Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

A rich and decadent vegan peanut butter cake with a simple chocolate cream cheese frosting. The fluffy texture and smooth frosting make an impressive dessert or afternoon treat or a birthday cake.

Having a birthday in isolation is slightly different to other years but I am so fortunate to be celebrating with my family. To share the love with all of you, I am finally sharing the recipe for my Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting. I love peanut butter and I love chocolate. I also love my friends. So, when I had invited some girlfriends around for an afternoon tea earlier this year, I wanted to bake a brand-new cake to celebrate. Like me, they are also partial to some chocolate and nut butter so what better way to come together than with a cake.

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Like my Vegan Vanilla Cake and Double Chocolate Cupcakes, I wanted this recipe to be simple and accessible to everyone. So, the ingredients and method are simple, and you probably have all the ingredients anyway – make sure you’ve got a big jar of peanut butter to hand. The vegan DIY buttermilk holds this cake together – which is just plant-based milk and lemon juice whisked together and left to “curdle” for 10 minutes.

The other wet ingredients are coconut sugar, a little of maple syrup, vanilla and peanut butter. The best kind would be a runny peanut butter so that it mixes nicely with the other ingredients. The choice between smooth and crunchy is up to you – I’m a crunchy girl myself!

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and bake. For my flour, I used half spelt, half plain flour and I am sure you could replace the plain flour with a GF blend, but I haven’t tried a fully GF cake, let me know what you find.

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

While the Peanut Butter Cake bakes it’s time to make the Chocolate Frosting. I am loving vegan cream cheese frostings at the moment as they have such a smooth and silky texture and it is a great addition to any bake! Stir in more peanut butter, cacao powder, syrup and milk for a creamy frosting. I kept the rest of the decoration simple with cacao nibs, desiccated coconut and some rose petals, but you could go all out with lots of chocolate on top!

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Serve this Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting with a cup of tea for a real afternoon treat or surprise someone with a birthday cake. It is definitely worth being the centre of attention. The texture is light and fluffy, moist and with deep peanut butter flavours and the creamy rich chocolate frosting is a great addition to the peanut butter.

I hope you will enjoy this vegan, simple and quick bake. If you are looking for more cakes, how about my Sticky Orange Banana Bread, Spiced Apple Cake, Carrot and Raisin Bundt Cake, Cherry and Almond Bakewell Cake or Chocolate and Cherry Banana Cake.

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

• Servings: 1 x 20cm cake
• Time: 40 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A rich and decadent vegan peanut butter cake with a simple chocolate cream cheese frosting. The fluffy texture and smooth frosting make an impressive dessert or afternoon treat or a birthday cake.

Ingredients

• 360ml plant-based milk e.g. almond or soya
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 125 g peanut butter, runny (crunchy or smooth)
• 100 g coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g flour (I used 100g spelt and 100g plain flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch salt
• Frosting:
• 100g vegan cream cheese
• 100g peanut butter, runny (crunchy or smooth)
• 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 2 tbsp syrup (maple, fruit or vegan honey)
• 100ml plant-based milk e.g. almond or soya
• To decorate: cacao nibs, desiccated coconut, rose petals

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line a round tin.
2. Add the lemon juice to the plant-based milk and leave to curdle for 10 minutes.
3. Pour the peanut butter, coconut sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract to a bowl and whisk to a paste. After 10 minutes, add in the milky mixture and whisk until runny.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Pour in the wet mixture and whisk until smooth with no lumps.
5. Pour into the lined tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then cool fully on a wire rack.
7. Meanwhile, make the frosting by adding all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and whizz until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add a splash more milk for a thinner consistency. Leave the frosting in the fridge while the cake cools.
8. Spread the cake with the frosting and serve with any toppings. Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The un-frosted cake can be frozen and stored up to 1 month.

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I look forward to hearing what you think of this Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting. Please leave a comment below and tag me in your bakes – I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With chocolate peanut butter cake love x