This chocolate peanut butter cake would be perfect for a birthday. Birthdays are sort of a big deal at our house. I think that every new year should be celebrated and that everyone should have a birthday cake.

Salted Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with decorative milk chocolate buttercream and sea salt flakes.

When you have a few basic recipes under your belt, you can take those tried and true recipes, and make them into other things. That is exactly what I did here. I used Beatty’s chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, and peanut butter pie and made them into something new and different.

I made my chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting almost exactly as written. I just used melted milk chocolate in place of cocoa in the chocolate buttercream and made it into milk chocolate buttercream. I made a half recipe of the filling for my peanut butter pie and put it in between the layers of the cake.

A close-up of Salted Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with piped milk chocolate buttercream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ingredients

For the chocolate cake and the buttercream: see the ingredients from my chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, just swapping cocoa for milk chocolate.

For the peanut butter filling: see the ingredients from my peanut butter pie filling.

Salted Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with dark chocolate cake layers and a thick peanut butter filling.

How to Make – The Steps

Step 1: As per the above, start by making my chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, the only difference is that you need to use melted milk chocolate in place of cocoa in the chocolate buttercream and made it into milk chocolate buttercream. I made a half recipe of the filling for my peanut butter pie and put it in between the layers of the cake. A generous sprinkling of sea salt and this is one of the best cakes I have ever made in my entire life. And the most fattening. It is a birthday, who cares?

Step 2: Bake your chocolate cake layers and let cool. If you want to use a boxed chocolate cake mix, I will not tell. Promise.

Step 3: Do as I say, not as I do. My cake had borderline stability issues. I should have either cut the cake layers in half and did the peanut butter filling twice or inserted dowels into the cake to keep it upright. Chill the cake for a few hours to make sure everything is nice and firm.

Step 4: Make the buttercream replacing the cocoa with cooled melted milk chocolate.

Step 5: Ice the cake with the milk chocolate buttercream. See how I am leaning? Part of it is the camera angle, but part of it is a lopsided cake.

I want to stick my face in this bowl right about now.

Step 6: You can make the edges fancy by piping the extra frosting on the edges.

Step 7: Sprinkle the top with sea salt. It absolutely brings out all of the flavors and it does not make it salty, but more chocolatey and peanut buttery. It makes it even more delicious. As if milk chocolate and peanut really need to taste better.

I might also mention that this makes for a pretty perfect after-birthday breakfast.

Salted Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake frosted with milk chocolate buttercream and decorative piping.

What About the Bread on the Cake

I have gotten a lot of questions about the bread on the cake. I am going to share with you one of the coolest tips I have. My mom taught me this years ago, and most people who come to my house and see it, do not believe that it works, but it does. I baked these cake layers the night before I was putting my cake together. I left them out on the counter with a slice of bread on top so that the cake layers would not become stale. The bread becomes hard as a rock, but the cake layers remain moist and as perfect as when I made them. I use this same trick with muffins, cupcakes, and anything that I want to leave on the counter. Try it, it really does work.

Buttercream frosting piped on cake, close-up baking detail.

Salted Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Bree Hester

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings

Calories 1107 kcal

Ingredients

1 chocolate cake
1 cups peanut butter filling
2 cups milk chocolate buttercream

Instructions

As per the above, start by making my chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, the only difference is that you need to use melted milk chocolate in place of cocoa in the chocolate buttercream and made it into milk chocolate buttercream. I made a half recipe of the filling for my peanut butter pie and put it in between the layers of the cake. A generous sprinkling of sea salt and this is one of the best cakes I have ever made in my entire life. And the most fattening. It is a birthday, who cares?
Bake your chocolate cake layers and let cool. If you want to use a boxed chocolate cake mix, I will not tell. Promise.
Do as I say, not as I do. My cake had borderline stability issues. I should have either cut the cake layers in half and did the peanut butter filling twice or inserted dowels into the cake to keep it upright. Chill the cake for a few hours to make sure everything is nice and firm.
Make the buttercream replacing the cocoa with cooled melted milk chocolate.
Ice the cake with the milk chocolate buttercream. See how I am leaning? Part of it is the camera angle, but part of it is a lopsided cake. I want to stick my face in this bowl right about now.
You can make the edges fancy by piping the extra frosting on the edges.
Sprinkle the top with sea salt. It absolutely brings out all of the flavors and it does not make it salty, but more chocolatey and peanut buttery. It makes it even more delicious. As if milk chocolate and peanut really need to taste better.