Easy Peanut Butter Cake Bars are a peanut butter lovers dream. Peanut butter cake like bars enhanced with a decadent peanut butter frosting. That perfect peanut butter sweetness in every bite.
Peanut Butter Cake Bars
When I think of sweets, it is very seldom that I think of peanut butter. Now I do love that famous combination of peanut butter and chocolate in the world famous treat. So much so that I shared this recipe for SALTED PEANUT BUTTER BALLS.
When it comes to my girls, they looooove peanut butter and look for any kind of sweet and treat with it that they can find.
So when I thought of developing a recipe for them, naturally, it had to have peanut butter.
Are Peanut Butter Bars cake ?
It is very simple, while made like a cake, the texture is much tighter. Soft and delicious, chewy but not sticky. So like any good cake wannabe, we call them bars.
The peanut butter icing sits up firm and causes no problems when cutting these into glorious squares of goodness.
How to make Easy Peanut Butter Cake Bars
~Ingredients ~
- ¼ cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
~ Frosting Ingredients ~
- ¾ cup Butter
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
~ Method ~
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small saucepan, bring peanut butter, water and butter to a soft boil. Just until combined. Remove from the heat. Cool 5 minutes. In a large bowl mix dry ingredients, flour, sugars and salt with a whisk to sift. Slowly add in peanut butter mixture and stir to mix.
- Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into a lightly greased glass 9 x 13 casserole dish. Bake for 20-30 minutes until set. Will not rise very much. Cool
- For the icing. In a saucepan, mix all ingredients EXCEPT powdered sugar and vanilla. Bring to a soft boil and then remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Pour over cooled cake and allow to set. If need be can refrigerate to speed up this process.
Our Best tips for the BEST Peanut Butter Cake Bars
How long will they last?
They will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week.
Can they be frozen?
Yes. Wrap them up well or store in a freezer safe container for up to three months.
What is the best kind of peanut butter to bake with?
As bad as I hate to say it, regular old plain emulsified peanut butters really do best in baking. Their high fat content and sugar content hold up better to the heat of the oven.
A new dessert Favorite
Take it from a non believer. When I made this, I really didn't think it would be knock down, drag out, delicious. Boy was I ever wrong! When you want that something sweet that is not too sweet, this is your new go-to recipe.
Soft and buttery with that peanut butter crispy icing. Oh my, you will love it almost as much as everyone else!
This recipe has been shared over at Meal Plan Monday!
If you make this recipe, be sure and post it to Facebook or Instagram and tag us. We love pictures of food. Also, if you pin this recipe, we would appreciate that when you make it, you use the Made It function in Pinterest too.
And as always, we would love it if you shared this recipe with your family and friends. Over to the side on this post and all of the others are handy dandy share buttons. We would sure be grateful if you shared the love!
Stuff we used!
Peanut Butter Cake Bars
Ingredients
- ~ For the Cake~
- ¼ cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ~For the Icing~
- ¾ cup Butter
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 35 degree Fahrenheit. In a small saucepan, bring peanut butter, water and butter to a soft boil. Just until combined. Remove from the heat. Cool 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl mix dry ingredients, flour, sugars and salt with a whisk to sift. Slowly add in peanut butter mixture and stir to mix.
Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into a lightly greased glass 9 x 13 casserole dish. Bake for 20-30 minutes until set. Will not rise very much. Cool - For the icing. In a saucepan, mix all ingredients EXCEPT powdered sugar and vanilla. Bring to a soft boil and then remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix well.
- Pour over cooled cake and allow to set. If need be can refrigerate to speed up this process.
Nutrition (all values are estimates only)
~
Callie Quinn
oh my goodness. I kid you not I JUST made homemade peanut butter last night - roasted the peanuts and all! Definitely need to try making this. It looks so delicious! Do you think it would be weird with crunchy peanut butter? lol if it needs to be creamy I'll throw it back in the food processor to get rid of the crunch!
Can't wait to try these!
Brooke Burks
I think you could give it a try, it might make it better!!! Yum, you will have to share the homemade peanut butter recipe with me!
Arlene
These look delicious. When I print the recipe the frosting recipe does not appear.
Brooke Burks
Sorry about that! It is fixed now. Hope you enjoy it!!