Reese’s Cup Cake

This Delicious from-scratch homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake is legendary. This surprisingly quick and easy dessert has three layers so it looks like you’re auditioning for your own food network show, when, secretly, anyone could do it. This chocolate and peanut butter cake is perfectly moist and deliciously decadent. 

 

 

This dessert is legendary among my family and friends. Everytime I make it, multiple people ask for the recipe. This peanut butter confection has been both a Thanksgiving and a Christmas dessert staple as long as I can remember. My mom got this recipe from an acquaintance who wrote it down on the back of an envelope–the best way to come by a recipe–when I was just a baby. 

 

From then on, that envelope was dug out of her recipe folder for every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and get together. It was my grandma’s absolute favorite holiday dessert. In fact, one Thanksgiving, she tried to get my grandpa to hide the cake in another room so no one else would eat it! It’s that good! 

 

Everyone that has ever eaten this cake has loved it, which makes this surprisingly easy dessert a go-to whenever I host a get together or bring a dessert to a pot-luck! 

 

The other wonderful thing about this from-scratch dessert is that it uses a pretty short list of ingredients which I generally have in my baking cabinet. So if you need to throw something together at the last minute, this easy cake always comes through. 

 

Ingredients

 

 

This recipe uses mostly the baking basics: 

• Sugar

• Flour

• Baking soda

• Butter

• Cocoa

• Water

• Buttermilk (or sour milk)

• Eggs

• Creamy peanut butter 

• Vanilla Extract

• Milk (you can also substitute half and half or heavy cream)

• Powdered (confectioners) sugar

 

Instructions

 

Because this cake recipe has three layers, it might seem a bit intimidating at first, but it’s actually super easy to pull off. 

 

The first step is to make the cake layer.

 

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking dish with a nonstick spray or coat with butter. 

 

In a glass bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and baking soda. I like to use a whisk for this step to ensure everything is well incorporated, but a spoon will certainly do the trick!

 

 

Beat the eggs well in a saucepan–make sure the heat is turned off at this point. Add the butter (this butter can be at room temperature or straight from the fridge), cocoa, water, and buttermilk to the saucepan. Now turn on the heat to medium/medium high. Whisk frequently as you bring the mixture to bubbling. Starting with cold ingredients and whisking the mixture almost constantly ensures the eggs won’t scramble and the mixture will stay smooth. I have had the mixture get lumpy on me before and I’ve still used it to make the cake. It still tasted great, but the cake was more dense. 

 

 

Once the mixture starts bubbling, pour it directly into the bowl with the sugar, flour, and baking soda. Add the vanilla extract and combine all the ingredients. Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick (or knife) in the center of the cake and it comes out clean. 

 

 

Let the cake cool for about an hour. 

 

Now it’s time for the peanut butter layer. 

 

When the cake is cool, mix together the creamy peanut butter and room temperature butter. If your butter is cold, you can soften it in the microwave, but make sure it’s not hot when you add it to the peanut butter. This will make the peanut butter smooth, glossy, and easy to spread. Spread the mixture over the cooled cake (you can still add this layer when the cake is warm, but it should not be hot).

 

Finally, it’s time for the chocolate frosting.

 

The best practice is to let the peanut butter mixture rest on the cake for at least 20 minutes before adding the frosting, but if you’re short on time you can do this step right away. It may just result in the peanut butter bleeding through the frosting on top a bit. 

 

In a bowl, combine powdered sugar, cocoa, barely melted butter (you don’t want it to be hot), vanilla extract, and enough milk (or half and half or heavy cream) so that the mixture is slightly runny. This will generally be about 6 tablespoons of milk but may vary slightly. Mix until smooth. 

 

Pour this mixture over the peanut butter layer and carefully spread until all the peanut butter is covered. The frosting may seem runny at first, but should firm up after it has a few minutes to set (about 30 minutes). Serve and enjoy!    

 

 

Notes

• You can make this dessert up to a full day in advance. Just cover it and leave it on the counter until you’re ready to serve. That’s what makes it such an awesome dessert for any holiday!
• You can also make the cake the day before and add the other layers the day of if you would like.   

 

Love,

     this mama