Mary Berg’s chocolate peanut butter cake has plenty going on: peanut butter is swirled through the chocolate cake batter, while a milk-chocolate peanut butter ganache and salty cornflake-peanut crunch finish the top. It’s impressive enough for company, without the work of a layer cake.
“Single-layer cakes are where it’s at. Sure, a multilayer number gets to shine on birthdays, but pretty much every other occasion is, in my opinion, best celebrated with what I call a “tea cake” – a deceptively subtle single-layer showpiece that wows with an “Oh, I just threw this together” nonchalance.” –Mary Berg
Mary Berg’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup hot black coffee
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter not natural
Cornflake Crunch
- ½ cup butterscotch or peanut butter chips
- 1 cup cornflakes
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts coarsely chopped
- ¼ tsp flaky sea salt
Peanut Butter Ganache
- ¼ cup 35% whipping cream
- 4 oz milk chocolate finely chopped
- 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter not natural
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined. Add the buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla and whisk just to combine. Stir in the hot coffee and pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Heat the peanut butter in the microwave or over a double boiler until thin and liquid, drizzle over the cake batter and swirl in with a butter knife.
- Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes or until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Cornflake Crunch
- Meanwhile, melt the butterscotch or peanut butter chips in a large bowl in the microwave in 15-second bursts or by heating them over a double boiler. Stir in the cornflakes and peanuts and transfer to a piece of parchment, spreading the mixture into a clumpy but even layer. Sprinkle the top with the flaky sea salt and set aside to harden.
Peanut Butter Ganache
- Heat the whipping cream in the microwave or in a pan over low heat until steamy but not yet simmering. Add the chopped chocolate to a bowl, pour the hot cream overtop and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk the mixture until well combined, then whisk in the peanut butter until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool slightly until it is a thick, pourable consistency.
To Serve
- Place the cake on a pedestal or serving plate and pour the ganache overtop, allowing it to drip down the sides. Break up the cornflake crunch and scatter overtop as well.
Notes
Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
- It’s a one-layer showstopper.
- You get the drama of a celebration cake without stacking, filling or frosting multiple layers.
- Chocolate and peanut butter run through every component.
- Smooth peanut butter is swirled directly into the chocolate cake, then appears again in the milk-chocolate ganache.
- The cornflake crunch makes it different.
- Cornflakes, roasted peanuts and flaky sea salt add a crisp, salty contrast to the soft cake and creamy ganache.
ELLE Gourmet Tips
- Use smooth, conventional peanut butter
- The recipe specifically calls for peanut butter that is not natural, both for swirling into the cake and making the ganache.
- Don’t skip the coffee
- The cake batter contains ½ cup hot black coffee alongside the cocoa. I wouldn’t claim that it “intensifies the chocolate flavour” unless Mary says so, but it’s worth flagging as part of what makes this chocolate cake distinctive.
- Let the cake cool completely
- After 20 minutes in the pan, turn it onto a rack and let it cool before adding the ganache.
- Make the crunch ahead
- The cornflake-peanut mixture needs to harden before you break it up and scatter it over the finished cake.
Excerpted from In Mary’s Kitchen by Mary Berg. Copyright © 2023 Mary Berg. Photographs by Lauren Vandenbrook. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
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