Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake
This Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake recipe is made with peanut butter cups, peanut butter frosting made from scratch as a rich filling, and chocolate cake mix – great dessert idea! Tastes just like the popular candy, but in the best, richest cake.
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An Annual Tradition
This recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake is now an annual tradition in our home! A great big happy early birthday to my husband, Noah, whose actual birthday is next week. To celebrate, I'm sharing my go-to birthday cake for him. I've made it for several of his birthday cakes and it's a hit each and every time.
It's not just one of the best recipes in my family. Almost 6 years ago to the day, I published the first edition of this Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake recipe on my blog. It went viral almost immediately and, to this day, it is the one of the best among hundreds of recipes on my this site. It even inspired a whole series of Earthquake Cake recipes. You see how you can snag them all at once by reading below.
So, in honor of my husband's upcoming birthday, I thought I'd re-share it today! These are newer photos than the original post, with a little better post layout. However, it's still a delish, moist, chocolatey, peanut-buttery cake that is as good as ever (and really easy to make).
What is an Earthquake Cake?
Earthquake Cakes are a really easy concept that makes for a dessert with a lot of “wow factor.” To make any of the earthquake cake variations, you simply mix cake batter with other add-ins, like chocolate chips, coconut, almonds, chopped pecans, or (one of my favorites) a sweet cream cheese mixture. I
n this particular cake, you're going to mix in peanut butter frosting, chocolate syrup, and Reese's peanut butter cups. When you bake in the oven, everything cooks together and makes for cracks and crevices in your cake that are filled with the add-ins. It's both really pretty and so tasty.
Let's take a look at the step-by-step directions for making this easy Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake.
Step-by-Step Instructions
(Printable version of this recipe at the bottom of the post.)
Ingredients
- 1 Box of Devil's food cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups peanut butter
- 2 sticks butter softened to room temperature
- chocolate syrup
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 30 chopped miniature Reese's peanut butter cups
Step 1: Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray your baking pan (I use a 9×13″ glass Pyrex dish) with cooking spray.
Step 2: Make Cake Batter
Next, in a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, vanilla extract, 1 cup milk, 1 cup of peanut butter, and 1 stick of butter. Pour the cake batter and spread in a the baking dish.
Step 3: Make Peanut Butter Frosting
With a hand mixer, cream together half a cup butter (1 stick), 1 cup peanut butter, and milk. Once those ingredients are mixed, add in powdered sugar until the frosting is mixed well.
Step 4: Add Mix-Ins
After mixing your peanut butter frosting, dollop half of the frosting mixture on top of the cake batter in 5-6 scoops. Add 6-8 large squirts of chocolate syrup.
Step 5: Swirl
Next, gently swirl ingredients together with a butter knife or a spoon. Swirls should reach the end and bottom of the pan.
Step 6: Add Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Sprinkle half of the chopped peanut butter cups over the mixture and gently press in.
Step 7: Bake
Bake cake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Step 8: Frost and Finish
Finally, frost the cake with remaining frosting, more chocolate syrup, and remaining chopped peanut butter cups.
See? Easy peasy and so delish! This is absolutely perfect served warm and topped with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Grab the printable version of this recipe below. Or, if you want a full (free) digital cookbook of all of my variations of Earthquake Cakes in one convenient file, simply sign up for my email newsletter to receive access to my printable collection! You'll get exclusive printable content from Lamberts Lately, including an all-in-one file of my Earthquake Cake recipe collection, as well as access to hundreds of free printables. (If the form below doesn't work, click here to sign up.)
Video
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Earthquake Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Box of Devil's food cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups peanut butter
- 2 sticks butter softened to room temperature
- chocolate syrup
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 30 chopped miniature peanut butter cups
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup of peanut butter, and 1 stick of butter. Spread mixture in a greased 9×13″ baking dish.
- With a mixer, mix together 1 stick butter, 1 cup peanut butter, and 1/4 cup milk. Slowly add in powdered sugar until frosting is mixed well.
- Spoon half of the frosting mixture on top of the cake mix. Add 6-8 large squirts of chocolate syrup.Very gently swirl frosting and syrup into the cake mix. Don't completely mix. Make sure you get swirls into the edge of the cake pan.
- Gently press in half of the chopped peanut butter cups.
- Bake cake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.Top cake with remaining frosting, more chocolate syrup, and remaining chopped peanut butter cups.
Nutrition Facts
More Earthquake Cake Variations
Enjoy! To see more Earthquake Cake recipes, check out the links below…
You can also catch my other recipes here or you can see the full selection of other Earthquake Cake variations here.
