This crazy delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Earthquake Cake will seriously rock your world!
Here’s the deal with this cake – it ain’t purtty.
It’s meant to look like a peanut butter earthquake has come in and wreaked havoc on an innocent chocolate cake. All the while, tasting super rich, moist and delicious.
I found it tasted best when it was served warm, a-la-mode style.
The cake is actually super easy to make, and a riff on the classic earthquake cake.
Just grab a chocolate boxed cake mix, prepare it according to the box’s instructions and pour into your cake pan.
Then combine some butter, cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar and blend until light and fluffy.
Scoop by tablespoons right on top of the cake batter.
Cover the whole cake in creamy peanut butter blobs.
Blobs… it’s such a fun word to say.
Let’s get crazy and throw in some extra chocolate and peanut butter… shall we??
A few (few?) chocolate chips and peanut butter cups for the road please.
The blobs will slowly sink to the bottom as the cake rises up while baking. It takes a little longer to bake than your average cake mix, so have patience.
You’re looking for a slightly jiggly center, nothing that wobbles too much.
The top will have cracks and creases…
Basically looking like an earthquake destroyed your cake.
Throw a little more chocolate peanut butter cups on top. Mmkay?
The peanut butter blobs form a creamy sweet layer that’s ribboned throughout the moist chocolate cake.
No frosting needed.
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Earthquake Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Chocolate Fudge cake mix, plus ingredients needed to prepare (eggs, oil, water)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup chocolate peanut butter cups, halved
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare chocolate cake mix according to package instructions and pour into a lightly greased 9x13 cake pan, DO NOT BAKE - set aside.
- Melt butter on stove top until bubbly. Pour into mixing bowl and beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract, beat till smooth. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time to bowl, and beat until fully incorporated and mixture becomes light and fluffy.
- Scoop spoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture onto the chocolate cake batter, all over. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and peanut butter cups.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the center is only slightly jiggly. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing and serving warm. Top with ice cream if desired! Enjoy!
This should be called Volcano Cake. The peanut butter cream cheese filling erupted out of the cake and dripped down over the oven. I baked it in a non-stick cake pan, but followed the 350 degree instructions on the recipe. I wonder if reducing the temp 25 degrees like it says on the cake mix box would have prevented this?
I had the same problem. It dripped in the oven, the house filled with smoke, and it was a mess.
Oh no! I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you!
I just found your site & we our friends are enjoying it.
You have written the steps in very simple words.
Thank you for your great effort.
I had this recipe bookmarked and decided it’d be a perfect thing to make for the month.
Clean up in aisle 5! I can’t stop drooling!
How should the leftovers be stored?
Store leftovers covered in the fridge. 🙂
Like a previous poster, my add in also sunk all the way to the bottom and carmelized. Has anyone else been able to correct that problem?
Should I refrigerate since I won’t be serving until the following day?
Yes. As a rule of thumb, if a recipe has dairy like cream cheese in it, you should always refrigerate once cooled.
Delicious. I made this as my birthday cake. I was very happy with it.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the cake and Happy Birthday!!
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Hi Shawn, I know this is old but I just found it. Do you mean “divide” as far as peanut butter cups or cut in half?
You’ll want to cut the peanut butter cups in half. 🙂
Thanks admin.god bless you always .
Just made this cake. It looks delicious. However, it ran over the pan a lot. I used a pan that is a large 9 X 13. My smoke detector is going off!! Kitchen full of smoke. Mess in the oven. I’m sure it will still be good. But I will not be serving to my guests tomorrow!!
Oh no! Hmm… I’m not sure why it would have run over. Maybe your cake mix was a larger size?
Just took this out of the oven. I used my Crazy Chocolate Cake recipe and completed per instruction. This cake was amazing. Shared with the gentleman that is painting my husband’s office. He loved it! Sending some home with him to share with his wife. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Oh man, Crazy Chocolate Cake recipe sounds like a great addition! 😉 Thanks Kay!
I made this recipe last night but used a brownie base instead of the cake it everyone loved it! you just have to cook it for about 35-40mins instead of the 50mins
Hi Shawn, I cannot wait to make this delicious looking cake. I do have a question. I was wandering if you could use the peanut butter and chocolate chips (mixed) instead of just the chocolate? I will also add the miniature peanut butter cups. :). Thanks so much and have a wonderful weekend.
Awesome cake, but I spent longer converting the measurements to ounces/grams so that I could understand it! Please could we have alternative measures for the very English among us. Many thanks
I’m glad you enjoyed the cake! Sorry about having to convert the ingredients over yourself. I can tell you that the cookbook I am releasing in July will have both standard and metric measurements so it will be super easy for everyone to make the recipes. 🙂
I’m officially in love. This earthquake cake might be the best idea I have seen all month!
this recipe sounds amazing! I do have a question…could I make this for 2 round cake pans, to make a recluse circle cake? Thanks!
Hi Kim, you might be able to make it work, but you’ll want to line each round cake pan with parchment paper so you can easily get them out. I would let them cool completely before taking them out of the pan so the gooey layer doesn’t run everywhere. Good luck!
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude but the truth is the truth. Looks good can be deceiving. This was the worse cake I ever ate. It was like eating a box of sugar with some chocolate in it. It surprises me that so many said they liked it.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this cake. It’s definitely a cake full of goodies and meant for major indulgence… when eaten in moderation, I think it can be quite enjoyable. 😉
Love this idea with dark choc & PNB together. QUESTION tho: Am I the only one that thinks that much powdered sugar adds sweetness to already sweet? Sounds TOO sweet for me, any suggestions for the top layer (that we blob on)? What if I cut the powdered sugar in half, think it may still work?? Anyone else modified that part of the recipe? Thanks! 🙂
Oh my gosh! My roommate and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cake! In fact, we kind of hate you a little bit because we love the cake so much. True story, I took a huge slice to work with the intention of sharing it, but it never had a chance. All that made it to work was the empty plate and mulling over whether or not I should lick what was left off. We’ve almost finished off the whole thing ourselves. Hellish awesomeness.