This beautiful dark chocolate cake gets its rich black color and intense chocolate flavor from black cocoa powder and is coated in creamy peanut butter frosting for the most amazing flavor combination!
I made this gorgeous black beauty over the weekend to celebrate an incredible milestone - six months of sobriety! If anyone told me at the beginning of this year that I would be six months sober right now, I would have politely told them that they were out of their mind! But here I am celebrating with the most amazing Midnight Dark Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting.
This is basically the cake of my dreams as it features several of my favorite things - chocolate, peanut butter, and coffee - all in one beautiful cake! The key to getting the beautiful black color is black cocoa powder.
You can also use regular dark cocoa powder if that is what you have but the color will be more of a deep brown than the black you see here. Cocoa is heavily dutched to make black cocoa powder, which means it is treated with an alkaline solution to neutralize its acidity. The result is an extra dark cocoa powder with a robust chocolate flavor. This is the brand I use.
Another wonderful touch that I added to this cake is a layer of espresso chips around the bottom. If you can't find espresso chips, dark chocolate chips would also be delicious or you can simply choose to omit them.
This cake has the most intense, decadent chocolate flavor, and the peanut butter frosting pairs so beautifully with the chocolate. The cake is also surprisingly simple to make!
How to Make this Cake
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
- Coat two 9 inch round cake pans with butter and place a parchment circle in the bottom of each. Coat the parchment with more butter then coat the inside each buttered pan with a dusting of cocoa powder. This process ensures your cakes do not stick to the pan.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Place the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl and whisk to combine. Add the buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, then stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the hot coffee and stir until completely smooth. The batter will be very thin. Transfer the batter to the prepared pans and smooth each out into an even layer.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool completely, for at least 1 hour.
Making the Peanut Butter Frosting
- Add butter and peanut butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until creamy and well-combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add powdered sugar (about ⅓ cup at a time) until completely combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, add milk and mix until well-combined. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds.
Assembling the Cake
- Once cakes are cooled, remove them from the pans and discard the parchment paper. Trim the top of each so they are flat. Place a dollop of frosting on the bottom of your cake plate or cardboard cake round (to help secure cake) and flip one cake over and gently transfer it to the cake plate on top of frosting. The bottom of the cake should now be on top.
- Generously coat the top of the cake with frosting then add a second cake layer with the bottom facing up. Coat the outside of the cake with a very thin crumb coat and refrigerate for at least an hour to set the crumb coat.
- Once the crumb coat is set, frost the cake evenly with the remainder of the frosting. To create a swoopy finish, use the back of an offset spatula or spoon to gently press down as you swoop frosting in an "S" motion, pulling spatula or spoon away quickly to create little "peaks". Add espresso or chocolate chips to the bottom of the cake by gently pressing them into the sides by hand.
A Few Important Tips
Do not omit the coffee in this cake recipe as it is crucial due to the use of dark cocoa powder. The coffee adds necessary acidity which helps the cake rise.
It is important to set the cake with a crumb coat before adding the final layer of frosting. Since this cake is so dark in color and the frosting is very light, any crumbs in the frosting would be very noticeable.
You Will Also Love This Caramel Cheesecake Layer Cake Recipe!
📖 Recipe
Midnight Dark Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake
- Butter - for greasing cake pans
- 2 cups cake flour - sifted
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup black cocoa powder - sifted, you can also use dark cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot brewed coffee
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1 cup butter - unsalted, softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2-3 tablespoons buttermilk
Instructions
For the Cake
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
- Coat two 9 inch round cake pans with butter and place a parchment circle in the bottom of each. Coat the parchment with more butter then coat the inside each buttered pan with a dusting of cocoa powder.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Place the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl and whisk to combine. Add the buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, then stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the hot coffee and stir until completely smooth. The batter will be very thin. Transfer the batter to the prepared pans and smooth each out into an even layer.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool completely, for at least 1 hour.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- Add butter and peanut butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until creamy and well-combined.
- With mixer on low speed, gradually add powdered sugar (about ⅓ cup at a time) until completely combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.
- With mixer on low-speed, add milk and mix until well-combined. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds.
Assembling the Cake
- Once cakes are cooled, remove them from the pans and discard the parchment paper. Trim the top of each so they are flat. Place a dollop of frosting on the bottom of your cake plate or cardboard cake round (to help secure cake) and flip one cake over and gently transfer it to the cake plate on top of frosting. The bottom of the cake should now be on top.
- Generously coat the top of the cake with frosting then add second cake layer with the bottom facing up. Coat the outside of the cake with a very thin crumb coat and refrigerate for at least an hour to set the crumb coat.
- Once crumb coat is set, frost the cake evenly with the remainder of the frosting. To create a swoopy finish, use the back of an offset spatula or spoon to gently press down as you swoop frosting in an "S" motion, pulling spatula or spoon away quickly to create little "peaks". Add espresso or chocolate chips to the bottom of the cake by gently pressing them into the sides by hand.
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