This is the perfect peanut butter cake recipe. It has the great taste of peanut butter without being overwhelming. I can’t 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 Crème
- 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! Yes, of course, go ahead and use chunky PB for this cake. I would still use smooth for the frosting, but that’s your call.
Nutrition
I made the peanut butter cake last night. It is very moist even this morning! I used crunchy peanut cake for batter. The icing tastes just like peanut butter fudge my grandmother made from a cookbook complied by N Y herald Tribune in 1930’s. Also I chopped the peanuts that I put over the icing.
I made this cake yesterday (recipe as is) and it was too sweet that no one in my family could handle it. So I tried it again today and changed some things… I cut the sugar by half, and also used brown sugar and white sugar mixed…so 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. Instead of 1 cup water, I used 1 cup regular milk which seems like a no brainer to me, but I don’t know all the rules of baking, as I’m just learning by kinda teaching myself) but the idea of putting water in a cake mix does sound as good as milk does so I gave it a try. And by the way, I looked up many peanut butter cake recipes and it seems that most of them use water, I don’t understand why… I just don’t get it, but anyway, I used milk and it turned out great! Also, just for fun I threw in 2 packages of instant oatmeal, and last I skipped the icing altogether because that was ridiculously sweet it just made me feel sick. Instead I used a cinnamon brown sugar crumb topping and that was the perfect touch…not too sweet and a little crunch on top. Thank you for your recipe, it was a great base for me to fine tune to my family’s liking.
What would happen if i used milk instead of water?
I haven’t tried but I’m sure you could.
I am new to baking cakes, but the idea of adding water doesn’t seem appealing, so I’m wondering if you could just add more buttermilk or oil if it need more wet…or does the water serve a purpose?
This particular cake has a thin batter, and the water helps balance out the thick peanut butter. The balance is just right, so I’d stick with the water and not substitute oil or buttermilk.
This cake is excellent,easy to make, and very moist!
What kind of flour did you use bleach or unbleach?
Thank you, Kim
I usually buy unbleached flour. Glad you liked it Kim 🙂
The water, buttermilk and baking soda gives all cakes very moist and not dry and crumbly. If using regular cake pans for a stacked cake, put waxed paper in the bottom of your pans. Let cakes cool about ten minutes before turning onto plates and it won’t tear up. A little advise from a 75 yo cook?
Hi! What would be the best way to store this cake if I am making it the night before? Thanks!
I would store it loosely covered on the counter.
So excited to try this cake! Just wondering after reading some comments. Should I throw it in the freezer for an hour after baking, and if so is that before or after the frosting gets applied? Thanks.
I don’t put the cake in the freezer at all Jenn, in fact you need to pour the hot frosting over the cake while it is still warm.
can you make this in a larger pan? (Like a cake mold)
Do you mean a bundt pan, or something similar? I haven’t tried that but I think it should work.
Can this cake freeze well with the frosting?
I am writing this review because this cake is very good as is! If you change nothing, you Wil be happy! However, after a few test runs (3), I realize a few minor changes make the cake *subjectively* better.
I made this cake for my dad’s 66th birthday. I made 3 “very very mini” test batches in the days before. The moistest cake was achieved with all brown sugar, heaping measurements of peanut butter and flipping the amounts of water and buttermilk. The flour was measured with the “spoon and sweep method”.
The cake was removed from the oven when a fork inserted in the center was moist (not dough, but moisture). I then put the whole cake in the freezer immediately to cool it down completely, about an hour. Anyway, the cake is moist and while the peanut butter flavor is mild, the cake wa’ll is perfect paired with peanut butter buttercream. Yum!
Thanks Krysta ~ I’ve done that freezer method with cakes before, it’s an interesting one!