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It’s been 9 weeks since we shared a layered cake recipe.
9 whole, long, cake-less weeks. Womp womp. But I promise that this one is so good that I think it was worth waiting 9 weeks for!
I am pretty sure I say this with every cake I share (I am biased!) but this one is over the top delicious.
To break it down, it’s chocolate cake paired with peanut butter, dripping with chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate shards drizzled in peanut butter and peanut butter cup pieces.
I thought about putting peanut butter cup pieces in-between each layer, but somehow when you open a bag of reese’s peanut butter cups, a lot of them disappear ;) Perhaps there will be another cake with peanut butter cups in-between//the layers in the future! Or you can definitely add them in when making this recipe.
This is kind of cheesy, but my favorite part about making a cake is drizzling it in some kind of topping, usually chocolate ganache.
Before the ganache, I usually think the cake is just a boring cylinder. But once I start spooning on the chocolate, that’s when the cake starts to come alive! It’s my favorite part, hands down. I actually took the concept of chocolate dripping and covering a cake and creatively applied it to my faith, haha.
The idea of wanting this season of my life to be dripping with Jesus, allowing him to cover every part of my life as been in the forefront of my mind. I love the imagery and analogy of dripping because it’s such a strong visual whenever I make a cake.
Anyways, a little cake and a little Jesus :)
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
This peanut butter chocolate cake recipe is AMAZING! Chocolate cake paired with peanut butter buttercream and dripping with chocolate ganache.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake (This recipe makes three 6 inch cakes)
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 cup)
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla
- ⅔ cup + 1/4 cup sour cream
- 3 tbsp melted chocolate, cooled
Peanut Butter Buttercream
- 2 sticks butter, room temperature (1 cup)
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 4-7 cups powdered sugar
Chocolate Shards
- ½ cup chocolate chips or chocolate candy melts
- ½ tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp melted peanut butter, for drizzling
Chocolate Ganache
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
Additional
- Peanut butter cups, chopped into smaller pieces
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Using butter grease the bottom and sides of three 6 inch round cake pans or springform pans and line the bottoms with a round piece of parchment paper. To ensure even baking, place a bake even strip around each pan. You can make your own homemade bake even strip by cutting a towel or shirt to fit the size of your pan. Get the fabric really wet, then squeeze out the dripping water but do not squeeze it too dry. Secure the fabric around the pan with a safety pin.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently mix using a spoon.
- In a larger mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla, lightly beat.
- Add in the sour cream and melted chocolate, mix by hand using a spatula.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, do not dump it in, rather take spoonfuls of the flour mixture and gently shake it over the wet ingredients. Fold in the mixture until no flour remains. Repeat with the other half of the flour, folding it in and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate everything.
- Evenly divide the batter between the 3 pans, with about 1 & 1/3 cups to 1 & 1/2 cups in each pan.
- Bake for 22 minutes. Then loosely cover the pans with foil. Continue to bake for 7-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Once the cake is done baking, allow it to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, carefully remove the cake from the pan. If using a springform pan, remove the sides and bottom. Allow the cake to cool completely on a cooling rack. Once cool, remove the parchment paper round from the bottom of the cake. If you need to level the top of your cake, do so now using either a cake lever or knife.
- If you’ll be assembling the cake later, wrap the cake layers really good in plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator. They will be good for up to 5 days.
- Peanut Butter Buttercream
- In a mixing large bowl, combine the butter and vegetable shortening, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy.
- Add in the peanut butter, beat using electric mixer.
- Begin to add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing by hand first, then with the electric mixer. Continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting isn't too wet and tastes good to you.
Chocolate Shards
- Melt the chocolate or candy melts with the vegetable oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir with a spatula melt smooth and melted.
- Place a plastic cutting board or metal baking sheet on the counter. Place a large piece of wax paper on top of the flat surface.
- Pour the melted chocolate on top of the wax paper. Use a spatula to smooth the chocolate into an even layer all around the wax paper.
- Place another piece of wax paper on top of the melted chocolate and gently smooth out any air bubbles.
- Place the cutting board or baking sheet with the wax paper on it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove it from the freezer and allow it to warm up for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the top layer of wax paper, break the chocolate into shards (any size or shape you want).
- Drizzle melted peanut butter over the shards, place them in the freezer to set the peanut butter or until you're ready to use them.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place chocolate chips in a medium heat-proof bowl.
- In a small pot over low heat, heat the heavy cream until boiling.
- Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips. Allow the mixture to stand for 1-2 minutes.
- Use a spatula to stir the mixture until smooth.
- Allow the ganache to come to room temperature before adding it to the cake.
How to assemble the cake
- Spread a small amount of buttercream on a 6 inch round cardboard cake circle. Place your first layer of cake on top of the cardboard. Put buttercream on top of the first layer and spread it as even as possible with an offset spatula. Decide how much or how little frosting you want in-between each layer, you can measure the frosting, I use 1/3 to 1/2 cup in between each layer.
- Repeat this process for each layer of cake. Once all of the layers are stacked and frosted, spread some frosting (the same amount as you did between the layers) on the top of the cake.
- Next, it’s time to do a crumb coat. The crumb coat will help seal the crumbs in. Using your offset spatula, spread a thin layer of buttercream around the sides and the top of the cake. It’s easiest to start off with more frosting on the cake and remove some as needed.
- Place the entire cake in the freezer or fridge for 20 minutes to harden the crumb coat.
- Begin to add the second layer of frosting. Spread an even layer of frosting on the top of the cake. Next either pipe on the frosting or spread on the frosting around the sides of the cake. Use a spatula or icing smoother to smooth out the frosting, scraping off excess as you go. Once the frosting is uniform around the cake, use the smooth side of Viva brand paper towels and a fondant smoother to smooth out any imperfections. Place the paper towel on the cake and gently rub the fondant smoother around. Repeat this process, moving the paper towel all around the cake.
- Transfer the cake to your desired serving plate. Using a piping bag and a piping tip (I used a wilton round tip) to pipe a border of buttercream around the bottom of a cake.
- Once the ganache is room temperature, use a spoon to drizzle the ganache around the sides of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Fill in the middle of the cake with ganache and spread evenly with the back of the spoon. Allow the ganache to set for 10 minutes.
- Top the cake with various chocolate shards and peanut butter cup pieces.
- Slice and serve!
Nutrition
Calories: 724kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 106mg | Sodium: 466mg | Potassium: 212mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 51g | Vitamin A: 837IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!
Do you use unsalted butter for the icing?
Yes!
Hello, Do you think I will need to alter the recipe at all for a 7.5 inch pan? Perhaps make more batter? I was going to make two 7.5 inch cakes and halve them. What about buttercream?
Thank you :)
Made this today, it looks great and tastes awesome! Thanks so much for the recipe!!
This cake looks amazing!! I’m actually making it for my sisters birthday!! Any tips? also is vegetable shorting a must use ingredient or can I use a ingredient subsitbe?
You can use butter in place of the shortening.
The cake looks scrumptious! I want to make larger as well as another reviewer. I will double the recipe to fill 2 10” round layers but my question is the baking time and temp. What do you recommend? Thanks!
Hi Maria! Still have at the regular oven temperature. I would google to see how long others bake 10 inch cakes for and adjust the baking time from there!
Hello how.much is a stick of butter? I live in England.ounces or grams please
This cake looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it!!
Do you have a recommendation on chocolate chips or chocolate that you melt? Thank you!