Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cake.
Happy Halloweener!
We don’t have “real” Halloween today because of the storm, so let’s talk about a cake that you can make in case your Halloween has been moved too. Cool? Cool.
While I’m glad that no one has to go out and trick or treat in wind, rain and snow, I sort of want to ring that hurricane’s neck for giving me another four days in a house alone with what seems like an unending bowl of king-sized candy bars. Just… ugh. Whatever. And the king-sized bars are not my idea. Totally my husband’s idea. You know, the person who probably wouldn’t touch a Reese’s if it was sitting in front of him and he was starving. But he thinks giving out king-sized candy bars make us seem “cool.” Because I am just DYING to seem “cool” to the, like, five kids in our neighborhood whose parents probably hate us anyway. Awesome.
I think I talk about it every single year but I was tooootally the kid that stole her siblings Halloween candy. I mean, it definitely went two ways, and while I was rummaging through my brothers’ pillow cases full of junk to find all of the Snickers bars, they were running off with my peanut butter cups and awesome stuff like that. Meanwhile, one random person would give out oranges and apples (please, please don’t do this, my six-year old self was scarred for life) which were never really consumed and any and everything with nuts went left untouched. Meanwhile, my own pillowcase was where Hershey’s Special Dark went to die. Seriously, does any child like dark chocolate? Maybe I just had annoyingly American 1988 taste buds.
By the way, do you have any Mallo Cups? Um yum.
The absolute worst was getting the most perfectly plush popcorn ball, drizzled with chocolate and all kinds of good stuff like that, only to be told mere seconds from biting in that you weren’t allowed to eat it because someone probably laced it with LSD. What a tease. I would’ve been better off not even seeing the popcorn ball in the first place.
Those were definitely the days, waaaay back before it was cool to dress up like a sexy “insert occupation here” and the goal was to get your costume to make you look as naked as possible if you were a female. Which by the way, since you were looking for the skimpiest costume ever, meant you probably didn’t even eat any Halloween candy. Um, who wants to play that game? Let’s just stop that right now. I went as Jem for Halloween for about five straight years (maybe more) and it was by far the highlight of my life. Even through the I-want-to-dress-slutty years. Pretty sure my mom still has the hot pink, sparkly wig I wore. Pretty sure I’m going to go find out today. Pretty sure I will wear it for fun.
But anyhoo… cake.
I’m a big, big fan of the bundt cake, but don’t make one nearly enough. For someone who is not huge on icing (it’s not my favorite part), I love how a bundt cake takes on just the right amount of glaze-like frosting without it being too overbearing or taking over the cake completely. I adore how you can easily slice thin or fat pieces, and they can stand up tall or lay down flat.
It seems that I love food so much that I also enjoy talking about a cake’s posture. Hmmpf.
Now… this cake is studded with milk chocolate chips, covered in milk chocolate ganache, then drenched in a thick peanut butter glaze and finished off with chocolate sprinkles. O.M.G. Basically, it makes me lose my mind. It’s practically everything I want in a cake and more! I can hardly stand how much I love it. How fudgy it is. How the peanut butter is so… peanut buttery. And you know, since I can’t eat all of the Halloween candy before the trick or treaters arrive, I need to celebrate some way. And so do you.
See what I did there? It’s pretty much required that you make this today.
Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- chocolate sprinkles for topping
chocolate ganache
- 5 ounces chopped milk chocolate
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
peanut butter frosting
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease or spray a 14-cup bundt pan with butter or nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together milk and sour cream.
- Beat butter in the bowl of your electric mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) until creamy, then add in sugar and beat on medium-high until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides if needed. Add in vanilla extract and beat until combined, then add in eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Continue to scrape down sides if needed. Once combined, add in half of the flour mixer, beating on low until just combined, then add in the milk and sour cream, beating again. Finish but adding the rest of the dry ingredients, just beating until combined or even stirring with a spoon. Remove paddle attachment and fold in chocolate chips with a spatula. Pour in the greased bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until cake is set. Do not overbake – cake will be dry! Let cool for about 30 minutes in the pan, then gently invert and let cake cool completely before covering in ganache.
chocolate ganache
- Place chocolate in a large bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan over low heat until it’s warm and bubbles appear on the edges. Once warm, pour over the chocolate and whisk constantly until smooth – about 2-3 minutes. Whisk in vanilla extract. Let ganache sit for 20-25 minutes until it thickens and “sets up” a bit. Once cake has cooled, pour overtop. Place in the fridge to firm up quickly while you make the peanut butter frosting.
peanut butter frosting
- Melt peanut butter until creamy (I microwave for 30 seconds, stir well, then microwave again in 15 second increments until melting), then stir in coconut oil. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth (about 1-2 minutes), then let sit for 15-20 minutes until it cools and sets enough to be pourable but not super runny. Pour over chocolate ganache and cover in sprinkles! Note: you cannot taste coconut whatsoever.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
P.S. I totally put chocolate sprinkles on my peanut butter toast yesterday. Yeah… that.
116 Comments on “Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cake.”
You’ve had SNOW!? I’m super jealous right now!
Your husband is totally right. My brothers and I STILL talk about the house that gave out full size candy bars.
Also, Pittsburgh delaying trick-or-treating is breaking my almost 3 year olds heart. Cue sad violins.
Haha, totally laughing as I think the WORST thing to get as a kid were those little black and orange wrapped candies. When you unwrapped them they looked weird, still leaving the creases from the wrapper in them. I think they were some sort of peanut butter thing…but my brothers and I used to whip them at eachother while marching house to house!
This cake looks amazing. And anytime you want to scrape your frosting on my plate, I’m totally cool with that. I prefer just frosting thank you. I always choose a corner or end pieces of cake just for the extra frosting. I want to dive in right now, for breakfast!!!
OMG! they are mary Jane’s and I bought 3 bags of them to give away to T-O-Ters, (i like ’em!)
hahaha I DO remember these!
Hahaha, love the memories :D
Oh man, this bundt cake looks AMAZING!!! I made your funfetti cupcakes into a bundt cake with black & orange sprinkles last week :)
W.o.W! This is what a cake is supposed to be. Right there, in the dictionary.
Gorgeous cake! I am a big fan of both Bundts, Chocolate Ganache and chocolate-based cakes lately. And PB! This one has to get made! And I can’t believe you’re not that hugely into frosting…okay, I’ll have your share and you can have all my bacon :)
This cake is making me GO NUTS as I sit and eat my boring yogurt with nothing at all exciting n it. Eww. I hope all is well in the aftermath of Sandy, Jessica! We fared well – lost power for a bit but no real damage. My parents up in Philadelphia are still without power and heat. So terrible! But at least no one was hurt. SO telling my mom to make this cake when she gets her power back – it will for sure brighten her spirits. She’s a PB guru like we are. :)
O.M.G!!!! I want to lick the frosting right off the cake!!! This has to be the best cake ever! Bookmarking for future making!!
I would definitely be eating this ANY day over the packaged Halloween candy!
Are You born in April? Because you sound just like me sometimes, but 20 years younger.
I have my mothers Jello pudding Bundt cake bible. She would always make my brother a triple chocolate Bundt cake for his birthday and you should taste her chocolate rum cake,in a Bundt pan ……….of course. She can take any basic recipe and make it really yummy.
OMG…you had me at chocolate fudge PB!!!
Is there anything I can sub in for coconut oil in the PB icing, I don’t usually have that in the house.
you should definitely invest in coconut oil! I use it in everything in the kitchen. And if you find you don’t like the taste, it’s a great all natural eyemake up remover. Weird, I know, but definitely awesome!
Jessica, I have a husband that is EXT-REM-E-LEY alleric to coconuts. Now what? I dont want to change the taste (unless it tastes like coconut!)
It won’t change the taste at all – the coconut oil is mostly used to create a “shell” – it will definitely still work if you just melt the peanut butter and whisk in the sugar – it may not firm up quite as quickly but it will work!
You can just leave it out! :)
The people with the King Size candy bars ARE the cool people!!!! I swear I just wrote about the mythical neighborhoods that handed out full size candy bars the other day. We are going to attempt trick-or-treating. Out here it’s kind of a wash. My sisters and I ALWAYS stole my brothers candy, but my mom stole ours, so it’s a wash.
Oh! And Jeeeem is truly outrageous. Truly Truly Truly outrageous.
They have JEM costumes at the Halloween store this year. They also had synergie and one of the Misfits!
Delayed trick or treating sucks! But your hubby is right about full sized candy bars, and that cake looks amazing!
This cake is SO much better than running around the neighbourhood battling rain and wind! Were you actually born in 1988? I was, and if you were too, then that confirms my belief that some of the world’s best people were born that year. ;)
I want to just sit in the middle if this cake and eat all the way around it!
So thankful you’re safe!
I have to say that as soon as I saw the frosting I had to have the recipe! Oh my gosh!!! Now if we hadn’t started cutting out sugar in November this cake would be made! It’s going into my must make before moving file, thank you so much for sharing!!
ugh chocolate and peanut butter. Say no more. Happy Halloween…you eat those king size bars girl…thats the best part of passing out candy!
Wishing I could stay home and bake this today. Looks amazing! xoxo
You are totally the cool house! Word is going to spread and your house will be spared of any toilet papering.
Also, this cake. Looks like I need to stay home from work so I can make this NOW.
I love that you talked about cake’s posture, I totally do that too!
Two layers of frosting *and* sprinkles *and* the very best combo every, chocolate and peanut butter?! Happy Halloweener indeed.
My parents used to hide our pillow cases and tell us we could only have 2 pieces a day. I’ll give you a few seconds to find out how long it took us to track that sack of sugar down. (Spoiler alert: not very.)
Is it OK to just make that peanut butter frosting, and then put it on EVERYTHING???
I totally think getting pencils is the worst. I used to get those all the time. Come the heck on people…what gives?
This cake looks divine. Can’t wait to try it!
OMG my cousin just had a costume party for her 30th birthday….. just so she could dress up as GEM!! Cake looks fantastic, and I hope you’re holding up ok in the storm xx
Love this! Totally looks like it would taste like my breakfast today – double chocolate muffins (recipe on my blog from Tuesday) topped with peanut butter. Best combo ever.
Beautiful and very Halloween-y! Love it!
Two layers of frosting, sprinkles, awesome chocolate cake…and you hand out king size candy bars? You do have the coolest house ever! My parents were always worried about things in our candy as kids, so we never got to go that often. Now as a mom, I take my kids out trick or treating to make up for it…and so I can steal their Reeses cups;-)
Is it weird that I totally squealed “so cute!” when I saw your Jem picture? If it is, I apologize–I’m just under the influence of wanting this cake. You didn’t lace it did you? :)
I want that Jem wig and a piece of cake.
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Somehow this post snuck onto my google reader late last night. I was so excited!! But this morning I’m like….why no new post? You should probably write another. ;) I love the idea of Halloween CAKE instead of candy/cookies/cupcakes. I also LOVE bundt cakes. There is this cake my mom makes that we’ll have to make the next time you’re in town. You will die. I’m leaving now…byeee.
You mean, in some circles they DON’T put sprinkles on toast? What!?
We’re down to one Reese’s and one Almond Joy, thank heavens. We only got the fun sized ones, but being sequestered in the house for two days with a huge bowl of candy was pretty dangerous.
This cake looks so good!
I need this cake! It will make the fact that we arent having halloween on halloween a zillion times better!
I may be putting halloween sprinkles on toast…and smoothies…and oatmeal…and, well, everything…
haha Love that you guys give our the king-size. Even if the parents aren’t fans – the kids definitely are!
This looks iiincredible. I wish I was home baking.
I strictly give out whole candy bars. It;s in an attempt to lure more than my average 3 trick or treaters to my home. It’s such a sad ploy, especially since it doesn’t work and then I eat 20 candybars. ugh. This cake is like a fantasy for me. Amazing.
Oh wow I want this for lunch!!! This looks so good — what time do you want me to show up?
Holy chocolate peanut butter cake batman! The Booze Hound HATES PB but he will eat choc-PB anything. I’ve been dying to make a something like this. Once I finish eating all the candy from the trick or treaters we never get but I always want to show up, I’ll make it. And then I’ll need to go to Weight Watchers :)
Um wow, peanut butter + fudge is like heaven on earth. I probably shouldn’t make this in fear of eating the entire cake in one sitting.
Chocolate and pb!!!!!!!! Love
I wish I had another day out of the office due to the weather so that I could make this! I was also Jem for Halloween when I was in first or second grade. I rocked a side ponytail, glittery eyeshadow, and a sweatshirt with sponge painted stars on it. Still my favorite costume ever.
Jessica, you’re killing me here
i loved getting king size candy bars when i went trick or treating. that was the best.
and i may have to jump on the sprinkles on toast bandwagon.
Look at you high rollers with your king size candy bars! LOL and yeah, you’re totally killing me with this cake today
Holy yum! Hope you are surviving the storm. I was stuck in State College an extra two days as a result but I am back in Memphis now. Ready to make this ;-)
OH-MY-GAWDNESS!
Amazzzing. :)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN JESSICA!!
I’m sorry. I had a hard time focusing on your Halloween story because I had to figure out how this was made! Something about JEM and king sized candy bars? :) just kidding.
I am not a huge fan of frosting either, so I really appreciate this cake recipe!