Recipe: Chocolate Sheet Cake with Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Frosting

Christine Gallary
Christine GallarySenior Recipe Editor at The Kitchn
I grew up in a Chinese food-loving family, eating my first restaurant meals in Oakland's vibrant Chinatown. My love of food but lack of cooking experience led to me Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where I graduated with a Diplôme de Cuisine in French cooking. After culinary school, I learned how to test and edit recipes in test kitchens at Cook's Illustrated and CHOW, falling in love with the process of rigorously testing recipes to make sure they were foolproof for the home cook. I've worked with thousands of recipes over the past 15 years, including developing recipes for the James Beard-award winning Mister Jiu's in Chinatown cookbook. Living in the delicious diversity of San Francisco, I never get tired of finding new ingredients or cuisines to try. My favorite type is Cantonese home cooking — I'm on a quest to recreate the dishes my grandmother used to make. All the food I test at home is eagerly tasted and enjoyed by my husband, Hayden, and daughter, Sophie, while our little dog, Mochi, looks wistfully on.
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updated Jan 24, 2020
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Credit: Maria Siriano

Serves12 to 15

Makes1 (9x13-inch) cake

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(Image credit: Maria Siriano)

A big chocolate sheet cake is one of the friendliest desserts I know: it’s unpretentious, easy to transport, feeds a crowd, and most people find it hard to turn down. What takes this particular one over the top though? Crowning it with a light-as-air honey-peanut butter frosting and a sprinkling of honey-roasted peanuts.

(Image credit: Maria Siriano)

Peanuts and Honey: A Match Made in Heaven

Honey and peanuts are a natural pairing, with the sweet floral flavors of honey balancing out the intense savoriness of peanuts. Both the Skippy and Jif brands make natural, ultra-smooth honey peanut butters that are wonderful.

If you can’t find honey peanut butter, use unsweetened peanut butter and beat a few tablespoons of honey into the frosting with everything else instead. Just look for the smoothest peanut butter you can find so that you end up with a fluffy, dreamy frosting.

Frost While Lukewarm

As for the cake, this is a version of Faith’s chocolate layer cake. It comes together quickly and bakes up tall and proud, ready for the gilding of peanut butter frosting. I also took this trick from our ultimate sheet cake recipe and frosted the cake while it was still a smidge warm. The cake’s not warm enough to melt the frosting, but the frosting provides a layer of insulation so that the cake doesn’t dry out and will stay moist for days.

The final, irrefutable proof of how irresistible this cake is? I made it for my daughter’s 4th birthday party and came home with a scraped-clean baking pan.

(Image credit: Maria Siriano)
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Chocolate Cake with Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Frosting

Makes 1 (9x13-inch) cake

Serves 12 to 15

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • Cooking spray or butter

  • 3/4 cup

    unsweetened natural cocoa powder

  • 1 cup

    boiling water

  • 2 cups

    granulated sugar

  • 1 3/4 cups

    all-purpose flour

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons

    baking powder

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons

    baking soda

  • 1 teaspoon

    fine salt

  • 2

    large eggs, at room temperature

  • 1 cup

    whole or 2% milk

  • 1/2 cup

    vegetable oil

  • 2 teaspoons

    vanilla extract

For the frosting:

  • 1 (15 to 16-ounce) jar

    smooth Skippy or Jif honey peanut butter (about 1 1/2 cups), at room temperature

  • 12 tablespoons

    (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

  • 1/3 to 2/3 cup

    powdered sugar

  • 1/2 cup

    honey-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Instructions

Make the cake:

  1. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 325°F. Generously coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or butter; set aside.

  2. Place the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until smooth; set aside.

  3. Place the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and whisk to combine. (Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer and large bowl.) Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the cocoa mixture and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute more. The batter will be thin. Transfer the batter to the baking dish.

  4. Bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the baking dish and bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes more. Remove the pan to a wire rack and let cool until warm to the touch, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the frosting.

Make the frosting:

  1. Place the honey peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar in a clean and dry stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer and large bowl.) Beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy and lightened in color, about 3 minutes.

  2. Spread the frosting onto the barely warm cake and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts if using. Let cool completely, 30 minutes to 1 hour more. Cut into squares and serve.

Recipe Notes

Peanut butter: Can't find honey peanut butter? Just use unsweetened regular peanut butter and add a few tablespoons of honey to taste. I like Skippy Natural, which has an ultra-smooth texture. The smoother the peanut butter, the smoother the frosting.

Storage: Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Making a 6-inch layer cake: To serve 6 to 8 people, you can halve the cake batter recipe. Bake it in 2 (6-inch) round cake pans that are first lined with parchment paper rounds, then greased and floured, at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes. To just fill the cake and have a thick layer of frosting on top (no frosting on the sides), halve the frosting recipe. To both fill and cover the entire cake, make 2/3 the amount of frosting.

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