This is the perfect peanut butter cake recipe. It has the great taste of peanut butter without being overwhelming. I canโt wait to make it again and share it with friends! ~Marci

This old fashioned peanut butter cake is a winner!
Peanut butter cake is a good old Southern potluck staple. It starts with a base of moist peanut butter sheet cake. Then hot peanutty frosting gets poured right over the warm cake, and the whole thing gets showered with roasted peanuts. Just. Divine.
I can’t imagine there are too many of you out there who wouldn’t enjoy this old fashioned sheet cake. I loved everything about it. Starting with the cake itself; peanut butter does something wonderful to the texture. It’s not too sweet, just the way I like it, and very pillowy and moist. And I can’t even with that frosting.
gather your ingredients
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- peanut butter
- I love Jiff for its flavor and texture. Regular creamy pb works best. Natural peanut butter, the kind that separates with an oily layer at the top, doesn’t work as well for baking.
- butter
- eggs
- vegetable oil
- buttermilk
- the buttermilk in the cake and in the frosting gives this cake its Southern charm.
- confectioner’s sugar
- baking soda, salt
- vanilla extract
- crushed peanuts
The hot peanut butter frosting is like peanutty caramel, so good
If you’ve tried my Brown Sugar Peach Cake or my Pumpkin Praline Cake, you might have an inkling about this one. The frosting is cooked in a saucepan, and then literally poured right over the cake. It sets up immediately, almost like fudge or caramel. You have to work quickly, but your reward is that saucepan with a thin layer of peanut frosting clinging to the sides…Let’s just say I stood there scraping it with a spoon for an embarrassingly looooong time.
we love caramel
- Pumpkin Layer Cake with Caramel Frosting
- Caramel Frosted Zucchini Pecan Bars
- Salted Caramel Pot de Crรจme
- Caramel Apple Sheet Cake
- Caramel Apple Bundt Cake
whisk up peanut cake batter right in a saucepan!
The batter is thin enough that you can whisk it up in a saucepan, no mixer or extra bowl needed. That makes this amazing cake dangerously easy to throw together (it could get habit forming.)
the bottom line
The older this site gets, the longer my favorites list gets, but I’m looking you straight in the eye when I say this peanut butter cake is a goodie. You’ll love it, and it will serve you well if you need an easy dessert to bring anywhere this season. The 9×13 cake can serve up to 24 people, right out of the pan. Try it.
“I never bake but I made this for my son’s birthday and my whole family thinks it may be the best cake they ever ate. The frosting is so good, like a peanut butter caramel.
Thanks for a great recipe!!” ~Gerry
Peanut Butter Cake
Video
Equipment
- standard 9×13 baking pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter Note: I used regular peanut butter for this recipe, 'natural'peanut butter does not work as well.
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 6 Tbsp buttermilk, you might need a touch more if your frosting is too stiff
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
garnish
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9×13 pan with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Heat the butter and water in a medium/large saucepan until it comes to a boil. Take off the heat and whisk in the peanut butter and oil until smooth. Let cool for a few minutes, then whisk in the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until well blended.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a cooling rack while you make the frosting.
- To make the frosting, put the butter, peanut butter, and buttermilk in a saucepan and bring to a full boil. Take off the heat and beat in the vanilla and powdered sugar, adding a cup at a time, until the frosting is smooth. I like to put it back on a gentle heat just to rewarm it, stirring constantly, before pouring over the cake. Note: if your frosting is very stiff and not pourable, add a little bit more buttermilk to thin it out.
- Pour the hot frosting over the warm cake, working quickly because the frosting sets up immediately. Spread evenly over cake.
- Garnish with peanuts.
Notes
- Make it chunky!ย Yes, of course, go ahead and use chunky PB for this cake.ย I would still use smooth for the frosting, but that’s your call.
Very yummy cake and smells terrific cooking. I’ve made this twice. Both times the batter was very runny and I had to bake longer to get it done and still seemed somewhat undercooked .There is a very high liquid to solid ratio for a cake. Next time I am going to reduce the water and see if that helps without affecting the moistness. The cooked icing is 5 star!
This is a moist cake Lallen, but if it’s too moist for you I think a little less water will help. Let us know!
I just made this cake and my family loves it, even went back for seconds in the same day. This cake reminded me of when I was in Elementary School a looooong time ago and used to get school lunches. I havenโt seen or had a peanut butter cake since. I have had this recipe open to remind me to make it. So delicious and moist.
I’m so glad you made this cake Tara, I sometimes have recipes lying around for years before I actually get around to making them ๐
What could I use in place of the buttermilk. I donโt usually have that on hand. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks, in advance.
Deb Snyder
You can substitute any milk for the buttermilk, Deb, it should be fine.
Can u give me quantities in lbs and loss instead of cups please from NI we don’t tend to measure in cups
Hi Jacqui ~ I don’t have that info for this recipe but you can plug in the ingredients to this converter http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm) to get that. Hopefully I will be able to provide both measurements in the future, I’m working on that.
There’s a note with the buttermilk in the cake ingredients advising that you may need a touch more if your “frosting” is too stiff. Should this note be with the frosting, and not the cake ingredients?
thank you ๐ fixed.
I wanted to try this before using it for a big group, made an 11″x7″ pan and halved the recipe. All I can say is YUM, I loved the batter (of course I taste test batters) and I am eating hot cake right now, couldn’t wait. How have I missed this all my peanut butter loving life?!
Haha, I’m all for giving recipes a ‘test run’ Coleen, enjoy!
Whomever said to refrigerate it was right, thatโs great. I also tried an even more decadent option, 1/2 cake in the full size pan plus normal frosting, about a 1:1 ratio, OMG
yum…
Can you do this for cupcakes? If so, 12 or 24? Also, I use all natural peanut butter without sugar, should I add extra sugar to be safe?
I think this should work for cupcakes, Amy, and it will make 24, I’m guessing, but watch the cooking time. No need to add extra sugar if you use natural pb.
Thank you so much! I’ll let you know the results with timing!
I made the cake yesterday for 4th of July dinner. It was fabulous. Followed recipe exactly, baked it in glass 9×13 pan for 40 minutes, and it came out of the oven looking scrumptious. Wow, what a great recipe. Thanks so much.
I made this cake today for a 4th of July party and it had great reviews! I made it in a cookie sheet with sides like a sheet cake. I think I’ll adjust the measurements a little to make more batter for both the cake and the frosting. Any suggestions if you’ve already done that? What would you say is the cook time. I did 35 min and it was too long.
I made this last week and it was great. I really like all your recipes but some are over the top.
Thanks Charlotte, I’m so glad you liked it ๐
Does the cake need to be refrigerated?
I tend to leave cakes out for a day or two, and then refrigerate.