🎂Vanilla Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream🎂

 

This cake story is gorgeous. It reads like a love letter in dessert form. 

For one of my very favorite humans, I baked a birthday cake: a vanilla peanut butter creation layered with silky chocolate ganache, then wrapped in vanilla buttercream faintly tinted yellow. I topped it with bright, fresh roses to disguise the chocolate‑peanut‑butter decadence beneath, turning something indulgent into something beautiful and immense. And just to tease the senses, I scattered a few chocolate chips and honey‑roasted peanuts across the top.

The cake is wonderfully fragrant, rich, and full of flavor. What makes it truly special, though, is that it’s for my dear Jillian. Creating it reminded me how much I love baking, and this little masterpiece has already inspired ideas for future desserts.











🎂Vanilla Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream🎂

Vanilla Peanut Butter Cake:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbs. cornstarch
½ tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup light olive oil or avocado oil
½ cup white granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
1 cup smooth peanut butter (Skippy)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease three 6” cake pans and line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and baking powder, and salt. Whisk together until well combined. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer with a large bowl), cream together the butter, oil, sugars, and peanut butter. 

Add the eggs and vanilla, as well as the buttermilk, until soft and creamy.

Add the dry mixture, ½ cup at a time, until mixed well, but not overmixed.

Divide the batter among the three prepared cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool before tightly wrapping in plastic and chilling or freezing for several days. (COLD cakes are much easier to ice).

Dark Chocolate “Ganache:”
Traditionally ganache is made with chocolate and cream – I used a bit of buttercream + melted chocolate for this silky cake center.

1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup Vanilla Buttercream*

Bring a small pot of water to a boil.
In an oven-safe bowl, place the chocolate chips over the boiling water and stir until melted and silky smooth. 
Add the buttercream and whisk until fully combined.

Cool to room temperature before slathering over one layer of Vanilla Peanut Butter Cake, topping with another layer of cake, following with another (2^nd half of ganache) slather, and ending with the last layer of cake.

Insert a wooden skewer through the center of the cake to ensure it stays together and chill for several hours to set.

Vanilla Buttercream:
1 lb. butter (salted)
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup powdered milk
1 tsp. vanilla powder
1 Tbs. pale yellow food coloring

Using a stand mixer, cream the butter for 10-15 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Slowly add the powdered sugar, powdered milk, and vanilla until fully combined and still light and fluffy. Next, drizzle in food coloring, just a squirt at a time, to reach your preferred pale yellow color.

(Via photos, you will see I attempted buttercream flowers to cover this cake. I did not like the look, so I smoothed it out and went an entirely different direction with fresh roses).

Remove the chocolate filled cake from the fridge and slather with Vanilla Buttercream on all surfaces, working until all edges are smooth and beautiful.

Decorate with fresh sprig roses or anything else that suits your fancy.

Chill before slicing and serving, and also to store.