Don’t you love it when a cake tastes as delicious as it looks? This chocolate peanut butter cake is a delight for both the eyes and the stomach.

Devised by cake superstar CoCo Cake Land, this one might just be the dessert of our dreams—combining chocolate, peanut butter, jam, and a layer of Swiss meringue raspberry buttercream (are you salivating as much as we are?).

Describing her delectable creation, Lynsday of CoCo Cake Land says, ‘drip drip drippy chocolate gliding pleasurably down like happy chocolate tears down the sides. Oh, and crispy sweet sugar cloud bursts of meringue kisses on top!’

Dripping delicious!Blog_DIY_Cook_DrippingChocolateCake_07

TIME

2.5 hours + cooling

SUITABLE FOR

Ages 14+

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Cake: 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans | 2 cups sugar | 1 cup of Rodelle Dutch process cocoa powder | 2 tsp baking soda | 1 tsp baking powder | 1 tsp kosher salt | 1 cup buttermilk, shaken | ½ cup vegetable oil | 2 large eggs, at room temperature| 1 tsp pure vanilla extract| 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Peanut butter frosting and jam filling: 1 ½ cups unsalted butter | 1 cup of smooth peanut butter | 2 cups of icing sugar, sifted | 1 tsp pure vanilla extract | dash of milk | 1 cup of raspberry jam preserves, divided in half 

Raspberry swiss meringue buttercream: 4 large egg whites | ¾ cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar | 2 ¼ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature | 3 ½ ounces raspberries | small amount of pink gel food colouring

Chocolate drip: ½ cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces | ¼ cup unsalted butter

WHAT TO DO

  1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Butter three 7-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper circles.
  2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
  3. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
  4. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
  6. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
  7. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter on high speed for 1 minute.
  8. Scraping down the sides of the bowl, add the icing sugar, vanilla and dash of milk, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  9. Remove the first cake layer from the cake pan and place on a cake plate or pedestal.
  10. Fill a piping bag fitted with an open circle tip with some of the frosting. Starting from the outside of the cake layer, pipe frosting onto the cake in a circle, forming a dam in the middle.
  11. Add raspberry jam filling into the middle. Add the second layer, repeating the frosting ‘dam’ and jam filling. Add the final layer of cake, frosting the top and sides to a crumb coat.
  12. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes to set crumb coat.
  13. Frost a final coat of peanut butter frosting and chill for 15 minutes to set ‘peanut butter frosting’ layer before you frost the swiss meringue raspberry buttercream layer!
  14. To make the Swiss meringue buttercream, pour the egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl. Place it on top of a double boiler over a pot of simmering water. Whisk continually until the mixture reaches 65 degrees Celsius or the sugar crystals have dissolved. Remove the bowl from heat.
  15. Continue to beat the mixture with an electric beater or hand mixer until it is as white and fluffy as a meringue. Beat until the mixture is cool, up to 10 minutes.
  16. Add the butter a little at a time. After all the butter has been incorporated, beat for another 3 – 5 minutes.
  17. Purée the raspberries in a blender. Press the purée through a fine mesh to remove the seeds.
  18. Mix the purée with the buttercream, beating until smooth. Add a tiny amount of gel colour to make it more pink.
  19. Frost the chilled peanut butter frosting-covered cake with a first layer of swiss meringue raspberry buttercream; chill again for a final time, then finish with the last layer of raspberry buttercream for an epically frosted cake!
  20. To make the drip, using abain-marie or heatproof bowl set on top of boiling water, melt together the butter and chocolate. Mix together slowly with a wooden spoon.
  21. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes; it will thicken slightly.

AND THEN

Pour your drip mixture on top of the pink Swiss meringue raspberry buttercream final layer, using an offset spatula to gently ice the glaze to the edges of the cake for maximum dripping. Serve and enjoy!