This Peanut Butter Pound Cake is studded with plenty of chocolate chips, and it’s topped with a decadent peanut butter glaze and more chocolate chips! The cake has a dense, moist texture, and the exterior of the cake is crisp and crusty. If you’re looking for a light and fluffy peanut butter cake, this isn’t for you. But if you’re a chocolate-peanut butter lover like me, you’re likely to think this recipe is a keeper.
We are big fans of pound cake around here as evidenced by the fifteen pound cake recipes on our website. They’re all pretty amazing, but my favorites are the lemon pound cake, blueberry lime pound cake and pumpkin- ginger pound cake.
Peanut butter lovers will really love this mouth-watering cake since it has a solid, old fashioned peanut butter cake base and glaze. The chocolate is an added bonus! If you love all things chocolate and peanut butter (a delicious combination), then this indulgent treat is for you.
You might also love to try peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread, chocolate chip peanut butter bars and peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes.
Ingredients Needed:
- The Basics: All purpose flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, eggs, salt and vanilla extract.
- Peanut Butter: I like to use creamy peanut butter for the cake and the glaze. You can choose to use crunchy peanut butter, if you’d like. Whatever type you choose, make sure it’s not a “natural” peanut butter. You really need to use a Jif or Skippy type peanut butter for the best results.
- Chocolate Chips: Semisweet chocolate chips are my choice. Use whatever chocolate chips you’d like.
- Powdered Sugar: Since this is for the glaze, you want it to be nice and smooth. If your powdered sugar is lumpy, run it through a sifter or sieve to remove the lumps.
- Milk: The milk is used for the glaze. Feel free to use any kind of milk (nonfat, 2% milk, whole milk or almond milk). You can even use half and half, if you’d like.
How to make Peanut Butter Pound Cake:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of the post. Here’s a brief overview.
- Preheat the oven and grease the pan.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and peanut butter. Then add the sugar, and cream that mixture by beating for 5 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients a little at a time until mixed in. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for one hour and 30 minutes. Then let cool and flip onto a wire rack.
- When the cake is cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients and then drizzle it onto the cake. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
Recipe Tips
- Read through the recipe completely before you start making the recipe.
- Don’t try to make a layer cake with this recipe. It won’t work. You need a 12 cup pan- either a bundt pan or a tube pan. If you’re not sure how many cups your pan will hold, use cups of water to figure it out.
- Coat the pan well with baking spray (or oil and flour) to prevent sticking.
- Don’t over-fill the pan with batter. A good rule of thumb is to leave 2 inches from the top of the batter to the top of the pan. Place a baking sheet on the rack underneath just to be safe (in case there is any spilling of batter).
- Make sure the eggs and butter are at room temperature. The ingredients will combine more easily at room temperature.
- In the directions, you’ll notice that you are instructed to beat the peanut butter, butter and sugar for 5 minutes. The long beating time allows these ingredients to end up as light and fluffy. That’s what you want.
- When adding the dry ingredients, just mix until combined. Don’t over mix.
- When your pound cake is done, the sides will pull away from the pan, and a cake tester or toothpick will come out with just a few crumbs attached.
- Since this is a dense pound cake with a crispy exterior crust, use a serrated knife to get the cleanest slices.
Suggested Change-Ups:
- For the major peanut butter lover, use peanuts in place of chocolate chips.
- Bake a plain peanut butter pound cake, add the glaze and top it with chopped Reeses peanut butter cups. Or bake some Reeses inside the pound cake too!
- Add a chocolate glaze instead of a peanut butter glaze: Combine 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 1/4 cup heavy cream and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until the cream is hot, about 30 seconds. Add the salt and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cake.
How to store a Peanut Butter Pound Cake:
This cake may be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. I like to use a round cake carrier. It also freezes well. Wrap the cake while it’s still warm, and freeze it for up to 3 months. Alternately, you can freeze slices of cake. Wrap them well, and them drop them into a large freezer zip baggie.
What You’ll Love About This Peanut Butter Pound Cake Recipe:
- It’s super easy to make. You just need to be patient since it has a long baking time. It’s worth the wait!
- Everyone will love this cake- it’s kind of like heaven on a plate.
- It might just become a family favorite in your house.
Peanut Butter Pound Cake
Ingredients
CAKE:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (don't use natural)
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups granulated white sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups chocolate chips
GLAZE:
- 1½ cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup miniature chocolate chips
Instructions
PREPARE THE CAKE:
- Preheat oven to 325℉. Spray 10-cup tube pan generously with nonstick spray (I like the Pam Baking Spray).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the peanut butter and butter. Add the sugar and beat an additional 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, beating just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan a couple of times on the counter to shake out any hidden air pockets.
- Bake 1 hour and 20 to 30 minutes, checking on the cake at 1 hour to make sure it's not browning too quickly on top. If browning too quickly, just place a piece of foil loosely over the top of the pan. When a toothpick is inserted into the center of the cake and comes out clean, your cake is done. Let cool for 20 minutes, then flip it onto a rack or platter and let it cool completely.
PREPARE THE GLAZE:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cooled cake, letting it drizzle down the sides. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. The glaze will set eventually- if you'd like to quicken the setting process, just place it into the refrigerator for a bit.
- This pound cake is very dense and turns out a crispy exterior crust. Use a serrated knife to cut slices.
Notes
- *Might be nice to chop a bunch of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and swirl those into the cake instead of the chocolate chips. Then you can add chunks on top as well!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this today! It was delicious. I did the peanut butter glaze and a chocolate ganache drizzle.
I made this for my father in law several times now and he just loves it! He LIKES that it is crunchy on the outside and dense, like a cookie and pound cake had a baby. LOL
This cake was soooooi good. I loved it. My Daighter who is a picky eater, loved it as well.
This cake was so hard I had to use muscle to cut it and thought I’d break my teeth on the outside edges. Will NOT be making it again. It was more like a VERY hard cookie rather than a cake.
Very good! It’s very dense and heavy, so a small slice is enough. Great with a cup of coffee or tea! I added a bit if milk, about 1/4 cup, to thin it out a bit. Cooked for 1 hour 20 minutes and it was perfect.
My tube cake came out hard as a rock. It looked pretty but I had to throw it out 😩 my batter was very thick. I had to spread it evenly. No way could I drop the pan on counter to level it 😂. The only thing I can think that I did wrong was maybe how I measure the flour. I put the one cup in flour scooped it then I leveled it. Maybe I should of lightly spooned it in and leveled it?
Oh no! It definitely has a crusty exterior, but it shouldn’t be hard as a rock 🙁
I have same problem when I make cream cheese pond cake
Loved making this but mine seemed a bit dry. Do you ever add any milk?
I haven’t tried that, but it might make the batter a little looser!
This recipe is AMAZING! I have made it twice with really great reviews each time. I was wondering if these would work in cupcake form?
They might be too dense?
Planning to make this for my husband’s birthday. We only keep natural peanut butter in the house, and since we’re in a pandemic and are avoiding the grocery store… what will happen if I use natural peanut butter but keep everything else the same? I expected to see that in the comments, but haven’t. Thanks for your time and attention!
Unless it’s a very creamy natural peanut butter, I would expect it to perform differently in the recipe. I think it needs the extra oil in the regular peanut butter recipe- the consistency. I’m not 100% certain because I haven’t tried it!
Can you make this CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER POUND CAKE in a regular 9X12 baking dish? I dont have a tube pan or a bundt pan..
No, that will not turn out well. It’s meant to be in a tube or bundt.
The best pound cake I’ve found!