Our easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake is a dream come true for peanut butter cup lovers. It's a moist, rich chocolate cake stacked with fluffy peanut butter frosting and smothered in silky chocolate.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake–need I say more?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake–need I say more?This is the best Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake recipe! It takes everything I love about peanut butter cups and turns it into a show-stopping dessert. The rich, moist chocolate cake layers paired with the fluffy peanut butter frosting are totally irresistible, and the smooth chocolate frosting on top pulls it all together like a bakery-style treat. It’s the kind of cake that always gets rave reviews and recipe requests. It's perfect for birthdays, holidays, or any time you want to impress!
Check out all of my cake recipes, like German Chocolate Cake, Better than Sex Cake, Biscoff Cake, or Flourless Chocolate Cake!
How to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake:
Make Cake Batter: Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water or hot coffee until the thin batter is smooth. Pour into greased and parchment-lined round cake pans.
Bake at 350°F for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pans, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Slice each cake layer in half horizontally to make four thin layers.
Assemble and Decorate: Spread ⅓ of the peanut butter frosting on top of the first cake layer then repeat with the remaining 3 cake layers. For the chocolate frosting, combine melted butter and cocoa powder then add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat with electric mixers until smooth. Thicken or thin frosting as needed then spread chocolate frosting evenly over the outside of the cake. Optionally, pipe swirls on top of the chocolate and peanut butter cake and garnish with mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, if desired.
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Recipe
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or avocado oil)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water , or hot coffee
Peanut butter frosting
- 1 batch Peanut Butter Frosting
Chocolate Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for topping on cake, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Dry Ingredients: Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.2 cups granulated sugar, 1 ¾ cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Stir in the boiling water (your batter will be very thin–that's OK!). Pour batter into prepared cake pans.2 large eggs, 1 cup buttermilk, ½ cup oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup boiling water
- Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
- Torte: Once cakes have cooled, use a sharp serrated knife to cut each cake horizontally in half, so that you end up with four, thin cake rounds.
- Assemble: Place one cake layer on serving plate. Smooth ⅓ of the peanut butter frosting on top of that cake layer. Repeat with the remaining cake layers, adding a layer of peanut butter frosting between each layer of cake.1 batch Peanut Butter Frosting
- Chocolate Frosting: Add melted butter to a large mixing bowl. Stir in cocoa powder. Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and beat with electric mixers until smooth. Add additional powdered sugar to thicken frosting or milk to thin it, as needed.½ cup butter, 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 cups powdered sugar, ⅓ cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Use an offset spatula or butter knife to spread the frosting evenly over the outside of the cake. I piped swirls of extra chocolate and peanut butter frosting on top and topped with a mini Reese's peanut butter cup. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.12 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe March 2016. Updated September 2021 and October 2025.
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I don’t understand the negative reviews. I made the cake exactly as stated in the directions and it turned out perfectly. It was absolutely delicious. I gave my mom’s hospice nurse 2 pieces and she said that she had to have the recipe. I am going to be making the cake for the veterinary practice that I take my dog to. I will also be making the cake again for us.
Against my better judgement, I did the chocolate frosting according to the recipe. I’m so confused why this was done this way – melted butter just makes a liquid mess. I trusted the process anyway and when I put it on the cake, it completely liquided. It’s such a mess I Can’t even serve to family and had to throw it in the trash. If the attempt was buttercream, this isn’t how you make buttercream.
I haven’t used this recipe yet but I have searched high and low for a Reese’s peanut butter chocolate cake I once had in a book that never came back after loaning to a friend. Do not loan cook books to anyone. Anyway I’m going to use the cake part, it sounds like the recipe I had but the filling was only a cup of peanut butter and a Tablespoon of oil. Then the chocolate frosting over that. I baked mine in a sheet cake so I hope and pray this turns out right. The peanut butter filling in this recipe sounds like way too much sugar for me.
I followed the recipe and used 2 8 inch cake tins. They completely overflowed onto the sheet pan I had put underneath. IF I use this recipe again I will use three cake pans and not try to cut them horizontally. The recipe should state how deep the cake tins should be.
Delicious recipe! I just did two layers, so i did half of the mix in each 9″ springform pan (i prefer baking cake with them). And i did a decent amount of pb in the middle. Then piped some decorative peanut butter frosting on top to make up for less peanut butter layers! Did a pattern of pb frosting and chocolate frosting. Turned out great. Had no issues with the pb frosting not sticking together or being too thick. And no issues with the mix bubbling over using my two 9″ pans. Though one of my two cakes did slightly dip in the middle for some reason. But i think thats something i did wrong lol. Thank you!
I thought the cake was great . . . however, like many people, it rose too much and I needed to bake it for an hour (because I only used ONE deep baking dish) and even then it still had a liquid center. I will reduce the boiling water by 1/3 cup. It is a LARGE cake. The Other major issue is sugar!!! The peanut butter frosting is FAR too sweet. And then there is chocolate frosting and even Reece’s Pieces!!!! I ONLY made the PB frosting and even that is way too much. If I make again, I will reduce cake sugar, reduce boiling water/coffee, AND reduce the PB frosting by at least two-thirds! And I will only have the PB frosting (or only Reece’s Peices) but I need to find out how to make the PB frosting less sticky and more “fluffy” and easier to spread (add it to whipping cream?). I think there is great potential here just far too much sugar.
This recipe is completely wrong. I am an experienced baker and followed this recipe exact to find cake batter all in the bottom of my oven because they overflowed. Either the poster posted the wrong directions or something. The 8 inch round pans are definitely not big enough. Baker beware!
This cake was a HUGE hit!
Moist, rich marriage of two delicious flavours and I love how simple it was to make too.