This chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting is pure chocolate pb heaven! It's a simple fudgy cake with a thick layer of peanut butter goodness.
This chocolate snack cake with peanut butter frosting is the perfect quick & easy indulgent recipe! Made with a simple fudgy cake recipe based off of this dark chocolate malt snack cake and slathered with a thick layer of luscious pb frosting, this cake is sure to be your new favorite.
For more easy chocolate cake recipes, try Fudgy Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake, Dairy Free Chocolate Cake, and Mini Flourless Chocolate Cake.
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Why you'll love this chocolate peanut butter cake
- Dense, Fudgy Texture: An almost brownie-like texture, this cake is ultra chocolatey and extra fudgy!
- Luscious Peanut Butter Frosting: A swoon-worthy pb frosting that you'll want to eat by the spoonful.
- Quick & Easy Method: No electric mixer required to make this cake! It can be made and out of the oven in less than an hour 🙂
Ingredient Notes
Ingredient quantities are listed in the recipe card below. Here you'll find notes on why I chose certain ingredients, as well as ingredient substitutions.
- Cocoa Powder: This recipe calls for a combination of dutch process and black cocoa powder, however if you do not have black cocoa powder, you can use just 42g of dutch process.
- Chocolate: I recommend using bittersweet chocolate. My favorite brand is Guittard!
- Coffee: You'll need freshly brewed coffee to bloom the chocolate and cocoa powders, but alternatively you can use boiling water.
- Flour: You'll need slightly more than one cup of flour.
- Sugars: You'll need both granulated sugar and brown sugar for the cake, and powdered sugar for the frosting.
- Espresso Powder: This helps to optimize the chocolate flavor, but you can omit it.
- Leavener: You'll add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to give the cake the perfect amount of rise.
- Fat: You'll need a neutral oil, such as light tasting olive oil, for the cake, and butter for the frosting.
- Dairy: You'll need whole milk and plain greek yogurt for the cake, and a splash of heavy cream for the frosting.
- Eggs: You'll need two eggs at room temperature for the cake.
- Peanut Butter: I recommend only using a thick, creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy.
Kitchen Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Mixing Bowls
- Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
- 9" square pan
- Parchment Paper
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the cake batter and bake for about 20 minutes.
Step 2: Cool the cake completely.
STEP 3: Make the peanut butter frosting.
STEP 4: Decorate the cake and enjoy!
Expert Baking Tips
- Use any neutral oil, such as light tasting olive oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil.
- I recommend only using a thick, creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy.
- Store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to three days.
FAQ
I recommend only using a thick, creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy.
Yes, you can make this recipe as cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 16 minutes.
- Electric mixer: You'll need a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand-held electric mixer to make the frosting.
- Parchment paper: For easy removal, line the 9x9 pan with two pieces of parchment paper hanging over the sides.
- Kitchen scale: You'll need a kitchen scale to weigh all of your ingredients (read why below)!
Store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to three days.
Baking in Grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
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Kitchen Essentials
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Print📖 Recipe
Chocolate Snack Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: cake
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting is pure chocolate pb heaven! It's a simple fudgy cake with a thick layer of peanut butter goodness.
Ingredients
For the chocolate snack cake:
- 30g (⅓ cup) dutch process cocoa powder
- 12g (1 ½ tbsp) black cocoa powder
- 100g (3 ½ oz) bittersweet chocolate
- 100g (⅓ cup + 2 tbsp) hot coffee
- 140g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 100g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 53g (¼ cup) brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 65g (⅓ cup) neutral oil*
- 56g (¼ cup) whole milk (room temp)
- 56g (¼ cup) plain whole milk greek yogurt (room temp)
- 2 eggs (room temp)
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the peanut butter frosting:
- 113g (½ cup; 1 stick) unsalted butter (room temp)
- 405g (1 ½ cups) peanut butter*
- 170g (1 ½ cups) powdered sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
For the chocolate snack cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x9 inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powders, chocolate, and hot coffee together. If the chocolate does not fully melt, heat in the microwave in 20 second intervals until fully melted.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.
- To the dry ingredients, add the oil, milk, yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until fully combined.
- Add in the chocolate mixture and whisk until fully combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
For the peanut butter frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.
- Add the peanut butter and mix until fully combined.
- While mixing on low speed, slowly add the powdered sugar.
- Turn the speed up to medium, then add the salt and the heavy cream and beat until smooth.
- Frost the cake as desired and enjoy!
Notes
- Use any neutral oil, such as light tasting olive oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil.
- I recommend only using a thick, creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy.
- Store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to three days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 398
- Sugar: 26.5 g
- Sodium: 268.2 mg
- Fat: 25.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.7 g
- Protein: 8.8 g
- Cholesterol: 39.5 mg
Keywords: chocolate snack cake, chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting
Did you make this recipe? Let me know how it turned out!