This cake might be the sweetest, most craveable thing since sliced bread. Specifically, sliced bread slathered in creamy peanut butter and strawberry jam. Now that the school season’s in full swing and we’re all feeling a little nostalgic about our PB&J sando days…it feels like a good time to give this classic a gourmet, dessert-worthy glowup. And a bonus? There’s no crust to cut off.
Makes one cake
Serves 8
Ingredients
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1½ cups all-purpose flour
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2 tsp. baking powder
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1 tsp. baking soda
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2 tsp. kosher salt
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1½ cups unsalted butter
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½ cup brown sugar
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½ cup white sugar
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2 large eggs
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½ cup peanut butter
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1 cup buttermilk
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4 cups powdered sugar
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2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
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2 Tbsp. strawberry jam
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1 cup freeze-dried strawberries, ground into a powder
Mise En Place
Cake
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1½ cups all-purpose flour
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2 tsp. baking powder
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1 tsp. baking soda
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2 tsp. kosher salt
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½ cup unsalted butter
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½ cup brown sugar
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½ cup white sugar
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2 large eggs
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½ cup peanut butter
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1 cup buttermilk
Grease two 9-inch cake pans and lightly dust them both with flour and set aside. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium-size bowl and set aside.
Using a stand or handheld mixer, cream the remaining ingredients together, starting with your butter and sugars. Once they’re fluffy, add your eggs, peanut butter and buttermilk and mix on a medium speed until completely combined.
Pour an equal amount of batter into each cake pan and bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting. You can make your cake layers the day prior to serving, just be sure to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap to prevent your cake from losing moisture.
Frosting
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1 cup unsalted butter
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4 cups powdered sugar
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2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
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2 Tbsp. strawberry jam
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1 cup freeze-dried strawberries, ground into a powder
Using a hand or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip your butter on a medium speed, adding your powdered sugar slowly, one cup at a time. Once the sugar has completely mixed in with the butter, drizzle in the whipping cream and reduce your speed to medium-low. Finally, add both the strawberry jam and freeze-dried strawberry powder and continue to whisk until totally incorporated.
Assembly
Once your cake layers are completely cool, ice the top of one of the cake layers using an offset spatula before stacking the second cake layer on top. Use the remaining frosting to cover the very top layer. Slice, serve and question why it took you this long to eat PB&J for dessert.
