Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cake

All my favorite childhood Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwich flavors packed into one lovely cake - taken up a notch with the extra roasted flavor from fresh honey roasted peanut butter. This cake will win your heart at first bite, and second, and third... 

 I know it's been a while since I've posted a cake recipe here on Baking with Blondie. But if you've been following me on Instagram, you know that this gal has been VERY crazy busy with my 2019 cookbook! So for every cake recipe I post on here for a while, know that there are at least 30+ other recipes that I've had to develop, shoot, edit, and get ready for my manuscript. It's been incredibly busy, but also very rewarding. I promise to share more of my cookbook process someday, but as for now, I wanted to make sure to share more recipe while we wait!  

I couldn't make you wait all year for a new recipe every couple weeks, though, so get ready for many more cakes to come this year for you to try. This one couldn't wait another second. 

I fell hard for peanut butter and honey sandwiches when I was a little girl. I loved the way the peanut butter would mix with the honey flavors (instead of the usual jelly combo), and especially how the honey in my sandwiches would make the bread kind of crunchy (almost like a caramelizing effect on the bread). It was heavenly, sticky, messy, and I could not get enough. 

As a Mom, I make lots of sandwiches for my little boys! Peanut butter and honey is definitely one of them... so it's no surprise these ever-familiar flavors would end up in a cake of mine. 

Soft peanut butter honey flavors, peanut butter honey buttercream, honey roasted peanuts, and a drizzle of straight up honey to make that ever-familiar honey-crunch taste adorn this new favorite of ours! 

While developing this recipe, I used my usual original peanut butter cake recipe (will be in my 2019 cookbook), but made a few adjustments. I fell hard for the fresh honey roasted peanut butter at Harmon's (local grocery store), and knew it HAD to be in this cake asap. If you don't have somewhere where you can find it ground up fresh, you can always use honey roasted peanut butter from the jar, too. Just make sure it's honey roasted - you want that flavor! 

Next, I wanted to amp up that honey flavor a little bit, so I added straight up honey to the cake batter, as well as the buttercream. It adds a touch of sweetness wherever it goes, so you can go easy, or go all out, it all depends on how much you love that honey flavor! The honey makes such a beautiful drip, but it won't stop dripping down the sides (you can't control the consistency of honey as you would a ganache), so I would drizzle it on right before serving! 

Next, I made sure to top it all off with some honey roasted peanuts. I love to snack on these more than I probably should, so putting them on the cake was an especially tasty treat. 

Hope you enjoy my Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cake! Make sure to tag #bakingwithblondie or message me your cake pic. I LOVE to see what you create. :) 

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cake

makes 3 6" rounds, 2 8" rounds, or 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter Honey Cake: 

3 large eggs

1/2 cup honey roasted peanut butter (Harmons!)

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup sour cream

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1 Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake Mix

Peanut Butter Honey Buttercream:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup honey roasted peanut butter

4 Tablespoons honey

pinch of salt 

1 Tablespoon Mexican vanilla

1/4 cup heavy cream + more if needed

6 cups sifted powdered sugar

other: 

honey for drizzle and between layers

honey roasted peanuts

method: 

cake: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep cake rounds with a wipe of shortening and dust of flour. Set aside. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, peanut butter, honey, vegetable oil, sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Sift in the cake mix, stir to combine. 

3. Divide cake batter into cake rounds and bake for 25-27 minutes until centers are cooked. Don't overbake. Let cool in cake pans for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack to cool until room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer at least 30 minutes before frosting. 

buttercream: 

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and peanut butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. 

2. Add in the honey, salt, vanilla, and heavy cream and mix together.

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on low speed. 

4. Add more heavy cream if needed (tablespoon at a time) until you've reached your desired consistency. 

assembly: 

1. On a cake turntable with a cardboard round, add a little bit of the buttercream and spread it around to act like glue for the next cake layer. Add bottom cake layer, then a layer of buttercream. Drizzle with honey (but keep honey about a 1/2 inch away from the edge). Repeat with remaining layers. Crumb coat. Refrigerate. Final coat. Pipe on buttercream (I used a french star tip) and top with honey roasted peanuts and honey drizzle. 

Recipe source: Baking with Blondie Original. Copyrighted 2018, All rights reserved.