If you are looking for pure decadence, look no further than this cake(assuming you don’t have a nut allergy; if you do, sub the peanut butter and peanuts in this recipe with Biscoff and cookie butter?). I grew up loving Butterfingers and Reeses, both of which are peanut-based candy bars. Chocolate and peanut butter is such a satisfying combination, being salty, creamy, sweet, and bitter. There’s a a lot going in there, and it’s just two ingredients! Pairing them together is always a fun time because of this, because you’ll find it extremely hard to make a chocolate-peanut butter anything that tastes bad! In the case of this recipe, I went with a layer cake, consisting of a decadent chocolate cake studded with peanuts, cacao nibs, and chocolate chips, a blonde chocolate-peanut butter ganache, and a whipped chocolate ganache. I had a ton of fun assembling this cake, because I swirled the two ganaches and spread those around the exterior of the cake, just so that you can really tell that this cake is a chocolate-peanut butter cake! Regrettably, I didn’t get to photograph the interior of the cake, but the exterior was plenty pretty and nice to look at!

Makes 1 6-inch cake, or 6-8 servings:
For the chocolate-buttermilk cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons black vinegar
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
3 tbsp cacao nibs

Combine the flour, buttermilk, sugar, canola oil, cocoa powder, salt, bakig soda, vanilla, and black vinegar to form your batter. Pour the batter into a lined sheet tray, and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the peanuts, chocolate chips, and cacao nibs on top of the cake. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Cool completely before unmolding.

For the chocolate ganache:
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 stick salted butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

Melt down the chocolate and butter into the heavy cream Then add in the sugar, salt, and egg yolk, whipping until the mixture reaches 150 degrees F. Take off heat, and then strain. Cool completely before whipped until smooth and spreadable.

For the peanut butter ganache:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
4oz blonde chocolate
4oz white chocolate
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, heat up peanut butter, milk, butter, gelatin, blonde chocolate, white chocolate, and salt. Once everything is dissolved together and fully smooth, pour the mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps and allow the peanut butter ganache to cool down. Fold into that the vanilla to finish.

For assembly:
Roasted peanuts
cacao nibs

Start by cutting out 3 6-inch rings from the cake. Pipe a border of the chocolate ganache and spread an even layer of roughly 2oz of the peanut butter ganache inside. Repeat these steps for the next layer. Then add on the third layer of cake. Spread a thin layer of the chocolate ganache around the cake, and then ripple that with more of the peanut butter ganache. Finish the cake with a piped border of the two ganaches, roasted peanuts, and a sprinkling of cacao nibs.