This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake is the perfect treat for chocolate and peanut butter lovers! It features rich, moist chocolate cake layers paired with a luxuriously creamy peanut butter frosting. Every bite offers the perfect balance of deep cocoa flavor and nutty, buttery goodness—making it the ultimate sweet-and-salty dessert!
Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Rich & Moist Chocolate Cake
This isn’t just any chocolate cake—this recipe delivers an incredibly soft, moist texture with a rich, deep chocolate flavor in every bite. It’s based on my chocolate sheet cake recipe, which has received over 45 five-star reviews to date! The combination of Dutch-processed cocoa and strong hot coffee enhances the richness, making every bite intensely chocolatey and satisfying.
Creamy & Smooth Peanut Butter Frosting
Don’t even get me started on the peanut butter frosting—it’s truly the star of the show! Ultra-creamy, silky smooth, and perfectly sweetened, it’s made with real peanut butter and a touch of cream to create a lighter, more luscious texture. The nutty, velvety frosting provides the perfect contrast to the rich chocolate cake. This is the same frosting I use in my original peanut butter cake recipe, which has over 70 five-star reviews to date!
A Perfect Flavor Balance
Chocolate and peanut butter are a match made in dessert heaven! The deep cocoa flavor pairs beautifully with the nutty, slightly salty notes of the frosting, creating a well-balanced, irresistible treat. It’s like Reese’s peanut butter cups, but in cake form—YUM!
Some chocolate peanut butter cakes also use a chocolate ganache either in the centre of the cake (as a filling), or as a chocolate drip on the top. You can totally add chocolate ganache to your cake if you like, however, I found that it took away from the peanut butter flavor, so decided to leave it out for this recipe 🙂
Easy to Make with Simple Ingredients
Despite its indulgent flavor and ultra-creamy texture, this chocolate peanut butter cake is surprisingly easy to make using pantry staples. Whether you’re baking for a special occasion or simply satisfying a sweet craving, this foolproof recipe is perfect for bakers of all skill levels.
Using the Right Peanut Butter
When it comes to choosing the right peanut butter for the frosting, a smooth and creamy variety works best. Stick to classic, no-stir peanut butter brands like Jif, Skippy, or a similar option, as they provide a consistent texture and balanced sweetness. Natural peanut butter, which tends to separate and can sometimes have a runny consistency, can make the frosting too oily and difficult to whip properly, so it’s best to avoid it.
For the best results, use room-temperature peanut butter to ensure it blends seamlessly into the butter and cream, creating a silky, pipeable frosting.
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
You can find the full ingredients list for this recipe in the recipe card at the end of the blog post (for easy navigation, hit the ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the blog post). Here is a quick visual breakdown of the recipe (recipe video is also provided in the recipe card below).
Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional and grease two 8 inch cake pans (I use my homemade cake release). Line the bottoms with parchment paper as well.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a whisk or spoon, mix until well combined and set aside for now.
In a large bowl add in brown sugar, white sugar, milk, melted butter, unflavored vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. Using a whisk, mix until well combined.
Add in the presifted dry ingredients from earlier to the wet ingredients and mix with a whisk until just combined. Do not overmix.
Add in hot coffee and mix with a whisk until well combined. The mixture should be smooth, but avoid overmixing.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans from earlier. Drop the cake pans lightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles and bake for 38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
Allow the cakes to cool in the cake pans for 20 minutes, before carefully turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Peanut Butter Buttercream
In a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer if using one), add in butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, cream, peanut butter and salt.
Mix on the lowest speed until the ingredients are combined (about a minute), and then turn up the speed to a medium high and mix for a full 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl half way through. If using a stand mixer, then use the paddle attachment.
The frosting should be silky smooth and it’s now ready to use!
Assembly
Begin by levelling the tops of the cake layers so that they’re nice and flat.
Place the first cake layer onto your cake stand/serving plate and spread out a generous amount of frosting (I use my offset spatula).
Place your second cake layer on top and spread out a generous amount of frosting on the top and sides. You can use a cake scraper to smooth out the edges (see video demonstration). If you don’t want any cake crumbs getting into the frosting, then I recommend doing a crumb coat first. Check out this video for more tips on how to do that.
Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip on it and pipe swirls around the top of the cake. You can also decorate the top with chocolate chips or whatever else you like! Slice and enjoy 🙂
How to Store Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
This cake can be kept at room temperature overnight, but due to the cream in the frosting, it’s best to refrigerate it after a day. While the sugar and fat in the frosting help preserve it for a short time, refrigeration ensures freshness and food safety.
To prevent the cake from drying out, store it in an airtight container before placing it in the fridge. When ready to serve, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften for the best texture and flavor.
Moist Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1¾ cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (75 g) cocoa powder - Dutch-processed preferred (see note 1)
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt - only use ½ tsp if using salted butter in this recipe
- 1 cup (200 g) soft light brown sugar
- 1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (180 g) milk - room temperature, whole milk
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter - melted
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavored vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 2 large eggs - room temperature
- 2½ tsps vanilla extract/essence
- ¾ cup (180 g) strong hot coffee - I use 1 tbsp instant coffee powder in 180g (¾ cup) hot water, but you can use espresso as well
Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1¼ cups (283 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 2½ cups (300 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing or confectioners' sugar
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract/essence
- ⅓ cup (80 g) heavy cream - room temperature
- ¾ cup (195 g) peanut butter - use a smooth, creamy version
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 2 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8 inch cake pans (I use my homemade cake release). Line the bottoms with parchment paper as well.
- Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined and set aside for now.
- In a large bowl add in brown sugar, white sugar, milk, melted butter, unflavored vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. Using a whisk, mix until well combined.
- Add in the presifted dry ingredients from earlier to the wet ingredients and mix with a whisk until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Add in hot coffee and mix with a whisk until well combined. The mixture should be smooth, but avoid overmixing.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans from earlier. Drop the cake pans lightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles and bake for 38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the cake pans for 20 minutes, before carefully turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Peanut Butter Frosting
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer if using one), add in butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, cream, peanut butter and salt.
- Mix on the lowest speed until the ingredients are combined (about a minute), and then turn up the speed to a medium high and mix for a full 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl half way through. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- The frosting should be silky smooth and it's now ready to use! See note 3 if your frosting isn't light and smooth, or too soft. See video or blog post above for tips on how to assemble and decorate the cake. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
19 Comments
All your cakes are delicious and most importantly fool proof. I’ll be trying this one out this weekend for my friend’s birthday.
Thanks so much Kalyani! Hope you love the recipe 😀
Delicious! Creamy and moist. Good balance of flavours
Thanks so much Maia! So glad you loved the recipe 😀
This cake is a winner…we loved it, my daughter took the leftovers to school and her friends raved about it …would definitely make it again
Such a good recipe! Now I want to try them all. I made a half recipe in a 9-inch springform pan. The cake is perfectly moist and dense, and I think I could eat the whole bowl of frosting myself!
Thanks so much Emilee! So glad you enjoyed the cake 😀
thank you!! it is a wonderful cake:) you are the best
You’re so welcome Danielle! So glad you loved the recipe 😀
Made this cake and it was gone in less than two days. The recipe was very easy to follow both on the website and the video. Absolutely delicious.
Yay! So glad you loved the recipe Hazel 😀
Absolutely delicious!! And will most definitely be making again 😋
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Kelly 🙂
Can almond flour be used in this recipe?
Hi Patricia! 🙂 Unfortunately I haven’t tried almond flour myself and my best guess is that it won’t work well in this recipe as the cakes may not have enough structure. So sorry about that!
Love that all the weights were included in this recipe. I made a half batch and baked in them in 12 large patty pans. Oven time about 17 mins. They were a little too full so a muffin pan would have been better. The butter cream is so nice and creamy, the cake itself so easy to make. My patty cakes are so soft and fluffy. A beautiful decadent, naughty treat. I didn’t have the Dutch cocoa but still it looks dark and is nice and rich.
I like to do patty cakes so its one serve, and you can pipe the icing which makes it look amazing.
Icing a cake, it never works for me, it makes me sad. Lol.
Thanks for the great recipe I want to try your red velvet cake next.
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback Katrina! So glad you loved the cake and that it turned out well as patty cakes 😀
This looks amazing! can’t wait to try to out inshaAllah! Regarding the baking soda, I thought if one uses dutch processed cocoa powder, then the baking soda should be omitted or else it will create a weird metallic taste. Or is it okay to use them together when baking a cake?
Thanks so much Nora! 😀
Yes you’re correct in that Dutch processed cocoa powder won’t activate the baking soda, however the brown sugar and coffee in the recipe will help to activate the baking soda as they’re both acidic so won’t leave that metallic taste 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!