Peanut Butter & Jelly Cake – peanut butter cake with brown sugar peanut butter frosting, strawberry jam and chopped peanuts! A new layer cake recipe by our contributor, Tessa Huff.
Slowly but surely, summer is coming to a close. While some of us are soaking in the last bits of vacation, it’s back-to-school time for the rest. Time to pack away the sandy swimsuits , campfire-scented tents, and sun-soaked picnic blankets. But if you must drag yourself to school when you wish you could be playing in the warmth of the lingering summer sun, at least there is cake.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake, to be exact.
Is there anything better than a classic PB&J? The kind on squishy white bread made with creamy peanut butter and sweet, gloppy jelly that oozes with every bite? As an adult, I’ve tried to refine this nostalgic treat with toasted whole grain braid, natural almond butter, and small-batch jam, but there is really nothing quite like the original. Instead of trying to re-invent a tried-and-true classic, I decided to turn those signature flavors into a cake!
Instead of just the peanut butter frosting that I am sure all of us have tried or topped cupcakes with before, I tried to think of a couple new ways to incorporate peanut butter into a layer cake. The cake layers themselves are baked with creamy peanut butter straight in the batter then slathered with sweet strawberry jam. But the star of this cake is definitely the Brown-Sugar Peanut Butter Buttercream. It tastes just like honey roasted peanuts! To finish, seedless jam was used to create a beautiful, almost glass-like finish on the top of the cake surrounded with kisses of more nutty buttercream. Coat the sides of the cake with chopped peanuts for extra crunch, if desired.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake
Peanut butter cake with brown sugar peanut butter frosting, strawberry jam and chopped peanuts!
- Yield: One 6" Round Cake (3 layers)
- Category: ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽
Ingredients
For the Peanut Butter Cake:
- 2 ¼ cup cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Brown Sugar Peanut Butter Frosting:
- ¾ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
- 3 egg whites
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
For the Assembly:
- seedless strawberry jelly
- chopped peanuts, optional
Instructions
Make the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 6-inch cake pans.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and peanut butter until creamy. Add in the sugar and mix on medium for about 3 minutes.
- Decrease the speed to low and add in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low, add in half of the flour mixture. Stream in the milk and mix until incorporated. Add in the remaining flour and mix until combined.
- Evenly divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for about 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans.
Make the Frosting:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.
- Place bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double-boiler. Whisking constantly, heat the egg mixture until it registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. Carefully transfer the bowl onto the stand mixer.
- Using the whisk attachment, beat the egg white mixture on high speed for 8 to 10 minutes until the bowl is no longer warm to the touch and the meringue is fluffy, glossy and holds a stiff peak.
- Switch to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on medium-low, add in the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix until incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and mix until silky smooth.
- Add in the peanut butter and mix to combine. At any point does the buttercream appear curdled, just keep mixing. If the buttercream appears soupy, try placing it in the refrigerator for about 10 to 15 minutes then mixing again.
Assemble the Cake:
- Place one layer of cake onto serving plate or cake stand. Pipe a ring of buttercream to create a frosting “dam” to prevent the jam filling from leaking (see this post if you’ve never created a buttercream dam before). Spread a layer of strawberry jam within the dam. Repeat with second cake layer, another dam, more strawberry jam and then the last layer of cake. Crumb coat and frost cake with remaining buttercream.
- Pipe a ring of icing around the top edge using an open star tip. Fill center with more strawberry jam and smooth. Decorate with chopped peanuts around bottom edge, if desired.
- Store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
- This recipe was made with creamy peanut butter, like Jif or Skippy, not the natural types.
- Cake recipe may be baked in two 8-inch pans. Adjust bake time accordingly and be sure to test doneness by inserting a toothpick in to the center of the cakes. If it comes out clean or with a few crumbs, it is done.
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cake
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Butterfinger Cupcakes
Banana Choco Hazelnut Cake
Apple Toffee Crunch Cake
Walnut Cake
Wow what a gorgeous cake! Love the way you decorated it with the chopped peanuts and the jam topping, looks terrific and delicious too 🙂
no one does cakes and cake design quite like tessa!! i love this one – especially those chopped up peanuts as “sprinkles” on the side – so cute and stylish and most of all – DELICIOUS SOUNDING!
that cake is magical, Not sure I can make it perfect as you do 🙁
i love the sound of a honey roasted peanut tasting buttercream, especially when it’s smbc! and the jam on top almost looks like a gelee, it’s so shiny (i mean that in a very good way).
Look delicious and planning to try it today. When you say brown sugar, do you mean the light or the dark kind?
Either light or dark would be delicious!
That cake looks so amazing! What exact Strawberry jam/jelly did you use?
Thanks!!!
Tessa used a seedless strawberry jelly. Go for a brand that you love in your PB&J sandwich. Grape would be delicious too!
YES! PB & J is my favorite. Now I can turn it into a dessert!!!
gah!!! these look incredible!
It is one beautiful cake I’m thinking of trying for Thanksgiving thanks for the idea!!
The concept of this cake sounds likes a good brunch dessert. I associate peanut butter and jelly as either a morning or midnight snack. but to try to make this cake seems like it can be eaten for anytime of day! For the peanut butter and jelly part, any would suffice? I want to try to make this cake for my brother and sisters who are obsessed with PB&J. Thank you for sharing!
What the what?!! This looks awesome
Looks amazing! How does the jam on top look so smooth? Did you add water it?
If your jelly won’t spread smooth, heat it in the microwave for a second or two until it’s loose enough to spread. Be careful not to overhead as hot jelly could melt the buttercream and/or drip too much.
Looks really tasty
Hi there, can’t wait to make this for my American boyfriend (we now live in Sydney Australia!!) but I was wondering what the piping tip you used for the top is?
Yuuummmm!!!!
Tessa used a Wilton 6B to pipe the stars on top.
Great cake. Made it any everyone loved it. Here’s my take and answers to some of the questions posted in the comments:
https://whatthedogate.blogspot.com/2016/08/happy-blogiversary-peanut-butter-and.html
This cake looks gorgeous BUT the cake batter is to thick. Also I had to double it to make 3 normal size cakes. The two small ones I did initially make were very flat. I will be finding a better recipe.
Hi Terrie – sorry to hear you had trouble with this recipe. Were you using 6″cake pans? This recipe will make enough for three 6″ rounds.
Made this cake for my cousin’s birthday. The cake came out dry and crumbly 🙁 I followed the steps as close as possible..any insights? My thought could be the peanut butter used.
Um, possibly it was the peanut butter. Did you use a creamy brand, like Jif or Skippy? Another possibility is that it just baked a little too long. You might enjoy this article about baking time and how just a few minutes can really make a difference in the final texture. Hope it helps! https://thecakeblog.com/2017/04/baked-to-perfection.html
would it be possible to use 3 8 in cake tins? I don’t have any 6 in ones. What would I need to do to convert to 8 in instead. Thank you
I made this for my boyfriends birthday. My guests loved it and said it tasted just like a pb & j sandwich. I wanted to just eat the frosting out of the bowl it was so tasty. Thank you for writing such clear instructions in the recipe. It was my first time using a double boiler and a piping bag so I was thankful to have clear directions. It did take me 4 hours to make…but it was worth ever minute of it. My guests loved it and the cake made a happy memory for my bfs birthday.