Peanut Butter Cake (From Scratch!) with PB Cream Cheese Frosting
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Today one of our family’s dear friend, Kate Burhop, was gracious enough to share her Grandmother’s Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe with us. She even brought me a piece, too! It was absolutely amazing and I’ll soon be making one of my peanut butter loving family. This is similar to my Old Fashioned Yellow Cake With Peanut Butter Fudge Icing but the from-scratch cake and cream cheese twang in with the peanut butter icing really differentiate it and I know you’ll love it as much as I do! Thank you so much, Kate!
Gratefully, Christy
From Kate:
My mamaw passed away when I was just a little girl, but since then there are two major things I’ve learned about her from my family.
- She was shorter than your average woman. She was 4’11’’ if she stood up as straight as she could, which was a big difference from Papaw’s height of 6’6’’. But just because Mamaw was short didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own. Papaw would call her “Banty Rooster” because she had red hair and a temper to match.
- She could cook like no one’s business. Mamaw was a true Southern cook with a natural know how in the kitchen. She knew all of her recipes by memory and was never once seen with a measuring cup. Intuition was a large part of her cooking, which made it difficult for anyone to borrow her recipes.
Mamaw was particularly well known for making a to-die-for peanut butter cake and frosting. When asked to write down the recipe with ingredient measurements, she never could. She would say, “Just do it ‘til it looks right.” Finally, people realized that the best way to copy her cooking was to watch her firsthand. That’s how the family finally managed to get her “Peanut Butter Cake” and “Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese Frosting” recipes on paper.
This is the first cake that I learned to bake from scratch, and I can say that it is absolutely the most requested dessert recipe from my family. It’s stick-to-your-mouth good and never leaves a crumb to spare!
For the cake and frosting you’ll need: Self Rising Flour, Sugar, Baking Soda, Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese, Powdered Sugar, Butter (Mamaw liked Blue Bonnet), and 2 eggs.
Place sugar, butter, peanut butter and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix up with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.
Mix self-rising flour with baking soda. I don’t sift. Neither did Mamaw. A spoon works just fine for this. Add flour to wet mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
Using cooking spray, grease your pans. This cake is enough to fill three 8-inch pans.
You can also bake it in a 9×13 pan if you like and just ice it right in the pan.
However, today I have a bit of time on my hands, and have decided to go with my “intuition” for something special.
If using three eight inch pans, bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.
(Time may vary slightly if you decide to use differently sized pans like I have). Allow to cool ten minutes in pan before turning out to cool completely.
Frost your cake however you wish!
I assure you it will taste just as good if not better slopped on the cake as it will neatly decorated.
Don’t forget your glass of milk!
I’d like to hear from you in the comments below!
Kate’s Family calls it “Frosting” and my family usually calls it “Icing”. What does your family call it?
Ingredients 2-2/3 cup self rising flour 2 tsp baking soda 2 cup sugar ½ cup butter (or margarine) 1 cup peanut butter 2 eggs 2 cups buttermilk 4 cups powdered sugar 1 ½ cups peanut butter 8 oz bar of cream cheese 2 Tbs. milk Instructions Place sugar, butter, peanut butter and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix up with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.
If you aren’t grateful, you’re not paying attention.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Aug 18 2011. Filed under Cake, Dessert.
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It’s definitely “icing”!
Frosting! I’ll be making this cake soon! My Grandmother was 4’10″ and we called her Little Mommy.
OMG!! This sounds absolutely wonderful!! I rarely eat chocolate and LOVE peanut butter so this is perfect for me. Thank you! Can’t wait to make it!
Have Mercy!!! Bring on the Jif! This sounds (looks) delicious!!!!
BTW – I’m a Yankee with Southern roots – so we say it both ways! lol!
YAY! A cake recipe from scratch! This is what I’m talking about!!! And thanks a MILLION for photos of both the whole cake and the slices! Looks yummy!
PB is my very fav food. I have a great recipe for pb “icing” cant wait to try the cake and this icing w/cream cheese. Loved the story about your mawmaw. My granny was a lil 4′ 11″ lady too. She passed away when I was 12 but still have those great memories. Thanks Kate for your post.
Looks gOOd! Can’t wait to try! Thank you for sharing! We call it icing!
Oh How Yummy! Lovin’ This Cake! Everyone Loves PB and I bet it won’t last long at all in our house! <3 and Hugs!
Frosting
and PB is a mainstay in this house, love ALL things PB –will make this for next church fellowship (maybe even before) I should make it before sonny #3 leaves for college on Saturday 
Both – sometime icing – sometime frosting!! A rose is a rose…….!!!!!! Will definitely be making this cake & frosting very soon. Thanks for sharing!!
We call it icing at our house! This looks so good…can’t wait to try it!!
My great grandmother was 4′ 10″ and we called her “Big” Mama. She was a great cook too. We call it icing in our house and I will definately be making this. Thanks for sharing!!!
I always heard that frosting comes out of a can, icing is homemade!
Icing! Looks like I found a great recipe to make for my boyfriend and his parents when they come into town this weekend!
Frosting for sure- and boy this sounds yummy!
YUM ! Going to make this ! Love peanut butter.
Frosting most of the time, but sometimes icing.
My gramma was only 4’11, too. And I’m 5’11, so we made quite a pair. She returned home (heaven) in 1999 and I miss her everyday. She, also, was feisty as heck and sometimes cooked without recipes. When she passed I inherited her recipe box and it keeps a special spot in my kitchen. Anyway, thanks for the recipe. My 15 year old man-child now wants it for his birthday cake.
My family says Icing and this recipe looks SO stinkin’ good! I’m going to make this for sure. I think I’ll make it single layer and make it look like a Nutter Butter cookie…wouldn’t that be just too cute! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I use natural peanut butter to cook with. Buy it and refrigerate as soon as you get it home. It keeps it from separating any further. When ready to use, microwave for 1 min. Pour the oil off in a cup, stir it with a stiff knife to mix, and add back as much oil as it takes to make it the thickness you want. You may have to add some regular peanut oil. For some reason the consistency isn’t always the same. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and microwave 30 seconds when you use again. It will store almost indefinitely. I use this when I make Potato Candy. But I don’t refrigerate it. instead I put the slices on wax paper on my table. Let it dry. Then pack it . Done it that way since I was 13 yrs old.
Oh my,I am on a diet right now but printed the recipe…….my mouth is watering !!!
I feel your pain, Sandra!! I’m on a very calorie restricted diet as well. I did print the recipe though and may make it for my family anyway. I made them some old fashioned banana pudding tonight (with meringue on top) and they loved it!
YUMMY! Will have to make this SOON!! I just went out and bought the ingredients for the Butterfinger cake today so this one will be next on the list!
I’ve looked at this 3 times now, and finally stopped drooling long enough to comment. Oh.my.stars.!!! This looks absolutely delicious and I cannot WAIT to try it. Thank you so much for sharing your story and the recipe Kate
There were more than a few dishes I had to learn to make by watching because nobody measured, your family has done a fabulous job getting this on paper. Now I’m going to text my son to pick up cream cheese on the way home.
Looks absolutely divive w/that FROSTING!!
Thanks for posting! We say frosting unless it is cooked, then say icing.
i call it icing and pronounce it like this: eye-sin
and if I ever say frosting i might be talking about ice in the winter time but we don;t get much of that out here in New Market.
Love the way your cake looks on the cake plate…fancy fancy!
We always called it frosting – but, we always said we were going to “ice” the cake. This cake sounds wonderful – might try it this weekend!
Right on, Cindy. Around my house we “frost” the cake with “icing.” =-)
Yum! I was never wild about peanut butter when I was younger, but I’ve learned to appreciate it over the years. Now it is one of my favorite flavors! The cake sounds sublime!
Ice the cake with frosting.
Icing/Frosting–with roots in both north & south, it just depends on who you are talking to in our family! I use the words interchangebly,
I am going to make this on my quarter size sheet cake pans and make two, one for home and one to give away. I love love love the ‘made from scratch’ recipe’s and this will be one more I have printed out for my SouthernPlate binder. (I have your book, a gift from my daughter last Christmas). My book is getting well used and loved! It has flour in the pages and a few stains already! That is when you can tell you have a well-loved cookbook, by the stains! lol My binder has the plastic sleeves for my print-outs and I can just wipe them off. lol
Yummy! Making it right now for dessert tonight
That looks so good to me! I seem io use both icing and frosting and I can’t give any reason-guess just which ever pops in my head.
Being a Yankee (Philadelphia, Pa) we for some strange reason call it icening. Not a misspelling, the extra end is put in there. When I lived in Dallas, Tx I learned to say frosting.
Oh, I forgot, the cake sounds great. I’m going to make it for a church potluck. Thanks for your great website/blog. I am grateful.
John
We call it frosting. Love this cake!
Oh my…..that just looks sinful!!!
This cakes looks so good! I love peanut butter so I am sure I will love this cake! I will be making it soon! I also like how you used two different size cake pans. It really gives the cake a different look than using the same size pans.
It is icin”. Frosting is what your car windows do in the winter when your defroster isn’t working in the car. As a country girl, remember Daddy saying his mustache was “frostin’ ” up while he was at work outside.
Icing-Frosting–what does it matter as long as we have a great cake underneath. This cake and frosting sound wonderful.
Icing! And if you’re not careful, you’ll find someone with it on their fingers and mouth before it’s on the cake!;) I can’t wait to try this!
Frosting for me. And this cake sounds delish. Love peanut butter and cream cheese.
Karan
Frosting–if it’s thick and gloppy (and delicious!) and icing–if it is more like a glaze or a thinner frosting.
Frosting, icing, I’ve used both but it really dosen’t matter. What really matters to me is the finished product. My mother-n-law never used a recipe except for one at Christmas and that was her Japanese Fruit Cake. I used to watch her make Tea Cakes and for her measuring devices she used a coffee cup she kept in her flour container and poured flavoring from the bottle. She passed away in 2005 and to this day I have not been able to make those Tea Cakes that my husband so dearly loved. Hers would be solf when they came out of the oven but would get hard as they cooled and my husband would deep them in milk. Now I wished I had tried to wright something down. But I’m not giving up on making them.
I wonder what this would be like in a sheet pan “iced” with Christy’s Peanut
Butter Fudge Icing? That sounds great to me!
I’m going to be making this cake soon! As a girl with northern & southern roots, I seem to use frosting & icing interchangeably, as I also ice or frost the cake after it cools. I never even thought about it before!
This cake had me with the words “from scratch.” And then when I saw it had buttermilk in the cake….I KNEW it had to be good and moist. Going to try this soon. I’m somewhat of a cake snob. My mom and grandmother taught me “from scratch” is always better and a cake with buttermilk is better too. Thanks for sharing.
This sounds wonderful. I plan to make it soon. I’m sure my family will love it. I use both terms,frosting & icing. I’m Southern from south Ala. but moved to Mich. when I was 19 yr old & lived there 33 yr. My wonderful northern mother- in- law was great to teach me many northern dishes but I love love loved the way my Mom, Mawmaw, & Grandma ( all from the South) cooked. The great guy, ( a Yankee) I married loves the way I cook, which is mostly Southern! I love Southern Plate. Thanks Cristy for sharing with us.
No frosting here in MS—-Always Icing!!
Kate brought us one of these cakes the week before Christmas (yes–I’m lucky enough to know Kate!)–It was so pretty I would not let anyone cut it until Christmas and it was delicious–she did not tell me the story behind it though so I am glad to hear about that. I love my cookbook, Christy, esp. with the very special autographs inside!
We call it frosting up here in the Northeast, I had DH look at the picture of the cake and I swear the man was drooling, Lol. I am going to make this cake very soon and I have my recipe box just full of your wonderful recipes, Cristy. I also intend to buy your cookbook, as I just love to cook Southern dishes. You Southern ladies sure know how to cook!!
This sounds wondeful! I’ll be sure to try it soon!
I won a 5 Qt. Kitchenaid mixer in cookig contest I entered, with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Pie………would you like the recipe?
Yes Clairee…I would love the receipe for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Pie…it sounds wonderful. Thank You