exactly as noted and it should be the same consistency! let it cool enough to still have movement but not too thick… i use a cake turntable to both turn the cake slowly and use an offset spatula at the same time to coax the chocolate from the center to the sides of the cake then dripping down … good luck and thanks for the question!
TL
Hi Lindsay,
I just discovered your blog. I love it! How can I subscribe? I’m not on Facebook or anything like that so e-mail notifications are best.
Cheers!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi – you can subscribe through a blog reader such as Feedly or Bloglovin! Hope that helps, thank you for your sweet comment!