Let me just start off by saying this is not one of those ordinary vegan peanut butter cup cakes!
Sure everyone’s got a Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Cake that claims to be “the best”.
You know the ones that are just chocolate cake with boring old peanut butter buttercream
And a bunch of store bought peanut butter cups thrown on top for garnish?
Well not this Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Cake!
This is anything but boring with authentic copy cat Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup filling stuffed into each layer!
And let’s not forget the homemade peanut butter cups that will put Reese’s and their non-vegan butts to shame!
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Notes for Success:
Can we talk for a moment about that slightly dry-ish, almost sandy texture of a real deal Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?
By adding crushed graham cracker crumbs into the standard peanut butter filling recipe you have just achieved authentic copy cat status!
Recommended to watch the you tube video tutorial to see the consistency of the peanut butter filling!
The recipe below for Peanut Butter Buttercream will be enough to ice and fill a 3 layer 7″ cake
Or if you only have 8″ cake pans use then instead for a 2 layer cake!
Either way all the recipes will stay the same
You will notice in the American Style Buttercream recipe I have listed below there is shortening in the recipe
I no longer use shortening in any of my buttercream recipes since I am not traveling with this cake or leaving it to sit out at room temperature for days on end
Therefore by replacing the shortening amount listed below with more vegan butter you can also leave it out!
Additionally I use butter extract in my buttercream recipes but this is an optional ingredient and can be left out with no other changes
Last, if your vegan butter is particularly salty you should omit the salt in the buttercream recipe
WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS CAKE!
Peanut Butter Cup Cake
Ingredients
For the Peanut Butter Buttercream
- Vegan Butter 1½ Cups 3 sticks (336g)
- Hi Ratio Solid Vegetable Shortening 1½ Cups 336g *optional! see notes
- Confectioners Sugar 6 cups 720g
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons 10ml
- Butter Extract 1 teaspoon 5ml *see notes
- Salt ¼ teaspoon *optional
- Peanut Butter Powder ½ cup
- OR 1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
For the Peanut Butter Cup Filling:
- 3 cups creamy peanut butter
- 2 cup confectioners sugar
- ¾ cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
- ¾ teaspoon salt *optional
For the Garnish:
Instructions
- TIME SAVING TIP! All recipes can be prepared up to 4 days in advance and then assembled into the whole cake in less than 1 hour.
- First prepare the chocolate cake recipe according to that recipe post and bake the batter divided evenly amongst 3-7" cake pans
- Meanwhile prepare the ganache recipe according to the instructions on that recipe post
- Next make the peanut butter cup filling by grinding the graham crackers in a food processor to fine crumbs
- Add the graham cracker crumbs to the peanut butter in a large mixing bowl along with the sifted confectioners sugar & optional salt
- The mixture will resemble a soft dough that you can actually handle and if you watch the video you will see that I pat it out into 2-7" round discs perfect to "plop" right into the cake when I am ready to assemble
- Wrap the dough discs loosely and refrigerate them while you prepare the buttercream icing by whipping the vegan butter & shortening *if using in an electric mixer to fluffy
- Add the optional salt and then the sifted confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time until it is all incorporated & then add the extracts and whip on high speed for 5 minutes
- Add the peanut butter powder OR the creamy peanut butter whichever you are using and then mix well
- Now assemble the cake as shown in the video tutorial
Notes
However this is a heat sensitive cake meaning that if the room gets too warm it could have a tendency to droop and fall over.
I recommend to refrigerate the cake at all times and it will have a storage life of over 1 week.