Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake – Peanut butter cake layers with homemade strawberry jam and peanut butter frosting.
For the Love of Peanut Butter
By now, you probably know my deep love for peanut butter. Correction – obsession for peanut butter would be more accurate! I could eat it with just about anything. Once, I even had it on a burger at Lucky 13 in Salt Lake. And it was so good!
One of my favorite ways to enjoy peanut butter is in a traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My go-to method is with smooth Skippy peanut butter, strawberry jam and white bread. Hmmm. (I’m having flashbacks to my childhood just thinking about it). I never get tired of a PB&J sandwich! So, turning it into a cake was the obvious next move for me.
Recipe Testing
A couple years ago, I tried a couple peanut butter cake recipes, but wasn’t impressed with them. The recipes I tested came out dry and didn’t have enough peanut butter flavor. I decided to come up with my own recipe by combining ideas from others and adding a few things of my own. I’m so pleased with how the cake layers came out!
To make sure the cake layers came out tender, I used cake flour. From the other recipes I tried, I noticed that all-purpose flour with the peanut butter created a cake that was too dense. In my recipe, I also use buttermilk, a generous serving of peanut butter and a teaspoon of cinnamon! Oh man! That cinnamon is a game changer. It’s just a hint but I think makes the cake what it is.
The cake is also moist with the perfect peanut butter flavor.
Filling and Frosting
For the filling, I use my mom’s homemade strawberry jam. There’s nothing else like it, if you ask me. If you don’t have homemade jam on hand, don’t worry. Your favorite store bought jam will work great too.
For my peanut butter frosting, I adapted one I already use and love from Annie Eats. Instead of whipping the cream and folding it in at the end, I just added a little cream at the end and whipped the frosting mixture like I usually do. It’s still creamy and smooth, and just as delicious – it just has a little more stability to it.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake
One bite of this cake and I think you’ll agree, it’s definitely a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in cake form! What could be better than that? Look at these layers!
I can’t wait for you to try it out! If you love peanut butter, you’re going to go nuts for this cake!
And here’s a quick look at how to assembly this cake:

Hi Courtney,
This looks delicious!! Do you remember about how many cups of batter this will yield? I am planning on trying a different pan size, possibly a 10″, and I know it would drastically change the volume. Thanks!!!
Hi Courtney, this cake looks like a dream come true. Could you please clarify the peanut butter frosting ingredients? The link to the recipe you adapted doesn’t work, and the recipe nor instructions does not state how much (one third of how many cups?) of heavy whipping cream is used. Thanks a bunch!
Yup! I’m on it.
So, this recipe as written is for three layers? Also I was wondering how to adapt this for 3 9 inch pans? I am excited to try this for my daughter’s birthday!
Add an extra 1/2 of the recipe for three 9-inch pans.
Hi Courtney! I am so excited to get this cake in my Cake Club box next month! I wondered when you stack your cakes, do you always do the bottom 2 layers right side up and the top layer bottom side up? I am making 2 of your cakes (Vanilla and the PB Dream) for 2 friend’s special occasions this weekend! Thanks!
Yes, that’s exactly right.
Hey Courtney, I am new to your blog, but I tried this cake out yesterday and it was everything I could have dreamed of. Excited to try some of your other recipes in the future!
yay! Thank you!