Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake made in the ONE pan! Creamy peanut butter cheesecake bakes on top of a fudgy chocolate cake for the ultimate dessert!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake… What more to say than who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate together? Oh yeah, in a CHEESECAKE *slash* cake form!
This recipe has been so popular, we’ve made it into a video, showing with a chocolate ganache frosting!
Another slice of decadence deserving of a drumroll just in time for EASTER — or the weekend. I give you Peanut Butter Cheesecake / Chocolate Cake. Creamy, melt in your mouth peanut butter cheesecake bakes on top of a fudgy and rich chocolate cake — made in the ONE pan! Only 254 calories without the frosting OR 313 WITH! The frosting is NOT made with ANY cream. No heavy cream. No whipping cream. Not even BUTTER. AND it’s HEALTHY! Or healthy-er than the usual frosting and optional because the cake is so good on its own it doesn’t need anything more.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake
I’ve been working on this recipe since I posted the Carrot Cake Cheesecake and the Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Cake. A few (I’m talking around six) failed attempts at this one, and finally I broke the mould, so to speak. Because who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate together?
I mean, do you see the fluffiness, the fudginess, and the creaminess all in the same slice down there? ↓↓↓ And if that wasn’t enough, I topped it with an even creamier special frosting AND blended up some Reese’s chips along with some chocolate chips to sprinkle over the lusciousness.
Some tips:
- Line your spring form baking tin. Do NOT attempt to just lightly grease it, or the cake will stick. It’s super fudgy. Don’t risk it.
- The cake pan / tin required is 8-inch. Please don’t attempt to bake it in a larger tin.
- The cheesecake layer requires normal peanut butter. Please do not use natural peanut butter.
- Â There is no need to swirl the layers. Just follow the recipe and directions EXACTLY as they are written.
- No, you do not have to make the yogurt frosting. It is optional.
- If you want to attempt to substitute ingredients, do so at your own risk and discernment. This is the recipe I have tested and baked countless times, and unfortunately I cannot tell you if coconut flour, almond flour, gluten free flour, maple syrup, honey, no eggs or flax eggs, oil instead of butter, etc, will work. I have not tried it with any other ingredient.
- ENJOY!
WATCH US MAKE Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake RIGHT HERE!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar or a natural granulated baking sweetener that measure 1:1 with sugar
- 2 eggs large
- ½ cup skim milk or full fat or almond milk
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour or plain flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder leveled
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water boiled, brewed with 2 teaspoons instant coffe, or ¼ cup strong brewed coffee, at room temperature
Cheesecake:
- 1 cup light cream cheese at room temperature
- â…“ cup natural powdered sweetener or sugar
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter do not use natural
- ½ cup sour cream or natural, plain, or Greek yogurt
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoons cornstarch
Chocolate Yogurt Glaze: (OPTIONAL)
- 3 ½ oz 70% dark chocolate or milk chocolate
- 3 ½ oz vanilla Greek yoghurt or naturally sweetened Greek yogurt
Peanut Butter Yogurt Frosting: (OPTIONAL)
- ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt naturally sweetened Greek yogurt, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar or powdered sweetener
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175°C | 350°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round springform pan with cooking oil spray; line with baking / parchment paper and set aside.***
For The Cake:
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until light and creamy. Beat in the milk until well combined.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, mixing them through the wet ingredients. Pour in the coffee and beat the batter until fluffy, well combined and smooth (about 1 minute). Set aside.
For The Cheesecake Mixture:
- Beat the cheesecake ingredients together until smooth and lump free (about one minute on low speed).
Assemble Cake:
- Evenly pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Pour â…“ of the cream cheese mixture over the cake layer (don't swirl it through). Pour the remaining cake batter over the cream cheese; then pour the remaining cream cheese mixture over the top to evenly cover the cake.
- Bake in preheated oven for 50 - 55 minutes, or until the centre is just set (it will have a very slight wobble to it). If you find it is browning after 30 minutes, tent with foil being careful the foil does not stick to the cheesecake). Slightly open oven door and keep it ajar with the cheesecake still in the oven for 20 minutes to allow the cheesecake to set further.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for two hours. By this stage, it will be soft but set enough to serve slightly warm. OR cover with foil and refrigerate for 6 hours or over night.
For The Chocolate Yogurt Glaze:
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments; stirring after each until completely melted. Lightly mix the yogurt through the chocolate until just combined (don't beat it or the chocolate will seize and harden).
For The Peanut Butter Yogurt Glaze:
- Beat all ingredients well until smooth, lump free and combined.
Frost Cake:
- Once cake has chilled, remove from baking pan onto serving plate. Spread the chocolate glaze evenly around the sides of the cake with a thin, straight spatula. Spread the peanut butter frosting over the top of the cake. Decorate with crushed chocolate chips and peanut butter chips (I blended them in a small magic bullet cup or small food processor).
Notes
*Use a yogurt you like the taste of. One not too bitter, or the bitterness will come out in the frosting
*Please don't be tempted to NOT line your baking tin. The cake will stick to the sides without the parchment or baking paper OPTIONAL CHOCOLATE GANACHE FROSTING (AS SHOWN IN THE VIDEO): Bring 1 cup heavy cream to a gentle simmer over low-medium heat. Take off heat immediately, and break 7-ounces or 200-grams chocolate of choice (we used 70% cocoa) into pieces. Add chocolate pieces to the cream; cover with a lid and allow to sit for 5 minutes undisturbed. After 5 minutes, the chocolate will have started to melt. Begin to whisk the chocolate through the cream slowly, and gradually whisk faster to combine. Cool slightly (about 15 minutes), before pouring over the cake.
Jack says
I’m so impressed that Karina put this recipe together. I made the version with peanut frosting and chocolate yogurt glaze. It’s just really amazing how well everything fits together. I could not have anticipated it trying each component as I made the cake. The flavor is very sophisticated but not in a pretentious way. I thought it was scrumptious and very unique. I interpreted the ajar oven instruction to be followed regardless of whether the cheesecake was browning at the 30 minute mark. The door to my gas Kenmore oven stayed open without being propped and the oven stayed on. I used double the peanut butter frosting, which didn’t seem to be too much, though I am bad at frosting cakes, and it wasn’t evenly distributed. I dripped some over the sides, and the sweet peanut butter frosting went really well with the bitter dark chocolate glaze. This recipe took me a while. I would imagine it’s fast if you’ve made cheesecakes before, but I hadn’t. I used Oikos vanilla lowfat yogurt and regular JIFF for the peanut butter frosting. Good luck! Well worth the effort.
Julia Wei says
Just made this for my dad’s birthday and it was amazing! Absolutely covered the top with crushed peanuts and they added nice texture. I baked for 45 minutes and the edges were perfect while the center was a creamier fudgey. When cooling, the center sunk, so I filled it in with the peanut butter glaze, and it looked and tasted as a five layer cake. I didn’t have normal peanut butter so I used natural, and didn’t notice anything too off. Great recipe.
Bonnie says
I’ve just made this for the second time. Nothing short of fabulous! I made the ganache icing and it is so easy to make! Takes me longer than 15 minutes to get in the oven, but worth it!
Ally says
Thank you for sharing your brilliant and delicious recipies Karina. You have made me a better cook effortlessly! X
Ilene says
I am not a peanut butter fan but this looks amazing. Can I just leave out the peanut butter? Anything you would add instead? Maybe more cream cheese?
Karina says
Absolutely! Replace the peanut butter with extra cream cheese and it should be delicious. Happy holidays!
Maui says
Can I use espresso?
Karina says
Yes, that will give it an added flavor.
Michael says
Can I use boxed cake mix instead?
Karina says
That should work great! I like that idea too!
Leslee says
Crap. Just noticed my pan was too big. Do not go larger than the stated 8 inch people. Layers were really thin, hoping the ganache with fix my faux pas with pan size. On a plus size the cake batter is delicious. Anyone else make the same mistake?
Suhair houry says
Sorry just read it’s replaceable by water
Suhair houry says
Hi Karina I love your recepies they r easy and understandable my children loved my cooking since I followed u if I want to skip coffee in this cake do I need an alternative thx alot