Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Chocolate Cake
Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Chocolate Cake is a chocolate butter cake with the most delicious peanut butter frosting that you’ve EVER tasted!
Best Cake Ever!
I think this might be the best cake I’ve ever made. And I’m not even kidding. First of all, the frosting is so good that I could happily just eat it straight out of the bowl. It’s a luscious Swiss meringue buttercream with a delightful peanut butter flavor. It reminds me of mousse but a bit denser. Second of all, it’s chocolate. Case closed!
The cake is 3 (six-inch round) layers of chocolate butter cake, filled and frosted with peanut butter Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Then drizzled with chocolate ganache, topped with more frosting and Reeses peanut butter cups. Yum!
Also, the Swiss meringue buttercream frosting takes some time and patience to make, but it is SO worth it! To make the frosting, you’ll need these 5 ingredients – egg whites, sugar, butter, vanilla and peanut butter.
How to Make Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue
1) Start by placing the egg whites and sugar in a large metal bowl. I used the bowl that came with my Kitchenaid mixer. Whisk the egg whites and sugar together.
2) Place over a pot of boiling water while beating the mixture like crazy. Do NOT stop beating. You don’t want scrambled eggs. Continue beating until the sugar dissolves. About 2 minutes.
3) Remove from heat and beat with an electric mixer on medium high (using a whisk attachment) for 20 minutes.
4) Turn mixer down to low and gradually add butter. Turn mixer up to medium and beat for a few minutes. Turn mixer down and add vanilla. Mix again. Now add the peanut butter. Beat on medium for a few minutes.
5) If the mixture is soupy, place in refrigerator for a couple of hours. Then take out and beat again on medium high for a few mintues.
Frosting the Cake
1) Fill and frost your 3-layer cake with a crumb coat and refrigerate for an hour.
2) Frost chilled crumb coated cake with another layer of frosting and smooth it with a bench scraper while the cake is on a turn table. See my video (above) for more details on frosting.
3) Put the cake back in the fridge and let it chill for two hours. (Note: You will also need to put the remaining frosting back into the fridge as well. Then beat it again when you take it out after the two hours.)
4) Make your chocolate ganache and pour into a plastic squeeze bottle or a ziptop plastic bag with the corner cut. Drizzle chocolate on the edges then squeeze onto top of cake and smooth with a spatula.
Note: Scroll to see the bench scraper I used to make the frosting smooth and all the tools for success (affiliate):
Decorating the Cake
1) Pipe the top and sides using a pastry bag fitted with a 1M tip from Wilton.
2) Add Reeses peanut butter cups and chopped peanuts.
I made this cake for my friend Amy’s birthday. She requested something with chocolate and peanut butter, so this is what I came up with. She LOVED it! Mission accomplished. Happy Birthday, Amy!
So what are you waiting for, hurry up and make this cake for your bestie’s birthday! Or your mom or your dad or your child or your spouse. They will surely love it!
Happy Baking,
Lise
xoxo
Tools for success
6-Inch Round Cake Pans (Set of 4 – you’ll have one extra)
8-Inch Round Gold Cake Boards (25)
Bench Scraper (To make the frosting smooth)
Duck Grip Drawer Liner (Pro-Tip: I cut a round piece to place on cakestand so the cake won’t slip)
Note: The above items are affiliate links.
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Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, 227g
- 2 cups granulated sugar, 400g
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour, 240g
- 3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder, 65g
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups coffee, cooled, 354g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar, 495g
- 7 large egg whites, 218g
- 3 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened, 425g)
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons clear vanilla
For the ganache
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, (125g)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For decoration
- 1/2 cup Reeses peanut butter cups
- 1/4 cup Chopped peanuts
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line 3 (6-inch round) cake pans with parchment paper. Grease again. (I used non-stick cooking spray). Set aside.
- Measure out dry ingredients (cake flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt) into a bowl and whisk together until combined. Set aside.
- Combine cooled coffee and vanilla in a large measuring cup. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Turn mixer to low and add the eggs, one at a time. Turn mixer back up to medium and beat for 30 seconds.
- Turn mixer down to low and alternate adding your dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. Once all of these ingredients are combined, turn mixer up to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Let cool completely. Remove cakes from pans. Level tops with a cake leveler or cut the domed part off with a large, serrated bread knife (cutting horizontally). You just want your cakes to be flat on top.
For the frosting
- Start by placing the egg whites and sugar in a large metal bowl. I used the bowl that came with my KitchenAid mixer. Whisk the egg whites and sugar together. Place over a pot of boiling water while beating the mixture like crazy. Do NOT stop beating. You don't want scrambled eggs. Continue beating for 1.5 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately beat with an electric mixer (using a whisk attachment) on medium for a few minutes so it can thicken slightly, then turn up to high for 20 minutes. (I like to cover the mixer with a dish towel to prevent splatters.) Turn mixer down to low and gradually add butter. Turn mixer up to medium and beat for a few minutes. Turn mixer down and add vanilla. Mix again. Now add the peanut butter. Beat on medium for a few minutes. If the mixture is soupy, place in refrigerator for a couple of hours. Then take out, let it rest for a bit (it will be hard at first) and beat again on medium high to high for a few mintues or until it's light and fluffy.
- Next, fill and frost your 3-layer cake with a crumb coat (thin layer of buttercream) and refrigerate for an hour before applying your "second coat" of frosting.
- Frost chilled cake with another layer of frosting and smooth it with a bench scraper while the cake is on a turn table. See my video (above) for more details on frosting. Put the cake back in the fridge and let it chill for two hours. (Note: You will also need to put the remaining frosting back into the fridge as well. Then beat it again when you take it out after the two hours.) Make your chocolate ganache by placing chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat on high for one minute. Stir. Heat for 20 seconds more. Stir in olive oil until smooth. Pour into a plastic squeeze bottle or a ziptop plastic bag with the corner cut. Drizzle chocolate on the edges then squeeze onto top of cake and smooth with a spatula.
- Pipe the top and sides using a pastry bag fitted with a 1M tip from Wilton. Add Reeses peanut butter cups and chopped peanuts. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Please let us know by leaving a star rating and review!Amy is the author of a funny memoir called The Amy Binegar-Kimmes-Lyle Book of Failures. A great Summer read. Check it out (affiliate):
You might also like this Chocolate Drizzled Semi-Naked Rose Cake
Or this classic Chocolate Birthday Cake
And this Chocolate Peanut Butter Dump Cake is super easy and a real crowd pleaser! Yummy!
All text and images © Lise Ode for Mom Loves Baking. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be accurate. This post may contain affiliate links.
thanks for the creative recipe.
despite some bakers here had problems to accomplish the cake, i would like to give it a try.
But i noticed, there must be some error at the indication of quantity (and i wonder, why nobody asked this….but:
how can 2 cups of granulated sugar be 400g
and 2 1/4 cups cake flour = 240g , meaning although more in cups, much less in grams?
thanks for clarification
Hello Peter, The reason is that granulated sugar is much heavier than flour, so the measurements are correct. (You can Google it.) The cake is tricky because Swiss meringue buttercream is not an easy frosting recipe. It takes some practice, even with good instructions. But the cake is worth the effort because it’s absolutely delicious.
I made this cake for my mother in law’s birthday, it’s now the only cake anyone requests. So good!
Oh how wonderful! So happy to hear! Enjoy!!
I would have thought it was a typo, but more than once “Mom” says to use three 6″ round cake pans. If you do, you will end up with left over batter–enough for another 6″ cake pan. I put about 345 g of batter in each pan and that was the max you can do for a 2″ tall pan. Bake time needed to be reduced by 10 minutes. And the recipes says it serves 20???? Even an 8″, 3 layer cake only serves 8-10.
Basically, this recipes has a number of serious flaws –from the cake batter, serving sizes, bake time to the buttercream ratios & instructions.
Take the ideas for the decorating (very nice), but find other recipes for the chocolate cake & buttercream. Find ones that are accurate and provide more instructions for success.
Mom, rather than addiing more instructions in the comment area that not everyone reads, why don’t you fix the recipes and republish. As it is, I won’t trust any of your recipes going forward.