Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake

This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake is the stuff dreams are made of. Rich chocolate cake with a center made of creamy peanut butter cheesecake! We top this off with a thick, rich peanut butter frosting and spread chocolate ganache over the top.  

Is this cake really worth all the fuss? Yep. Completely.

Your New Cake Obsession

This cake is basically a dream come true.

Layers of chocolate cake (thanks, cake mix, you’re a lifesaver 🙏), a creamy peanut butter cheesecake (yes, I made it from scratch, because balance 🤪), and then it’s all topped with a thick peanut butter frosting (we’re trying to mimic a peanut butter ball here) and drizzled with chocolate ganache.

I mean, what more could you want? 🤷‍♀️

I know what you’re thinking: “Is this really worth all the fuss?” And my answer is, absolutely!

It’s more work than many of our recipes, because there are 4 distinct components, but it’s worth every second you’ll spend.

I make this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake for my son’s birthday just about every year and have for the past 15 years. The kid (who is now turning 25) is obsessed.

♥ What We Love About This Recipe:

• Chocolate & Peanut Butter: America’s favorite combo! There is peanut butter throughout, all surrounded by rich chocolate cake – made easy with cake mix.
• Over The Top: This cake is honestly kind of insane. Instead of a plain chocolate cake, we’re throwing a cheesecake in the center. Instead of boring frosting, we made a thick, rich peanut butter frosting that tastes like a peanut butter ball. We didn’t stop there either – we finish it off with a chocolate peanut butter ganache that looks hard and sounds fancy but is actually the easiest part!

Ingredient Notes:

We include the full recipe down in the recipe card, but this section is helpful for a visual on what you’ll need and what swaps you may want to test out.

For the Peanut Butter Cheesecake:

Cream Cheese – Start with blocks of room temperature cream cheese for easy mixing! If your cream cheese is cold, your cheesecake will be lumpy no matter how much you try mixing out the lumps.

Peanut Butter – You can use any brand of creamy peanut butter that you like! You’ll want a processed peanut butter, such as Jif or Skippy. Don’t use a natural peanut butter where the oil separates.

Other – You’ll also need some all-purpose flour, eggs, and some milk (preferably 2% or whole milk).

For the Chocolate Cake:

Boxed Chocolate Cake Mix – Try to find a 15.25 ounce chocolate cake mix. The sizes keep shrinking, and any size should work, but we tested this with a 15 ounce mix. I like this one. You’ll also need the ingredients as called for on the box.

For the Peanut Butter Frosting:

Peanut Butter – Even more peanut butter! We’re using it as much as possible in this recipe so it’s going into the frosting too.

Butter – Start with room temperature butter for easy mixing.

Powdered Sugar – To sweeten up the frosting.

Heavy Whipping Cream – To thin up the consistency of the frosting a bit to help make it more spreadable. You can use more of this, or some milk, as needed to get it to the right consistency.

For the Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze:

Chocolate Chips – We used semi-sweet chocolate chips for this but you could use milk chocolate or dark chocolate if you prefer. It’ll depend on the sweetness level you prefer.

Peanut Butter – Yep, more peanut butter! Hope you bought a big jar.

Light Corn Syrup- This is not the same as HFCS. You’ll find it in the baking aisle or here at Walmart.

Cream: The cream is going to make this rich, thick, and glossy.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How To Make the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Layer:

You’ll want to prepare the cheesecake a day in advance so it has time to chill before adding the chocolate cake layers. Beat together cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, and flour and then the eggs one at a time. Stir in the milk.

Grease a 9 inch round springform pan very well as there is no crust. Pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cheesecake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees. Reduce the heat to 260 and bake for 50 minutes or until the center is just slightly jiggly.

Turn the oven off, crack the door open, and let it cool for an hour. Transfer to the counter to cool for another hour and then pop it in the fridge to finish chilling.

How to Make the Chocolate Cake Layer:

This part is pretty simple! Just prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the package instructions, or use a recipe for a homemade cake.

Pour the cake batter into two greased 9 inch round cake pans and bake per instructions. Cool completely before proceeding.

How to Make the Peanut Butter Frosting + Chocolate Ganache:

Cream together the peanut butter and room temperature butter. Add the powdered sugar and heavy cream, beat together until the frosting is smooth and creamy. Use milk or cream to get the frosting to a spreadable consistency.

In a double boiler or a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. When melted remove from heat and whisk in the cream until the glaze is a smooth, creamy consistency.

Cake Assembly:

Place one layer of chocolate cake on a cake stand and top with 1/4 of the chocolate peanut butter glaze. Spread it to the edges.

Carefully remove the sides of the springform pan place the entire cheesecake upside down on the chocolate cake layer. Top with ganache and the second layer of chocolate cake.

Chill the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes to make it easier to work with and then spread the peanut butter frosting over it all to cover. The frosting should be somewhat thick, but you can thin it out as you like.

Microwave the chocolate glaze for a few seconds to soften it back up. Pour over the top center of the cake and use a spatula to spread the glaze to the edges so that it drips down prettily. We like to pop this back in the fridge for about 15 minutes before slicing.

Karly’s Tips & Notes:

We tested this recipe so many times before sharing it here, because, well…it’s an in-depth recipe and I want to be sure it turns out just perfect for you! Here are some of my personal tips:

• Cheesecake: We tested this peanut butter cheesecake with both a water bath and without. Highly recommend baking the cheesecake in a water bath to help prevent cracking. Our method for cooling the cheesecake also helps to prevent cracks. That said, if you get a crack in your cheesecake, no one is going to notice since it’ll be sandwiched between chocolate cake!
• Frosting: Have you ever had a peanut butter ball or a buckeye? They’re thick and rich and that was my inspiration when developing this recipe. The frosting is also thick, but you can add more cream (or a splash of milk) to thin it out so that it’s easier to spread.
• Double Boiler: I don’t actually have a double boiler myself. I just add some water to a small pot and bring it to a simmer. Place a heat safe mixing bowl over the top and pour in your chocolate. It works beautifully. I do lift the bowl periodically to release some steam, just to be safe.

Original photo below: