This Peanut Butter Cream Pound Cake bakes up dense and moist with a crackly, buttery crust and a gentle peanut butter flavor, then gets finished with a silky peanut butter glaze made with sweetened condensed milk.
As part of my ongoing partnership with the Alabama Farmers Federation, I get to share some of the amazing recipes that have been featured in previous editions of their monthly magazine, Neighbors.
This month, I’m sharing this absolutely amazing Peanut Butter Cream Pound Cake from Lyn McDaniel. And when I say absolutely amazing… I mean it. I’m a big pound cake fan and this has to be one of my favorites!
To start, this cake is made with peanut butter. And as peanut butter is one of my most favorite things in the world, I was destined to like this from the get-go.
Next, the glaze on this dense, moist pound cake is made with more peanut butter and another favorite ingredient of mine… sweetened condensed milk. Seriously. It’s crazy delicious!
And while this recipe is super easy, I’ve got a few tips to make sure your pound cake turns out perfectly every single time.
Tips for the perfect pound cake:
Start with room temperature ingredients. Make sure your eggs and fat (in this case shortening, butter, and cream cheese) are at room temperature. A cake is an emulsion of ingredients and those ingredients are going to combine more easily and evenly when they’re all at the same temperature.
When it says to cream the fat and sugar, do it. Nearly every pound cake recipe is going to tell you to cream the fat and sugar together. This doesn’t just mean until it’s combined. You’ll want to mix in for about 5 minutes until the color has lightened and it’s fluffy. Yes, I’m serious. 4 to 5 minutes – depending on the speed of your mixer.
But don’t over-mix! I know what you’re saying… you just said mix it really well. Well, once you add the eggs and flour, you don’t want to over-mix the batter. You can end up with a cake that has a fragile crust and it can get dense, rubbery, and might even shrink when it comes out of the oven. So, to recap… mix the fat and sugar like crazy, but only mix it enough to combine once you add the eggs and flour.
Prep your pan the right way. I have some old school pans that rarely stick. Some of my newer pans are notorious for sticking. The one thing that always works for me is to coat the pan in vegetable shortening, like Crisco, and flour it – being sure to get all the little crevices. Sometimes the baking sprays with flour work, many times they don’t.
Don’t over fill your pan. Most pound cake recipes are formulated for a 12 cup bundt pan. The problem with that is that some of the newer, more decorative pans won’t hold that much. So, be sure not to overfill your pan or you’ll be scraping burn cake off the bottom of your oven. For a little insurance policy, you can always place a baking sheet on the oven rack below the cake to catch the overflow. It’s a lot easier to clean a pan than the oven.
There’s nothing worse than putting all that work into a pound cake to then find that it’s overcooked and dry. Likewise, you don’t want it to be undercooked either. Undercooked cakes can still be liquidy or they can seem fully cooked but still have a dense middle section that didn’t get cooked. Here are my tips for making sure your cake is cooked properly…
How to tell when your pound cake is done:
The sides pull away from the pan. This is a visual cue that your cake is nearing being done. The edges of the cake will start to pull away form the sides of the pan. This isn’t a foolproof method, but one of the cues I use.
A cake tester comes out clean. Use a toothpick or skewer to test the cakes doneness. When inserted in the center of the cake, it should come out with no signs of wet batter. If a few crumbs come out on the tester, that’s ok.
The cake temp is around 208° to 210°F. Yes, I use a use a kitchen thermometer to test my cake’s doneness. Inserted into the center of the cake, it should register above 200° but no more than 212°F. I shoot for the range between 208° and 210°F.
Again, none of these methods are foolproof all by themselves, but a combination of them should yield a perfectly cooked cake.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- ½ cup butter flavored solid shortening
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese softened
- ½ cup crunchy peanut butter
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the glaze icing:
- ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Set aside. DO NOT preheat the oven.
- In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream shortening, butter, cream cheese, and peanut butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, blending well. Add the vanilla and mix well.
- Pour into the prepared pan. Place in a cold oven. Bake at 325°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to rest in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving platter.
- Make the glaze icing by mixing the sweetened condensed milk, peanut butter, and milk together until smooth. Pour over cooled cake.
Nutrition
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
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can salted butter be used instead of unsalted butter?
Yep, that will work just fine.
Can honey roasted peanut butter be used?
Yes, I don’t see why not.
Love this cake have made it a few times and took to eating meetings at church and it’s always a big hit. But I had to take it to a whole nother level “Peanutbutter and Jelly Pound Cake” made it per recipe,cut a good inch off bottom,dug about an inch groove out of middle,filled with grape jelly,put bottom back on,flipped back over iced per recipe. yum yum!
Well, this is dang near genius, Richard! Thanks for sharing!
Can you freeze this
Peanut Butter pound cake
Yes, you can freeze the Peanut Butter Pound Cake! Wrap the cooled cake tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil, and freeze it for up to 3 months. You can also freeze individual slices. Let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for a few hours at room temperature before serving.
Could you use reduced fat Nuefchatel cheese or whipped cream cheese in the recipe?
You can, but just know it’ll change the texture a bit. Reduced-fat Neufchâtel or whipped cream cheese has more moisture and less fat, so the cake won’t be as rich or dense. It will still bake up just fine, just a little softer and lighter than the original. Regular cream cheese gives you that classic tight pound-cake crumb.
Perfection! Made it following the recipe exactly and it is SO GOOD! I had to bake it an extra 10 minutes but my oven runs low so I expected that. The glaze was very thick but ran down the sides perfectly, so pretty!
It’s absolutely beautiful! So glad ot see it turned out great for you!
Is it moist?
When it’s made per my recipe, it’s very moist. Changing things up is when things start to go south. Baking is chemistry.
What to use if you do not have butter flavored solid shortening?
Regular shortening will work. The flavor will just be bit different.
Stacy
The peanut butter pound cake calls for butter flavored solid shortening. Can I use regular shortening instead?
Yep! The flavor will be a little different, but it will work for sure.
I have a question, do you sift flour before you measure? Also can you use natural peanut butter in your peanut butter pound cake? Thank you.
Hi Sheila! No, I do not sift. So, a simple stir is the most I’ll do. And no, I do not recommend natural peanut butter. You can certainly try it, but I’ve not tested it with it, so I’m not sure if it performs the same. Previous experience has shown that natural peanut butter and standard grocery store peanut butter are not always interchangeable.
Will this recipe work with Almond milk?
Yes, almond milk should work just fine as a substitute for regular milk in the glaze.
Loved this recipe! I was little skeptical starting with a cold oven, however it worked out well.
It’s beautiful! So glad you enjoyed it!
Made this cake tonight for family dinner and it is almost gone. I used gluten free flour and it was amazing. Tasted like a peanut butter cookie; I wish the icing wasn’t so loose but tasted great. Need family favorite. I also needed a bigger bundt cake pan, ordered. I did over bake by 3 minutes.
It looks perfect, Tina! I love seeing images where they look like everyone enjoyed it! If you find the icing too thin, you could probably add in some powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit.
Do you mind telling me what brand of gf flour you used?
Can I use creamy peanut butter
Yep. It will work just fine. Enjoy!
My cake burnt on the top I was afraid of that putting in oven to warm up .
Did you bake it in the center of the oven? When the top burns, it’s typically too close to the upper heating elements.
This is the cake I chose for Christmas this year. My family is not a fan of crunchy peanut butter. Is it ok to use cream in the cake?
Creamy peanut butter works perfectly! Hope y’all enjoy!
Made the peanut butter pound cake delicious!
Absolutely beautiful! So glad you enjoyed it!
Weights, Stacy, weights!
Can you make this into 2 sheet cakes and if so how long would I need to cook them.
Hi Jane! They’d have to be pretty small cakes. I can’t estimate on the cook time, so I’ve not tried it that way and it would really depend on the size of the pans.
I can’t wait to bake this cake! Bundt Cakes/Pound Cakes are my favorite to bake. I do have one question though……. the bundt cake recipe that I use most calls for cake flour (Swan’s to be exact) instead of all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. My question to you is ~ do you think I can replace those three ingredients and use the cake flour instead for this recipe?
You can use cake flour, but the amounts will need to be adjusted as cake flour is just a finer milled low protein flour. You will still need to add the baking soda and salt as cake flour doesn’t have any leavening. If I remember correctly, you’ll need to add an additional 2 tablespoons of cake flour for each cup of all purpose flour. I’m pretty sure the exact conversion/swap is listed on the box.
Love this cake, take it to church eating everybody loves it. I made it today for my birthday but took it to another level. Cut the bottom off, dugout the top and filled with grape jelly and some of the frosting, put bottom back on, flipped back over and frosted it! Peanutbutter and jelly pound cake, everyone enjoyed it!
Oh my goodness! That sounds amazing! Happy Birthday!
I am gonna make this tomorrow. Is it okay to use cake flour?
Yes, but you’ll need to make some adjustments to the amount of flour if using cake flour as cake flour is finer. To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour.
Made it for a Church eating meeting didn’t put all the icing on, thought it was a little too much, people loved it but thought it needed more icing, lol, so I am making it again for another meeting and it will have all the icing on it this time!
Ha! Glad to hear it turned out great for you, Richard!
Cant wait to try out this version tomorrow!!
Hope you’ll enjoy it!
I will be making this PB pound cake this afternoon and topping it with a chocolate glaze! My husband loves a Reeces cup… so this is for him. ❤️
Sounds amazing! Sure hope he enjoys it!
Going to try this cake this evening…
Do you have a recipe for Apple and pecan pound cake?
Great! Let us know how it goes!
Stacey, I made this for Easter and it was a huge hit. My husband loves my cream cheese pound cake but says to tell you he may have a new favorite pound cake!
So glad he liked it!
Does this work with creamy pb? Also I used natural peanut butter so it doesn’t have emulsifiers, will that effect the cake?
Creamy peanut butter should work just fine. But the natural peanut butter is very different, so I’m not sure you would have the same outcome. I’ve just not tested it with the natural peanut butter.
Does this cake require refrigeration with the glaze containing milk?
If it is eaten within a few days it should be just fine, otherwise you would want to refrigerate it to extend the life of the cake.
Thanks for the tip cause I would have never thought of put this cake in a cold oven ,I gonna try it with my other cakes to see how it comes out I will bake this cake cause I love pb🎂
Starting the cake in a cold oven allows the leavening more time to let the cake rise. This works especially well with the long cook time for pound cakes.
Can you use smooth peanut butter instead of crunchy.
Absolutely!
I’d love to make this, but I can no longer tolerate shortening – like Crisco. Can I substitute butter for the shortening? I don’t know about you, but I think natural peanut butter and pure vanilla extract would work best here. After all, with pound cake, the better the ingredients, the better the cake. Just saying…
I’m wondering the same…maybe substituting extra peanut butter for the shortening might work?
I wouldn’t recommend that due to the difference in fat content.
Margarine and butter can both be used as a substitute for shortening, though their moisture contents should be taken into consideration before making the swap.
Thanks, you’re absolutely correct.
You can use butter but it won’t be an equal swap due to butters water content. When it comes to the peanut butter, natural peanut butter is quite different than most commercially produced peanut butters. But, I haven’t tried it using natural peanut butter so I can’t say for sure.
Hi can this be made with creamy instead of crunchy peanut butter?
Absolutely!
It needs to be a deep cake pan like a bundt pan . A 9×13 is to thin
I can’t find butter flavored shortening, can I use regular shortening? Add butter extract to it?
Did you try this recipe with regular shortening ?
This looks awesome, I would love to make this for my guild but I don’t have a bundt pan. Can it be made in a 9 x 13 pan? Thank you Stacey, I SO look forward to your emails and delicious recipes, thank you!
Thank you! I think it might work, you’ll just want to be sure to not overfill the pan.
All I can say is yum, hope to make this soon!
Sure hope you’ll enjoy it!