Reese's peanut butter cookie cake is a best-of-both-worlds dessert that is soft, chewy, and filled with crunchy candy bites and creamy peanut butter and chocolate flavors. This easy recipe means you never have to choose between a cookie and a cake again.
This Reese’s peanut butter cookie cake is the easiest cookie cake ever. With pops of colorful candy, chocolate chip mix-ins, and an ultra creamy chocolate frosting, this recipe is perfect for an easy birthday cake, a children’s party, or a fun sweet treat that doesn’t force you to decide between tender cookies, and a frosting-topped cake.
This recipe is made with standard chocolate chip cookie ingredients, and is just as easy to make as a batch of drop cookies. The texture is so soft and thick that it slices just like a cake, instead of crumbling like a cookie. You can also omit the Reese’s pieces and turn this into a recipe for a chewy chocolate chip cookie cake.
If you think chocolate and peanut butter are the world’s best flavor combination, you will love this dessert.
What is a cookie cake?
A cookie cake is a large baked dessert with the texture and taste of a soft and chewy cookie, but topped with frosting and decorated like a cake. The great thing about cookie cakes is you can bake one big cookie to serve at a party, rather than a few dozen individual cookies. These desserts have a nostalgic appeal, so serving one at your next gathering is sure to bring back a few childhood memories.
How to Make
- Prepare the baking pan. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan.
- Make the batter. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add the peanut butter and beat until fully combined. Follow with the vanilla and then the eggs.
- Mix in the baking soda and cornstarch, and then, with the mixer running, gradually add the flour until it is fully mixed in.
- Stir in the Reese's pieces and chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter out in the prepared pan, and scatter Reese's pieces over the top.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 24-26 minutes. Allow the cake to cool before adding frosting.
- Make the frosting. Beat the butter, cocoa powder, honey, and peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined, and then beat on high until smooth.
- Decorate the cookie cake. When the cake is cool, use a piping bag to pipe frosting around the perimeter of the cake. Slice and serve!
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- Unsalted butter - Use unsalted butter to control the salt level. Letting the butter come to room temperature will help you cream the butter and sugars.
- Light Brown Sugar, White Sugar - This recipe calls for two sugars. Light brown sugar helps the cookie cake stay soft and moist, while white sugar adds sweetness.
- Creamy Peanut Butter - Creamy peanut butters that do not have any oil separation work best with this recipe. Commercial varieties like JIF are perfect for peanut butter cookies because they integrate with the other ingredients so easily.
- Eggs - Eggs add moisture, structure and extra richness to baked goods like cookie cakes. They also act as a binding ingredient.
- Pure Vanilla Extract, Baking Soda, Cornstarch, Kosher Salt, All-purpose flour - Standard baking ingredients for cakes and cookies.
- Reese's Pieces, plus more for topping the cake - A classic crunchy chocolate candy with a creamy peanut butter center.
- Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate Chips - For an extra bite of chocolate. The slightly bitter taste of semi-sweet or dark chocolate will give you the best results. Milk chocolate chips will add a touch more sweetness to this recipe.
Chocolate Frosting:
- Unsalted butter - The butter should be soft enough for easy mixing. Remove the butter from the refrigerator well before you need it to ensure it softens enough.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder - Unsweetened cocoa powder produces a nice fudgy taste. When it comes to brands, Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder produces a great result.
- Honey - A natural sweetener.
- Creamy peanut butter - For more creamy peanut butter flavor. Stay away from natural peanut butters which don’t bake or blend well, and go with a commercial brand like JIF.
- Powdered Sugar - Powdered sugar quickly dissolves into the frosting and will help to create a smooth texture.
Tips
- Serve with ice cream - Did someone say ‘cake and ice cream party’? A big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of this Reese's peanut butter cookie cake is dessert heaven.
- Cool completely - It may be tempting to start decorating this cake while it's still warm so that you can start slicing and serving, but frosting the cake before it's completely cool will cause the delicious frosting to melt.
- Specialty cake pans - Bake this cake in specialty cake pans with shapes like hearts, Christmas trees, or Easter bunnies for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or Easter.
Variations
- Try different mix-ins - Chop up chocolate bars like Snickers, Heath bars, or artisanal chocolate bars in place of the Reese’s. Regular M&Ms or peanut M&Ms would also be a fun addition.
- Create a candy layer - Turn up the chocolate and peanut butter flavors by adding a layer of peanut butter cups.
- Swirl caramel - Chocolate, peanut butter, and creamy caramel are a cookie lover’s dream.
FAQs
The oil separation in natural peanut butter makes it a little tricky to work with in this recipe. So, while utterly delicious, for the best results when it comes to blending the ingredients together, go with a commercial variety like JIF.
This peanut butter cookie cake will stay soft and tender for 3-4 days if you store it in an airtight container on the counter at room temperature. You can also refrigerate this creamy peanut butter cookie cake for 7 days if you place it in a tightly sealed container.
Cookie cakes are easy to freeze. Just wrap the cake in one layer of plastic wrap, and place in a sealed container. The cake will stay fresh for 3 months. When you’re ready for a sweet treat, remove the frozen cake from the freezer and let thaw in the fridge overnight.
More Peanut Butter Desserts
- Peanut Butter Snacking Cake
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars
- Frozen Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie
Favorite Tools
📖 Recipe
Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 9-inch Springform Pan
- standing mixer
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (½ cup = 8 Tablespoons = 1 stick)
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter (this works best with a commercial variety like JIF)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (187g of flour)
- 1 cup Reese's pieces, plus more for topping the cake
- ½ cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Chocolate Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (½ cup = 8 Tablespoons = 1 stick)
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like to use Hershey's special dark)
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter (this works best with a commercial variety like JIF)
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan. (Note: You can also use a 9-inch cake pan, but it will work best if you line the bottom with parchment to make removing the cake easy.)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars on high until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat again until fully combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time, mixing on low between each addition.
- Sprinkle the baking soda and cornstarch over the batter and mix on low until no dry spots remain. With the mixer running on low, add the flour a little at a time until it is fully mixed in.
- Stir in the Reese's pieces and chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter out in the prepared pan, smoothing out the top. Scatter some extra Reese's pieces over the top of the cake (this is optional, but it always looks nice to have a few chocolates on top).
- Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 32 to 34 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before adding frosting.
- To make the frosting, in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat the butter, cocoa powder, honey, and peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined and then beat on high until the frosting is very smooth.
- When the cookie cake is completely cool use a piping bag to pipe frosting around the perimeter of the cake. Slice and serve!
MM
OMG Jessica.....I gained 5 lbs just reading this delicious post!!!
Claire @ Claire K Creations
Oh no Jess this might just be the most mouth-watering cookie I've ever seen!!!
Karista
Well darn it, I'm going to have to make this one too! Hahaha!! My family LOVES sweets but I rarely make them. I think my Suzie Q would love this as a special after school treat. Ok, I think my family will totally love you after I make this cake. 🙂
Melissa
sounds awesome - what size springform pan? Because I am looking for a peanut butter cookie recipe I can make in a 12" cookie pan. thanks
Jess
Ooo, Melissa - thank you so much for your note. I'll correct the recipe so it includes the size of the pan. I made this in a 9-inch pan, but in the process of testing it, I baked half the batter into small bars, leaving the batter in the 9-inch springform much more thin and still delicious. All of this is to say that I am quite certain this exact recipe will work great in a 12-inch pan. There is more than enough batter to fill a 12-inch pan, just keep an eye on it - it will definitely need to cook for at least 5 minutes less.