This Peanut Butter and Jelly cake is a vanilla cake, filled with raspberry jam and covered in peanut butter cream cheese frosting.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours10 minutesminutes
Servings 10people
Calories 500kcal
Ingredients
Cake
1/2cupunsalted butter softened4 oz
3/4cupgranulated sugar
2large eggs room temperature
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
1 3/4cupall-purpose flour
2teaspoonsbaking powder
1/4teaspoonsalt
3/4cupbuttermilk room temperature
Raspberry Jam
10ozraspberries frozen or fresh
2tablespoonsmaple syrup
2teaspoonscornstarch
1/3cupwater
Peanut butter frosting
8ozcream cheesesoftened
4ozbuttersoftened (1 stick, 1/2 cup)
1cupcreamy peanut butter
3cupspowdered sugarsifted
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
Grease and flour 4 6” cake pans, or 2 8” cake pans.
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer for 2 minutes, on medium speed. Gradually add sugar and cream for 3 minutes until mixture is fluffy and lighter in color.
Add eggs to the mixture, one at a time, mixing on medium speed. Scrape bowl and add vanilla. Mix on medium-low speed until incorporated.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
Add half of the buttermilk to butter/egg/sugar mixture. Mix on low for 30 seconds. Add half of sifted flour mixture. Mix on low for 30-45 seconds until almost entirely incorporated.
Add remaining buttermilk and mix on low for 30 seconds. Add remaining flour and mix on low until incorporated.
Divide batter evenly between your cake pans.
Bake on pre-heated oven for about 20-25 minutes. Smaller cake pans will take less time to bake.
Remove cake from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean once inserted in the cake.
Let cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes and flip it over in a wire rack to let it cool completely before proceeding with frosting and filling.
Raspberry Jam
Mix maple syrup and raspberries in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn heat down once it starts boiling. Stir often while mixture boils, for about 2 minutes.
Mix water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Once cornstarch has been dissolved in the water, add mixture to raspberries. With the heat still on low, or medium-low, keep stirring mixture until it thickens, about 5 more minutes.
Strain through a sieve, pressing down and stirring jam.
Place jam in the fridge to cool down.
Peanut butter frosting
Start by creaming 8 oz of cream cheese on medium speed with an electric mixer.
Beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment for about 45 seconds.
Add butter and beat for another minute.
Add peanut butter and mix on medium speed until combined.
With the mixer on the lowest speed, start adding the sifted powdered sugar in one tablespoon at a time.
Once all powdered sugar has been added and it’s incorporated, turn mixer to medium and cream for about 30 seconds.
Add vanilla extract and mix until combined.
If your frosting seems a bit stiff, add a teaspoon of milk at a time until you achieve desired consistency.
If frosting seems too soft, add a little bit more powdered sugar.
Just be aware that the consistency could be too soft also because your butter or cream cheese have softened too much (because it’s too hot in the room, or they’ve been out for too long, etc). In that case, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, insert it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes until butter or cream cheese have hardened a little bit. Then, proceed to cream frosting for a few more seconds before using.
To assemble
I like to brush my cakes with some simple syrup, which is a mixture of equal parts of sugar and water, brought to a boil together and let to cool down. The simple syrup helps to keep the cake moist. I use about 2 or 3 tablespoons of simple syrup per layer.
Pipe a circle of peanut butter frosting on top of the bottom cake layer, along the edge. This will help you keep the jam in the filling without it spilling all over the place.
Fill the cake with a few tablespoons of jelly. Top with next layer. Brush cake with simple syrup. Proceed with the same procedure.
After the cake is filled, it's time to frost it.
To frost the cake, spread a small amount of frosting over the whole cake and smooth it over. place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is called crumb coating and it's necessary to obtain a smoothly frosted cake, without any crumbs in it.
Continue to frost the cake with the remaining peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Decorate the top with fresh raspberries and chocolate cups if you'd like.