Feel a bit of déjà vu as you look at this cake?
That could be due to the fact that it’s the second ganache topped cake I have shared this week.
Although both cakes are dripping with ganache, today’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake couldn’t be more different than the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake.
What you have is a super chocolatety cake covered in a not too sweet, silky smooth peanut butter icing and topped with that rich chocolate ganache. Tucked between each cake layer, and on top, is a good dose of chopped peanut butter cups.
Overload definitely describes this ridiculously amazing cake.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake
Ingredients:
2½ cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup + 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt
3 eggs
1½ cups buttermilk
1½ cups strong black coffee, hot
¾ cup vegetable oil
4½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Icing (recipe follows)
Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)
30 miniature peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped, divided
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper, grease parchment, then flour the insides of the pans, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for an additional 20 seconds (batter will be very thin).
5. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans.
6. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pans in the oven. Continue to bake until a tester inserted into center of cakes comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs), about 12 more minutes.
7. Cool the cakes (in the pans) on wire racks for 20 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely.
8. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Cover with 1 cup of the peanut butter icing and sprinkle with 10 of the chopped peanut butter cups. Top with a second cake layer and cover with another 1 cup of the icing and another 10 chopped peanut butter cups. Place the final cake layer on top face-down. Frost the cake with the remaining peanut butter icing, smoothing as best as possible.
9. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour, until the icing is set.
10. Slowly pour the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake, letting it flow over the sides of the cake. Top with the remaining 10 chopped peanut butter cups.
11. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes, allowing the ganache to set up. Keep the cake refrigerated, removing it from the refrigerator 20 minutes prior to serving.
Serves 12 to 20
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker
Peanut Butter Icing
Ingredients:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 cups creamy peanut butter
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
⅔ cup heavy cream
Directions:
1. Place confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
2. Add the heavy cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup heavy cream
Directions:
1. While the cake chills, make the chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate in a 4-cup measuring cup; set aside.
2. Place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and warm until it just comes to a boil.
3. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Whisk until the ganache is smooth. Set aside to cool, whisking occasionally, until it has thickened slightly, yet still a pourable consistency.
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Cheers!
This looks delicious! Can i substitute something else for the coffee? Is it there just for flavor?
Hi Heather,
Thanks so much for stopping by!
The coffee flavor is really not detectable in this particular recipe. It somehow just adds depth to the flavor. Substituting water should work fine. As I was researching this I saw a recommendation to substitute chocolate milk for the coffee. YUM! x
Huh, that sounds good! Does it just need to be hot, whatever I use?
I found this on Facebook of all places: “Ever wonder why chocolate cake recipes call for boiling liquid to be added to the batter? The hot liquid helps to release the flavors of the chocolate.”
Who knew? :)
This looks delicious. I was wanting to make this cake for my son’s birthday. I will be making 4 8″ rounds so I can have a double layer 3 shaped cake. How much do I need to increase your recipe to make enough for 4 cake pans? Or I was thinking of doing 2 bundts to make the shape of a 3. Either way I need to have more batter I think. Thanks for your help!!!
Hi Jenni-
Thanks so much for stopping by!
I know that for 2 (8 inch) cake pans you need about 3 1/2 cups of batter for each pan. So you will need 14 cups. Th Chocolate PB cake batter quantity is approximately 10 cups.
Probably the best way to do your cake so it comes out like it is supposed to (texture, etc), is to make 2 batches of the batter (~20 cups), then divide it between your 4 pans and use the rest of the batter for cupcakes or a mini cake.
Here is a website with batter quantities for bundt pans that you might find helpful.
I hope I was helpful.
You’ll have to send me a photo of your finished 3 cake. Sounds so cool.
Thank you that actually sounds like a good idea about the cupcakes!!! Thanks for the cup breakdown that really does help too. His birthday party is october 4 I’ll surely send you a pic if it turns out like I want. :-)
I don’t know how to send you a picture of the 3 cake but it turned out delicious!!!!!! Thank you for your marvelous recipe. It was a huge hit and it was my first cake made from scratch!!! If you know how and will tell me I will send it to you.
I am sooooo happy that the cake was a hit. Congrats!
Maybe you could attach the photo in an email to me at isinginthekitchen@gmail.com? It would be exciting for me to see it!
xoT
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I baked this the other night for my brother’s birthday- everyone said it was the best cake they’ve ever had! Thank you so much for the recipe!:)
That makes me SOOOO happy. Thank you for letting me know. xo
I’m very into this.
We definitely have something in common!
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Serves 12-20? Not in this Ladies house! I am hiding in the bedroom with dueling forks until this one is gone! Super Bowl Sunday has a new reason to celebrate!!!
HaHa! I hope you and your forks have a blast. :)
Hi! I wanted to use the cake part of the recipe for cupcakes. How would I alter the times/ingredients to make this into a cupcake recipe?
THANKS!
Hi Taylor,
What a fun idea to turn this cake into cupcakes! I’m going to have to give it a try, too.
Hmmm, let’s see. There is approximately 11 cups of batter which should make about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes, maybe a few more. Baking time would be about 18 to 20 minutes.
For the icing, I think halving the recipe might provide enough to frost the cupcakes, unless piping it high. Maybe dip the top of the cupcake into the ganache then add a little swirl of the icing and roll sides in some finely chopped peanut butter cups and garnish with a mini cup. I kind of envision the cupcakes looking like a Choc PB version of these cupcakes.
I made this cake the other day, but I made it with special dark cocoa powder. I can’t find Dutch process anywhere in my area. The cake was super moist and it was good, but it didn’t have a rich chocolate flavor like I expected using the darker cocoa powder. My question is, does Dutch process have a richer chocolate flavor than regular cocoa powder or special dark cocoa powder? I am aware of the leavening agents needed when substituting Dutch process for the regular,but I used what was called for in the recipe and it turned out fine.
Hi Laura,
Here is a really good article on cocoa from King Arthur Flour: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2014/01/10/the-a-b-cs-of-cocoa/
I’m so glad you left your comment as I really had no idea of the differences (and complexities) of the powders until I started searching around for information. x
Thank you for your quick response. I finally found Dutch process cocoa ( after six stores). You would think I live in a remote area and I don’t. I remade the cake and here is my conclusion. The Dutch process produced a richer tasting chocolate cake. The one made with special dark cocoa was also good and there are differences in texture because of the amount and types of leaving agents. The special dark was a bit denser and very moist. Both produce a very nice cake. I have made five different chocolate cakes in the past week and yours by far is the best. I can stop searching for the perfect chocolate cake as this is clearly the winner. Thank you very much. Now onto my search for the perfect vanilla cake.
Wow. Wow. Wow!
You are my cake hero! I love how you worked thru the different cocoas. Fabulous. I am definitely using your research as a guide.
xoT
This cake is AMAZING! I made it yesterday for my stepson’s birthday. Huge hit! The texture was just perfect. Will definitely make this again and again. I’m glad I went with the two layers instead of three. I could barely get through my one slice and now I have 36 mini cupcakes waiting on me in the freezer. :) I’l have to dig through some of your other recipes now.
Oh and I left off the Reese cups. Although I’m sure they would have made it even more amazing, the frosting and the ganache really pair so perfectly I couldn’t bear to add anything else. Maybe if I were making it for a party with I would add it for presentation purposes.
Those pb cups really push the cake to ‘over the top’ status. I’ll admit that I pushed some of mine aside while eating my slice of cake in the interest of maintaining my girlish figure. HaHa! (….as she heads off to the internet in search of other over-the-top desserts)
Hi Krysta,
I am so glad that you liked the cake. Thank you for letting me know! This has become my go-to chocolate cake recipe, too.
I’m on my way over to steal some of those minis! x
I LOVED THIS CAKE!!! I have made this twice in 2 weeks, I am so used to doubling the ingredients so I doubled the flour and didn’t realize it until we were mixing the ingredients together. HMMM start over or just double everything else. Yep we doubled it and made 2 in one night.
My new favorite cake!!!
Thanks for sharing it
YES! That makes me so happy. Thanks for letting me know. (And doubled ingredients…that’s A LOT of cake!) :)
Looks delicious! I was just wondering if it would be possible to bake this using a heart-shaped pan for Valentine’s day?
Hmmm. Based on this chart:http://www.craftybaking.com/howto/baking-pans-substitution-chart it seems like you will have enough batter to make a 3 layer heart cake. You could just bake one cake at a time and clean the pan in between.
The chocolate cake batter recipe makes between 10 to 11 cups of batter, if that helps.
Definitely let me know how things turn out. I imagine the cake will be stunning in a heart shape!
I’m in the process of making this cake right now and have the 3 cakes done and cooled. I’m about to start on the peanut butter icing but don’t have an electric mixer or hand held mixer. Can I still get the icing to the consistency I need by hand or do you have an alternative suggestion? Thanks!
Do you have a food processor? That would work.
That is a lot of icing to beat by hand and try and get smooth. Your arm will fall off!
A suggestion might be to halve the icing ingredients so that it takes less physical exertion. Also, a large whisk would probably be better than, say, a wooden spoon. And make sure your butter is super soft.
No matter what, the icing should be spreadable and the chopped peanut butter cups will make any residual lumpiness hardly noticeable.
You’ll have to let me know how it all turns out! x
Yes, I have a food processor and blender! Will try to pickup a hand mixer at the store on my way home, but glad to know there’s another option. Thank you for sharing!
You can sift the powdered sugar and that should make it a bit easier to stir as well as avoid lumps in the frosting.
This cake is the BOMB! I have made it three times with different types of frosting and each time the cake turned out perfect. I used the. Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa along with the “Americana” coffer at Star Bucks and EVEERYBODY LOVED it! Do you have any recipes for a white cake from scratch? I’m on a mission to find one now that I have a go-to chocalate cake recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t have the perfect white cake recipe, yet. I’m on it!
Hi! I can’t wait to make this for my daughter’s birthday! She loves anything PB!!..Only question is what do you think of dying the ganache? She’s having a Mermaid theme and I want to try and figure out how to make this beach-y without messing it up!
Hmmm…I guess you could make a white ganache and dye it blue like here.
Chocolate ganache is so delicious, though. Maybe sprinkle the chocolate ganache with graham cracker crumbs to look like a beach and put cocktail umbrellas, etc on top. This Pinterest board has some cute ideas. You could also top the cake with a purchased Little Mermaid cake topper. A Google search will get you all sorts of cute little mermaids to put atop a cake.
You have to let me know what you decide and how things turn out!
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Fab dish, it’s on my shortlist for a feature. Cheers!
Thanks! You must try the recipe. It’s one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever made….then there is all of that peanut butter. Yum. x
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I have very high standards when it comes to cake. I can NOT say enough wonderful things about this cake. Make this cake. Seriously. It was easy to put together, baked up nicely. Usually cakes fall for me. This stayed up nice and tall. I actually ended up only using 2 layers (I only had 8″ pans) because 3 would have just been too much cake for my party. (My family enjoyed the leftover layer the next day.) this cake is delicious!! And I never say that lightly when discussing anything food, especially cake. I dream about this cake now that it’s all gone. I can’t wait for a reason to make this cake again soon. Thank you for such an awesome recipe!!
Wow! Wow! Wow! Thank you so much for your awesome comments. xx
I am so glad you liked the cake. It’s my ‘go to’ chocolate cake now with or without the PB.
Can it be done with two 9 inch round cake pans?
That should work out fine. According to this conversion chart, the overall amount of batter used for 3 (8 inch pans) and 2 (9 inch pans) is the same. The baking time might need to be adjusted to account for the thinner layers. I’d recommend checking the cake with a tester after about 25 minutes to be sure not to overcook.
Let me know how the cake comes out!
Have made this cake twice now and both times was a super hit. I reserved some of the peanut butter icing and piped rosettes on the top then added a mini cup to each . Everyone loved!
I LOVE the idea of piping PB icing rosettes. Brilliant!….and so decadent in this all ready over the top cake. xx
I don’t have dutch cocoa powder…can regular be substituted without any problems? Do I need to change the amount or anything?
Hi Liz,
According to Fine Cooking magazine, “You can substitute natural cocoa powder for Dutch-process in most recipes (though not vice versa). Flavor and texture can be affected, but generally only in recipes calling for 3/4 cup (75 g) or more.”
That said, since the recipe calls for 1 cup, it is not really that much over the 3/4 cup that Fine Cooking cites. You will probably find that the color of the cake is not as dark with regular cocoa powder and the chocolate flavor might not be as intense. I’m thinking that there is so much else going on with the cake flavorwise, that it will probably be just fine to make the substitution.
Definitely let me know how it turns out!
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Is it really supposed to be 1 TABLESPOON of baking soda? I’ve tried this recipe 3 times and the cake keeps expanding and overflowing out of EVERY baking pan.
Hi Kiki,
I did not have that problem and it is awful that it happened to you three times! I visited the Brown Eyed Baker post where I got the recipe from and read through all 200 comments to see if any of her readers had a similar overflow issue. There was only 1 comment about the batter spilling over (and the person used 9 inch pans!) and it wasn’t replied to.
I wonder could it have something to do with the type of cocoa powder you used? I think that pretty unlikely based on this article. Also, I’m sure you are using baking pans with 2 inch sides, so that can’t be the explanation. Were the pans metal? Did you use large eggs? (that is what I use) Extra-large might add more volume?
All that said…I really don’t know, but I did use 1 tablespoon as did the original recipe. :(
I’ll do a shoutout on my Facebook page and ask if anyone has had problems with any cake overflowing to see if I can gather more insight to what went wrong in your case.
I really appreciate you letting me know so the problem is on my radar. x
I used 8×2″ pans, did everything the same as the recipe. I used ghirardelli dutch cocoa. After I wrote you this note, I remembered that the first time I used this recipe I thought to myself that most of my recipes use comparable amounts of powder and soda and so I had assumed that it was a typo and put in 1 tsp of soda. It turned out perfectly which is why I was so confused when it overflowed the next 3 times and tasted heavily of baking soda. I made it again the same day after writing to you because I had to take it to my sister’s birthday party and I reduced the soda to the 1 tsp I’m accustomed to and it turned out perfect! :) Maybe I just have really reactive baking soda or something…who knows?
thanks for the response! :)
I’m definitely making this tonight. My question is… how long does the cake keep in the fridge? I am making it for Mother’s Day and don’t want it to dry out or get wonky.
Or is it best to make it the day before/day of?
Thanks!
What I would do is make the cake layers today and freeze them. Then assemble the cake tomorrow or Saturday without defrosting the cake layers. That way you stagger the steps (which makes it feel less of a big job) and the chocolate cake will stay as moist as possible.
You are in for one wonderful Mother’s Day cake! Enjoy. x
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Thank you so much!!! !Best scratch cake recipe I have ever made and most impressive looking. Only thing I did differently was use regular size peanut butter cups and crushed them.
I am so glad that you liked the recipe and that you let me know! x
P.S. I have never posted a comment for any recipe before. Just had to let you know how awesome this cake is.
❤️
Thank you! That made my day.
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Every year my step-dad gets to pick whatever dessert recipe he wants for me to make for his birthday. This year he chose this one! I’m only halfway done, but I can already tell it’s going to be amazing. Thanks for sharing!
I am so excited! You have to let me know how he likes it. Happy Birthday to your S-Dad! Many thanks for stopping by. It means a lot. x