Peanut Butter Poke Cake made from scratch with a delicious peanut butter drizzle and a light peanut butter frosting on top! Tons of peanut butter flavor in this amazing poke cake recipe!
WHAT IS PEANUT BUTTER POKE CAKE?
Poke cakes are cakes that are baked and then (literally) poked, usually by the end of a wooden spoon or the tines of a fork. After that, they are covered with a wet liquid (in this case peanut butter sauce!) and then topped with a peanut butter whipped cream and placed in the fridge to chill. This cake has peanut butter in the cake, the sauce and the frosting for TONS of peanut butter flavor!
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Poke Cake
Flour – All purpose flour works great, but you can use cake flour instead if you have it!
Sugar – Can’t leave the sugar out of a cake, right?!
Baking soda – Make sure your baking soda isn’t expired. Fresh baking soda is necessary for the perfect consistency and texture for your cake.
Butter – I always use real butter in recipes, especially desserts!
Peanut butter – I think regular creamy peanut butter works the best for cake, but you are welcome to try a different variety!
Water – Provides a lot of the liquid needed for the cake.
Buttermilk – 1/2 cup of buttermilk adds moisture, fat, and acidity needed to create a great texture. You can DIY your own buttermilk using milk and lemon juice or vinegar if needed.
Vanilla – I suggest using a good quality vanilla extract or a Vanilla Bean Paste.
Eggs – We need 2 large eggs to work as the binder for this recipe and to hold the cake together.
PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE
Peanut butter – Again, I think regular creamy peanut butter works best in this recipe.
Butter – Once again, use the real stuff!
Buttermilk – If you don’t have buttermilk, you can DIY your own buttermilk using milk and lemon juice or vinegar.
Vanilla – I suggest using a good quality vanilla extract or a Vanilla Bean Paste.
Powdered sugar – Makes this sauce a little bit more like a frosting, but it will be pretty runny still so that it will soak nicely into the cake.
PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
Peanut butter – Yep, creamy is definitely necessary for this part of the recipe!
Cool Whip: One small container (8 ounces) of Cool Whip whipped topping. Make sure it is thawed before adding to the peanut butter.
How to make a Peanut Butter Poke Cake
Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix together flour, sugar and baking soda, set aside. Put butter, peanut butter, and water in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil in pan over medium-high heat. Pour this over flour mixture, then add buttermilk, vanilla and eggs. Mix just until combined and then bake for 30 minutes in a 9X13 pan. Make the peanut butter sauce while cake is baking.
Sauce: Heat peanut butter and butter on low until melted. Add buttermilk, vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Let cake cool for 5-10 minutes and then poke holes in warm cake with a fork and pour the frosting over the cake while the cake and syrup are both still warm. Once cake is cooled, make the frosting.
Frosting: Melt peanut butter in microwave for about 30 seconds and stir. Add Cool Whip and stir until well combined. Spread over the top of the cooled cake.
Peanut Butter Poke Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cups butter
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
Peanut Butter Sauce
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter
- 6 Tbsp buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Peanut Butter Frosting
- 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 8 oz Cool Whip thawed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix together flour, sugar and baking soda, set aside. Put butter, peanut butter, and water in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil in pan over medium-high heat. Pour this over flour mixture, then add buttermilk, vanilla and eggs. Mix just until combined and then bake for 30 minutes in a 9X13 pan. Make the peanut butter sauce while cake is baking.
- Sauce: Heat peanut butter and butter on low until melted. Add buttermilk, vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Let cake cool for 5-10 minutes and then poke holes in warm cake with a fork and pour the frosting over the cake while the cake and syrup are both still warm. Once cake is cooled, make the frosting.
- Frosting: Melt peanut butter in microwave for about 30 seconds and stir. Add Cool Whip and stir until well combined. Spread over the top of the cooled cake.
Nutrition
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HOW LONG IS A POKE CAKE GOOD FOR?
A poke cake lasts about 2 days covered in the fridge. For that reason, I recommend not making this cake more than a day in advance so that it’s still looking and tasting great when you want to serve it.
CAN I FREEZE A POKE CAKE?
Yes, poke cakes are great for freezing for later if you want to prep them in advance. I recommend waiting until after the peanut butter sauce has set up a bit before placing them in the freezer (well wrapped and covered of course). This will help to reduce time later because you just need to thaw and top with the peanut butter whipped topping layer.
CAN YOU REPLACE THE COOL WHIP?
Cool Whip is the best “whipped topping” to use in this recipe. However, if you can’t find Cool Whip where you live or you prefer not to use it in recipes, you can use stabilized whipped cream instead. If you just use regular whipped cream, the consistency will be too light and the cream will not hold up very well. It’s very simple to make your own stabilized whipped cream and it just takes a few minutes!
See Homemade Whipped Cream recipes here.
HOW DO YOU MAKE STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM?
To make stabilized whipped cream, you will need the following ingredients:
- 4 ounces of cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Beat the whipping cream just until soft peaks form.
- Add in the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip on high until mixture is smooth.
- Store in the refrigerator until ready to use, up to 3 days.
A little tip for making whipped cream faster: use a metal bowl and place the bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you make the whipped cream. This will significantly decrease the amount of time that you will need to beat the whipped cream – the process will go much faster!
OTHER RECIPES FEATURING PEANUT BUTTER
- Peanut Butter Oat Bites
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies
- No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
- Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies
- Frozen Peanut Butter Pie
- Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Peanut Butter Popcorn
MORE POKE CAKE RECIPES:
- BOSTON CREAM PIE POKE CAKE
- PEACHES AND CREAM POKE CAKE
- FRUITY PEBBLES POKE CAKE
- MINT CHOCOLATE POKE CAKE
- CHOCOLATE CARAMEL PEANUT BUTTER POKE CAKE
- RASPBERRY JELLO POKE CAKE
- PINA COLADA POKE CAKE
- COCOA PUFFS PUDDING POKE CAKE
- CHRISTMAS JELLO POKE CAKE
- PUMPKIN POKE CAKE
- S’MORES POKE CAKE
- CARAMEL APPLE POKE CAKE
- LEMON POKE CAKE RECIPE
- PEPPERMINT OREO POKE CAKE
- STRAWBERRIES & CREAM POKE CAKE
- OREO POKE CAKE
Peanut Butter Poke Cake made from scratch with a delicious peanut butter drizzle and a light peanut butter frosting on top! Tons of peanut butter flavor in this amazing poke cake recipe!
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