Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake Bars

What’s Reese’s peanut butter cake bar?  It’s a dense homemade chocolate cake smothered with a layer of peanut butter and then covered with a thick chocolate crackle glaze.  This rich dessert is perfectly paired with a hot cup of coffee or a big glass of cold milk.

Alright you guys, if you’re in the mood for something rich and chocolatey then I have the dessert for you.  This dense chocolate cake has a layer of straight-up peanut butter.  Yep, it’s straight from the jar.  Then it’s topped with a homemade chocolate glaze that’s very similar to the thick chocolate you’ll find on this chocolate cherry cake and super moist like this caramel cake.

Found in my treasured local Amish cookbook, this Reese’s peanut butter cake bar recipe lives up to it’s name.

How to Make The Cake

1. Melt the butter and mix in the water and cocoa.
2. In a separate bowl beat together the eggs, vanilla, sugar and sour cream. Add flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. Mix all ingredients together until well incorporated. Beat well and pour into 13×9 baking dish.
4. Bake 350˚ F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cake Chocolate Frosting

The best part of this dense cake is the peanut butter and chocoate glaze on top. OMG. So good.

1. Bring butter, cocoa and milk to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Whip until sugar is dissoved.
3. Pour over the peanut butter layer.

Tips & Suggestions

Baking Time: This cake will make you feel like it will never be done… until it is. The middle is very liquidy until it’s not. Don’t let that scare you. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center is clean.

Let the cake cool. The cake must be fully cool before adding the peanut butter layer. If not, the peanut butter will be difficult to spread. If the cake is cool and the peanut butter picks up some cake crumbs – don’t worry! The chocolate glaze will cover it.

Pan size. I made this cake in various sizes. A 13×9 pan will produce more of a cake bar. However, you can bake this cake in a 11×7 pan for a thicker – more traditional dense cake. Increase your baking time when doing so.

This rich chocolatey cake is a real treat with a big glass of cold milk. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake Bars

• Author: Lynette
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 12 1x
• Category: Cake
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American

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Description

What’s Reese’s peanut butter cake bar?  It’s a dense homemade chocolate cake smothered with a layer of peanut butter and then covered with a thick chocolate glaze.  This rich dessert is perfectly paired with a hot cup of coffee or a big glass of cold milk.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Cake Layer Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Middle Layer Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups peanut butter

Chocolate Glaze Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 2 Tablespoon cocoa
• ⅓ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F.
2. Melt butter.  Add water and cocoa and mix well,
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla, sugar and sour cream.  Add flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Combine all cake layer ingredients together and mix well.
5. Pour into greased 13×9 baking dish.  Bake at 350˚ F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool completely.
6. Spread cake with peanut butter.
7. In a sauce pan, bring the butter, milk and cocoa to a boil.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar.
8. Spread on top of the peanut butter layer.

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Notes

Substitutions: You can substitute buttermilk for the sour cream if desired.

Baking Time: This cake will make you feel like it will never be done… until it is. The middle is very liquidy until… it’s not. Don’t let that scare you. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center is clean.

Let the cake cool. The cake must be fully cool before adding the peanut butter layer. If not, the peanut butter will be difficult to spread. If the cake is cool and the peanut butter picks up some cake crumbs – don’t worry! The chocolate glaze will cover it.

Pan size. I made this cake in various sizes. A 13×9 pan will produce more of a cake bar. However, you can bake this cake in an 11×7 pan for a thicker – more traditional dense cake. Increase your baking time when doing so.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 18
• Calories: 337
• Sugar: 2.4
• Sodium: 241.5
• Fat: 28.1
• Carbohydrates: 16.4
• Protein: 7.7
• Cholesterol: 63.6

Keywords: reese’s peanut butter cake bars, reese’s peanut butter cake