Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cake Recipe

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Remember the comforting taste of the past with this much-loved old fashioned peanut butter cake. If you have fond memories of a special peanut butter cake from when you were a kid, this classic recipe will bring back that wonderful feeling.

This cake is simple but deeply satisfying, and it’s sure to be a popular favorite at any get-together, family meal, or party. Every slice has a super moist, tender texture full of real, rich peanut butter flavor, topped with an amazingly creamy, dreamy frosting. It’s more than just tasty – it’s a truly heartwarming treat.

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recipe highlights

• As most vintage recipes go, this is a classic. Creamy, moist crumb and delicious flavor.
• It’s a very easy cake that looks much more elegant than it was to make!
• Budget friendly cake, inexpensive ingredients.
• It’s a great base cake to then add to and make your own.
• There is so much to love about this cake, you’ll just have to make it yourself!

ingredients list

Easy ingredients, and you can make your own self rising flour and your own buttermilk.

For the Cake

• self rising flour
• baking soda
• granulated sugar
• unsalted butter
• peanut butter
• eggs
• buttermilk

Make your own self rising flour:

• You will need all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. To make 1 cup of self rising flour, use 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. (combine thoroughly!)

Make your own buttermilk:

There are four tried and true ways to make buttermilk that are proven to work.

• Do you have lemons or lemon juice? To make 1 cup of buttermilk, use 1 Tablespoon lemon juice + enough milk to equal 1 cup – will make 1 cup buttermilk.
• Do you have vinegar? To make 1 cup of buttermilk, use 1 tablespoon vinegar + enough milk to equal 1 cup.
• Do you have cream of tarter in your spice cabinet? To make 1 cup of buttermilk, use 1 3/4 teaspoon of cream of tarter + 1 cup of milk.
• Do you have plain yogurt in your refrigerator? To make 1 cup of buttermilk, substitute with 1 cup of plain yogurt. No milk needed.

For the Frosting

• powdered sugar
• peanut butter
• cream cheese
• milk

Step By Step Instructions

Place sugar, butter, peanut butter and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix up with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined and smooth. You can also hand whisk.

It should look like this:

Mix self-rising flour with baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to mixed wet ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.

This is what it looks like all combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in three layer cake pans at 350 degrees f oven for about 30-35 minutes. 

Allow to cool ten minutes in pan before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Combine peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar with two tablespoon of milk.

You may need to add an extra tablespoon or two of milk if the mixture is too thick.

Or, if the mixture becomes too runny for your tastes, add extra powdered sugar.

Beat with an electric Mixer until smooth and creamy. 

Once it’s ready to eat, simply grab a nice mug of coffee, cold glass of milk or hot cup of tea and enjoy a slice of this deliciously peanut buttery cake!

If desired, you could bake this cake in a sheet pan and create a peanut butter sheet cake as well. Bake in sheet pan for 25-35 minutes. Be sure to watch for doneness.

additional cake ideas

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake – Add a layer of jelly or fruit compote and make it a peanut butter and jelly cake.

Peanut Butter Cup – Add a layer of chocolate ganache or frosting, add chocolate chips to the cake mix, drizzle chocolate over the top. Crush up peanut butter cups and sprinkle across the top.

Nut Topping – From peanuts to pecans, or anything in between – crush up nuts and sprinkle across the top of the cake.

Elvis Presley – Take your peanut butter cake to the next level, or rather make it an ode to Elvis by mimicking his favorite sandwich flavors. Add mashed banana in between the layers, add sliced bananas to the top – and if you want to take it all the way, crumble bacon on top.

Please note: Making changes to any recipe as written can result in a recipe failure.
Any substitutions or variations listed are simple or tried and true changes that we think will work in this recipe.
Results are not guaranteed.

printable recipe

Peanut Butter Cake Recipe

Nicole Cook

If you love peanut butter, you will absolutely adore this easy Peanut Butter Cake recipe. Creamy, moist and incredibly delicious! 

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4.50 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 14

Calories 751 kcal

Ingredients 

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For the Cake:

• 2 ⅔ cups self rising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk

For the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 ½ cups peanut butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions 

• Place sugar, butter, peanut butter and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix up with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.
• Mix self-rising flour with baking soda.
• Add flour to wet mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
• Bake in three layer cake pans at 350 for about 35 minutes.
• Allow to cool ten minutes in pan before turning out to cool completely.
• For the Frosting: Combine peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar with two tablespoon of milk. You may need to add an extra tablespoon or two of milk if the mixture is too thick. Or, if the mixture becomes too runny for your tastes, add extra powdered sugar.
• Beat with an electric Mixer until smooth and creamy.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 751kcal | Carbohydrates: 93g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 504mg | Potassium: 366mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 515IU | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 1mg

keywordsKeywords easy cake recipes

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