This easy Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake is moist and delicious, with a fluffy, creamy peanut butter frosting to top it off. Whip this up for the peanut butter lovers in your life and they will love you forever!
If you can’t get enough peanut butter, try this delicious Peanut Butter Sheet Cake, which also has a creamy peanut butter frosting. Or bake a batch of our reader favorite Peanut Butter Cookies!
Why You’ll Love This Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake Recipe
Raise your hand if you have any peanut butter lovers in your life!
If your hand is raised, then you need to make this peanut butter cake ASAP! This is such a yummy peanut butter treat that you can make for your beloved peanut butter fans, or as a special birthday cake idea!
I also like to call it Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake since it’s packed full of chopped candy and topped with a few extra Reese’s too!
My love for peanut butter dip and peanut butter fudge forced me into making this delicious cake recipe!
As you probably know, peanut butter tends to put weight on baked goods. There’s definitely a thin line between enjoying a light, moist cake and a heavy, dense, dry cake.
But no need to toe the line with this cake—it’s perfect. Here’s what makes it a winner:
- It is everything you want in a Reese’s peanut butter cake. It’s light and moist and every few bites you get bits of chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
- The peanut butter frosting is quite literally the icing on the cake. It’s creamy, silky, and totally addictive. I highly recommend using heavy cream instead of milk to make the best frosting ever!
- No need to mess with a layer cake here, there’s just one perfect layer of Reese’s packed peanut butter cake!
Important Ingredient Notes
- All-purpose flour – When baking with flour, be sure to lightly spoon it into your measuring cup rather than scooping it.
- Unsalted butter – Soften this before you start baking; when you press it gently, your finger should leave an indentation.
- Creamy peanut butter – I like the texture of creamy peanut butter in a cake, since chunky can make the cake seem gritty.
- Eggs – Set these on the counter with the butter so they come to room temperature. Room temperature eggs hold more air when beaten, giving your cake a lighter, fluffier texture.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk also gives this peanut butter cake a light texture, and the extra fat makes for a moist, tender crumb.
- Chopped peanut butter cups – They can be any size peanut butter cup since you’ll be chopping them anyway.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- Unsalted butter – Soften this butter too. If you don’t, it’s likely to stick to the beaters rather than mixing evenly into the other ingredients!
- Creamy peanut butter – Again, creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy will give you the texture you want in a frosting.
- Heavy cream – The amount needed will depend on the consistency you want for the frosting.
How to Make Peanut Butter Cake
Prepare:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 9″ cake pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
- Finely chop the peanut butter cups and then toss them with 1 tablespoon of flour. (The candy tends to sink to the bottom if you don’t mix it with a little bit of flour.) Set aside.
Combine:
- In a mixing bowl, cream your butter, peanut butter, and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- At low speed, add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.
- Use a spatula to fold the chopped peanut butter cups into the batter.
Bake:
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
- Bake the peanut butter cake for 33-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool for five minutes. Turn it out onto a rack, and peel off the parchment paper. Let your cake cool completely before frosting.
PRO TIP: I rarely sift my ingredients together, however, with this recipe, you want everything light and airy, so it’s very important to sift the dry ingredients.
Tips and Tricks
- Use parchment paper for the bottom of your cake pan. This helps it come out easily so you can frost it. Do NOT use wax paper.
- Don’t use all-natural peanut butter. It tends to be too oily for this cake recipe.
- Don’t skip using the buttermilk. It makes this peanut butter cake extra delicious! Use my buttermilk substitute for a quick swap.
- Try chilling the cake for a different texture and flavor. It tastes amazing, like frozen peanut butter cups!
- Switch up the toppings you use. In addition to peanut butter cups (my personal favorite), you could use chocolate chips, sprinkles, or Reese’s pieces to top this cake.
- Beat the frosting for several minutes, until it’s nice and fluffy.
- You can also change up the frosting flavors if you want to try something different. Both my chocolate buttercream and Nutella frosting recipes would be delicious on this cake!
Recipe FAQs
Regular shelf-stable peanut butter is best for baking—not the natural kind that needs to be stirred before using or refrigerated after opening. Natural peanut butter is often unpredictable in baking because the oil-to-solids ratio can vary from brand to brand, and also from the top of the jar to the bottom.
If you’re baking for someone with a peanut allergy, you can substitute almond butter or sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter.
If you want to make and freeze this peanut butter cake, you can do so a few different ways:
Bake the cake and allow it to cool completely. Wrap it in parchment paper, then wrap it in foil and freeze. When you’re ready to enjoy it, thaw it at room temperature.
Bake the cake and let it cool completely. Frost as directed. Freeze the whole cake in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature when you’re ready to enjoy.
Make your cake and enjoy it for several days. Freeze the remaining cake by wrapping the leftover slices in parchment paper and then slide them into a ziploc bag. You can freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature when you’re ready to enjoy.
More Cake Recipes
- Strawberry Almond Cake
- Coconut Cake
- Lemon Cake Bars
- Cranberry White Cake Recipe
- Chocolate Pound Cake
- Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake
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Peanut Butter Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup finely chopped peanut butter cups
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour for coating the candy
For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ to ½ cup heavy cream depending on your peanut butter thickness
- Peanut Butter Cups
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease one 9" cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Toss chopped peanut butter cups with 1 Tbsp of flour, set aside.
- In a mixing bowl cream butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.
- In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. At low-speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
- Add the chopped peanut butter cups to the batter. With a spatula mix until combined.
- Spoon batter in the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake cake 33-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool cake 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack, peel off parchment. Cool cake completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, in a mixing bowl add the butter, peanut butter and 1/3 cup heavy cream. Stir at low-speed until combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. When all the sugar is added increase the speed and mix for 2 more minutes. If needed, slowly add few more drops of heavy cream.
- Frost the cake completely. Decorate with peanut butter cups.
- Keep cake covered. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
The Best Peanut Butter Cake recipe topped with creamy Peanut Butter buttercream frosting and extra Reese’s peanut butter cups!
I made this last night and Wow, it’s a keeper! My husband and I both loved it. To be honest it was all I could do to keep from eating another slice as my breakfast. I made the recipe exactly as directed but added 1 tsp of vanilla to the icing. Thanks for sharing!
I have made this cake several times, people love it! I have doubled it perfectly to make a stacked cake
I do have a question on the frosting: sometimes it gets too gummy … should I add more butter?
Thanks
Love it
Finger lickin good
Can you use square 9×13 inch pan instead
I already made this cake twice. Absolutely delicious. I used cake flour (add extra 1 and 1/4 tablespoons flour). It was light and fluffy. I did have to bake it for an extra 10 minutes. I will try this cake again using all purpose flour.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. This will be my go to cake for my family.
Love love love this..Easy to follow,simple ingredients,and just so darn Good..Y’all gotta try this,Thanks!!
Love this recipe, but my cake keeps falling. What am I doing wrong. Thanks for all the great treats to make for my family.
I’m thinking I want to make this into a 2 layer cake and use your Nutella frosting in the middle for added chocolate punch. I figure you don’t want to cut this because of the cups inside. Should I increase the recipe by say 50% and pour two pans?
Would I double the recipient to make this into a sheet cake?
Recipe * sorry I hit send too quickly!
If I wanted to make these into cupcakes , what would you recommend? Looking forward to try this!!
do you have to use kosher salt?
You can use table salt, just use HALF the amount.
can you use regular whipping cream instead of heavy whipping cream .
Can this cake be refrigeratorated?
I made this today for my Husbands Birthday! It was delicious! New favorite here! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Happy Birthday to your husband 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the cake!
attempted this today, wasn’t done after 40 mins , center was still soft and edges were done….completely fell in when I pulled it out of the oven…epic fail…I could have baked another 10 minutes and it maybe would have been done but overdone on the edges…no idea why this happened
Thank you for this amazing cake recipe! I made it for my husband for Father’s Day and it was such a hit with my whole family! It was the perfect amount of peanut butter and sweetness. Your directions were perfect. I will definitely make this again.
Can I make this the day before?
Sure can!
Made the Reeses Peanutbutter cake and everyone went crazy. It was too goid to be true💜
Where can I find your answers to questions that were asked of you? TY.
Can recipe be doubled & baked in 9×13 pan?
I just made this without doubling and baked it in a 13×9. It turned out perfect. Just lower the bake time 5 minutes or so. I started checking it at 25 minutes.
Can you make this cake without the peanut butter cups?? My son-in-law is allergic to chocolate but loves peanut butter. Just wondering how it would work and taste without them.
The cake still tastes amazing without the peanut butter cups. I put mini chocolate chips in the batter instead and it came out really good!