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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.
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe March 2016. Updated September 2021 and October 2025.
My husband wanted a choc Pb cake for his birthday and BOY did this moist cake deliver!! Easy, fast and absolutely delicious!!
Cake and frostings were amazing. Definitely my favorite chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting ever. I did have one problem with the recipe-when I made the cakes, they both sunk a little in the middle, even though I did not open the oven. I thought I had not mixed the hot water in carefully enough so I made it again and was extra careful, but they still sunk. I cut the top uneven part off of each of my four cake rounds, and was able to use the bottom part to make four thin layers, but not sure what I did wrong.
DO NOT MAKE IN 8X8. They were very full but I baked according to directions. The batter is all over the bottom of my oven. This was my Sons birthday cake. So sad!
Bussin
I loved the recipe! I modified it slightly, but it was a huge hit! I used 1.5 cups sugar instead of 2 cups. My new philosophy is let the frosting provide most of the sweetness instead of the cake. I did use coffee. I frosted with the peanut butter frosting recipe provided. Be warned, it is very thick. It was tasty tho! And I finished it with a chocolate ganache drizzle (3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips + 1/2 cup whipping cream). And topped it with a single crumbled Reese’s. Was delicious!!
Made this cake for my daughter in law’s birthday supper. She is a chocolate and Reese’s peanut butter cup lover. It was easy to make and the frosting easy to spread. The cake was a hit. My second son who is not a dessert eater said that he loved the cake. I will certainly keep this recipe for another celebration.
This cake is amazing! I added semi-sweet morsels just for texture and it is perfect!
Made this for chocolate/pb-loving daughter-in-law’s birthday and it was a hit! And such great presentation…beautiful on a cake stand! And actually, we liked it even better the next day after it had been well-refrigerated. When it was well-chilled the slices also stayed together better even when cut thin.
This was amazing. When I tasted the peanut butter frosting I ended up making a second batch to use in peanut butter cups. Very similar ( we thought identical) to Hershey’s peanut butter cups. Gorgeous recipe and definitely a keeper.
Cake itself is fantastic; perfectly dense, moist and deeply flavored. The Peanut Butter Frosting, however, was a nightmare. Would not stick to the cake and began to separate within a few minutes. Wasn’t sure about those untraditional proportions (PB to butter ratio should be nearly identical) but I trusted it and ended up with a mess I’m embarrassed to serve. I’m glad it worked out for others, but I’ll be sticking with my traditional peanut butter frosting recipe.