Peanut Butter Dream Cake – Peanut butter cake layers, peanut butter marshmallow filling and peanut butter frosting.
The Ultimate Peanut Butter Lover’s Cake
Every year I get asked if I’m going to make my own birthday cake and every year the answer is the same, ABSOLUTELY! I love making my own birthday cake, and every each year I like to do something a little different. From Sweetapolita’s Campfire Delight Cake, to Milk Bar’s Birthday Cake, to my own Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake, Candy Bar Cake or Raspberry Coconut – I really try not to discriminate flavors.
For my birthday a few years ago, I decided it was high time for a serious peanut butter cake. Not just a peanut butter frosting, but a cake with peanut butter running through every element of the cake. Yes, I love peanut butter that much. Seriously, I never get sick of it and could put it with just about any food!
Peanut Butter Dream Cake
After trying some peanut butter sandwich cookies during the holidays a while back, I fell in love with a peanut butter marshmallow filling and knew immediately that it would be the perfect filling in one of my cakes. The filling is rich, creamy and full of peanut butter flavor. I particularly love the dash of cinnamon in it!
Knowing the filling would be a little on the heavier side, it was a no brainer for me to pair it with my light and fluffy peanut butter frosting. I love how silky and smooth this frosting is! I also use my peanut butter cake recipe from my Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake.
If you love or even just like peanut butter, I think this cake is going to knock your socks off! Let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Dream Cake
Ingredients
- FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER CAKE
- 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons 366.56 g cake flour
- 3 teaspoons 12 g baking powder
- 1 teaspoon 5.6 g coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon 2.64 g cinnamon
- 3/4 cup 169.5 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup 250 g peanut butter
- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons 375 g granulated sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup 240 g buttermilk, at room temperature
- 4 teaspoons 16.8 g vanilla extract
- For the Peanut Butter Marshmallow Filling
- 3/4 cup 187.5 g chunky or smooth peanut butter (I use Skippy)
- 3/4 cup 37.5 g marshmallow creme
- 3 tablespoons 45 g milk
- 3/4 teaspoons 2 g cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons 23.4 g powdered sugar
- PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
- 5 cups 625 g powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
- 1 1/2 cups 3 sticks (339 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 1 cup 250 g creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon 4.2 g pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup 57.75 g heavy whipping cream
- Pinch of coarse salt
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping you’ll want to make an extra ½ batch.
Instructions
- For the Peanut Butter Cake
- Preheat oven to 35o degrees F. Spray three 8-inch pans or four 6-inch pans with nonstick spray, line the bottom with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a 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, then stream in the buttermilk 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 23 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans.
- For the Peanut Butter Marshmallow Filling
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, marshmallow creme, milk, and cinnamon. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar.
- FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
- In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and peanut butter. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 45 seconds.
- Add the powdered sugar to the bowl and mix in, slowly at first until incorporated, then increasing the mixer speed to high. Blend in the vanilla extract, salt and heavy whipping cream, and continue to whip on high speed until very fluffy, about 4-5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Beat frosting by hand with a wooden spoon to get air bubbles out.
- Assembly
- Place the first layer on your cake plate or cake stand and cover with about ⅓ cup frosting, followed by half of the marshmallow filling.
- Place the second layer on top and repeat this step until you get to the final cake layer, which you will place bottom-side down.
- Cover the cake with a crumb coat and chill for 10 minutes in the freezer. Continue frosting the cake with the whipped peanut butter frosting.
This may sound silly. But do you use heavy cream or whipping cream ?
I like using heavy whipping cream
Courtney, I’ve tried making this cake twice but both times my cakes fall in the center. Any suggestions?
Yes, it could be a few things: overmixing the batter, expired baking powder or baking soda, and/or your oven temperature is off internally.
Where do you buy the acrylic rounds used (on top when ) icing the cake?
I sell them actually! I have my own brand on shop.cakebycourtney.com
It looks delicious! I am going to try it. Greetings from Quito-Ecuador.
Just made this cake! It’s SO good and SO rich! The cinnamon I found to have a bigger part in the cake than I expected but paired perfectly with the peanut butter. My centers on 2 layers fell almost immediately out of the oven and the middle layer alone kept trying to crack when I was beginning to icing the cake, but I am a beginner so I’m positive it was an error on my part somewhere. Slightly undercooked perhaps and didnt set? The cake tasted great, and I somehow managed to make it look like I knew what I was doing in the end. All in all, I’m looking for my next recipe on your blog to bake. Any recommendations?! And, have you had any epic fails in the kitchen (especially when you first started out baking cakes) similar to mine? Is there any hope for me!!? Haha Thank you!
Oh heavens yes! I’ve definitely had my fair share of cake fails. With each cake, I still learn something new and find myself getting better and better. Don’t let the fails get in the way of baking more cakes. You’ll learn all the nuances of baking with every cake. I also share a lot of tips on instagram if you look up #cakebycourtneytiptuesday. Rest assure, there’s hope for you! I promise!
I made this Peanut Butter frosting for chocolate cupcakes and it was awesome!! I’d never had PB frosting, so was crossing my fingers that it would taste as good as it looks and WOW… amazing! It took a lot of will-power not to have it for breakfast on toast! I made it at 6:30am for birthday cupcakes I was taking as a surprise for a co-worker. Everyone loved them. I topped each frosted cupcake with a peanut butter cup half. Thank you for sharing your recipe. 🙂
The name of the cake is so accurate. It really was a dream! I loved it especially the delicious peanut butter marshmallow filling! My only regret is that I baked it as a 6″ cake instead of 8″ and it finished too fast!
Is the PB marshmallow filling only suppose to have 3TBSP of powdered sugar? Seems like it should have been 3 cups???? It was not a smooth creamy filling, but more of a sticky paste
I’m an empty nester but still love baking. I don’t necessarily enjoy sweets (I know, weirdo lol) but I love the baking and creating part! And of course gifting baked goods! Would you mind helping me by advising how to convert the recipe for cupcakes? I’m not really experienced in converting times and temperatures. I’ve always guessed… I plan on placing a dab of the marshmallow filling in the cupcake and ice them accordingly! Any advice would be helpful. Thank you! Love watching your videos and I follow you on IG. You are adorable!
Hi! For cupcakes, fill the liners 2/3 full with batter. Keep the temperature the same and lower baking time by a couple minutes. Keep an eye on them to see when done!
Please, when you say whipped cream is cream mounted with the rods? Thank you.
Please, when you say whipped cream is cream mounted with the rods? And please, I’m from Spain and I don’t know what you mean by marshmallow creme, is it the same as marshmallow fluff?
Thank you!!
Is marshmallow crime the same as marshmallow fluff?
yes! Like the jet puffed jar from the store!
What kind of peanut butter should I use in the actual cake part? (Natural, creamy/smooth, chunky etc.)
Your favorite smooth!
How about coming up with a cake recipe that has both peanut butter and graham crackers in the cake batter? Like a (peanut butter s’mores cake). Just an idea.
Okay so I have an order for a pb chocolate marble cake and figured I could make this pb cake recipe and use your chocolate cake recipe from the marble cake you made, but the oven temps for those two cake are different the marble cake is 325 and this recipe is 350. Which temp do you recommend using??
This looks fabulous….however, it seems the weight measurements might not be so trustworthy….for example, 3 tsps of baking powder, as I tried it and as confirmed on the internet, is about 12-13 g….a far cry from 3 g! So, should I trust the weights or the cup measurements more with this recipe?
cup measurements! I will look into that!
This is a random question but can I dye peanut butter frosting a dark color? Will that work or will it come out looking grey and gross? Let’s save like a dark navy blue?
It won’t come out the way you want.
The peanut butter & marshmallow filling was like a paste? Did I over mix? Not sure what happened?
I love all your cakes 🙂