Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Add this recipe for the Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake to your list of delicious desserts to make!

My husbands birthday was last week. He always wants a confetti cake with confetti icing. It’s a good cake – but it’s boring. I doesn’t take much effort at all. Luckily for him my internet went out so I had nothing better to do than  make him a cake that was amazing!

I love the flavors of chocolate and peanut butter and this chocolate peanut butter cake has to be the best combination in the world! I have made many desserts that use peanut butter and I think this is the best recipe so far. It’s decadent and delicious and it’s a very pretty cake. It’s actually not too hard to make – so go ahead and give it a try!

Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

(Printable Recipe)

Cake:

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix + ingredients on the box
• 1 small box of instant pudding powder

Ganache:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Frosting:

• ½ cup butter, room temp (1 stick)
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
• ¼ cup milk (you can add more if you prefer a creamier frosting)
• About 10-15 peanut butter cups chopped

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350* and generously grease 2 -9 inch cake pans. Add the dry cake mix and pudding to a large bowl. Mix until the powders are combined.  Then add the ingredients listed on the box to prepare the cake.

Add the cake batter to the cake pans and bake according to the package instructions.

While the cake is baking, make the ganache. In a medium sized sauce pan add the heavy whipping cream and bring just to a boil. Remove it from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips and peanut butter until it’s melted and well combined. Add the powdered sugar, mix well, and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl (it’s better with a stand up mixer) whip together the peanut butter and butter until well combined. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time. When you have added the 3rd cup it will be a little crumbly. Add the milk and it will fluff up and become the consistency of icing. (Add more or less depending on the consistency you prefer.)

Once the cakes are complete cooled, you are ready to assemble it! Place one of the cakes on a large plate or serving platter. Add a layer of peanut butter frosting. By now the ganache has cooled, so add a layer of the chocolate ganache on top of the peanut butter icing layer.

Gently add the second layer of cake on top. Add the peanut butter icing to the sides and then to the top of the cake.

Put the sauce pan with the ganache on the stove top to soften it a little. (Around a minute on low.) You want it to be a little runny when you add it to the top of the cake. Just make sure it’s not hot so it doesn’t melt the icing on the cake.

Pour the ganache around the edges of the cake and let it drip over the edges. Then top with the cut up peanut butter cups.

Serve and enjoy the incredible chocolate peanut butter cake! (And make it again because it’s that good!)

It may sound like a lot of steps but it’s not that hard. You will really impress people when you make this cake.

Make sure you check out all my recipes – I love to spend time in the kitchen!

(I must apologize for the images – I did not plan on publishing this so soon but there was an overwhelming response to it on Instagram – so I had to get it published!