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chocolate peanut butter mini cakes

Course Dessert
Keyword bundt cake, chocolate, dessert, peanut butter, sweets
Servings 4 3-tiered mini cakes

Ingredients

chocolate cake:

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/3 cups cocoa powder
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water

peanut butter frosting:

  • 2 sticks 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
  • 8 oz 1 box cream cheese, at room temp
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

dark chocolate ganache topping:

  • 8 oz dark chocolate chips
  • 1 stick 1/2 cup unsalted butter

garnish:

  • Reese's peanut butter cups chopped (I used half a bag of the miniatures and a whole bag of the minis)

Instructions

chocolate cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Prepare three 8-inch round pans with cooking spray and parchment rounds. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine all cake ingredients except boiling water (sugar through the vanilla extract). Whisk until just combined. Add boiling water then carefully beat until just combined again. Use a spatula to clean sides of bowl, and whisk one more time.
  4. Evenly distribute batter between three cake pans - a kitchen scale is very useful here! Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove cakes from pans and cool completely.

peanut butter frosting:

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add peanut butter and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Use a spatula to clean the sides of the bowl, and beat again. Add powdered sugar and heavy cream, then beat until smooth.

dark chocolate ganache

  1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Once completely melted, remove from heat. Immediately add dark chocolate chips. Using a rubber spatula, stir to combine chocolate and butter. The hot butter should melt the chocolate and create a smooth ganache. Set aside to cool slightly (about 10 minutes).

assembly:

  1. Once the cakes are completely cool, cut each of the three cakes into four equal size mini circles using a 3-inch diameter biscuit cutter. This should yield 12 cake circles to make your four 3-tier mini cakes or you can just make a normal cake and skip this step if you'd like.
  2. Place four bottom layers on cake plate. Using an offset spatula, smooth about a 1/4 cup of frosting over the top of each cake bottom. Add four second layer cakes on top of frosting then repeat with another 1/4 cup of frosting on each of the four second layers. Add the top layer to each cake. Use the spatula to smooth the frosting around the outside of each mini cake. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to help solidify the cake layers.
  3. Remove cakes from fridge. Spoon a large scoop of frosting on the top layer of each mini cake (about 1/2 cup each) and smooth the frosting over the top and sides of each cake. Add more frosting as needed to completely cover the cake. Smooth frosting into an even layer on the tops and sides. p.s. I suck at frosting cakes... hopefully yours won't have cake peaking though lol.
  4. Return cake to refrigerator for another 20 minutes to chill the frosting. Prepare the ganache during this time.
  5. Once chilled, slowly pour the slightly-cooled ganache over top of each cake, starting in the middle of the cake. When the ganache begins to drip over the sides of the cake, stop pouring.
  6. Top with chopped peanut butter cup pieces. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes. [optional garnish: cut 16 miniature peanut butter cups in half and use them to rim the bottom of each mini cake]
  7. Devour!! Then become ill from eating too much sugar.