peanut butter and jelly cake
and forever stressing the importance over strong base recipes <333
hey hi hello!
Welcome back to bake chats and the next installation of recipe riffin- the lil series where I remind you that you have free will and can use it when you bake. And also, maybe the kick off to another new mini series under the recipe riffin umbrella- where I take the same set of recipes in my cake formula (chiffon, soak, filling, buttercream) and show you with one concrete example all the ways you can change recipes to suit what you want from them. A new layer cake every week (or two) type of situation.
Like always, I’m here to remind you that having strong base recipes is the key to setting you up for success to move through your kitchen with more creativity and ease. I get a lot of comments from this series “I hear what you’re saying but I don’t think I could ever do that” which is why I’ll probably switch to riffing the same set of ingredients to give you one thing to focuse on that will evenly compound as you move on and start to play with other recipes and flavors. But, I need y’all to STOP saying you can’t do hard things, or things you think are hard before you’ve ever given it a try.
In 2026 we are getting rid of limiting self talk! You can do hard things. It might feel impossible, but, right now you might just be operating from a place of lacking information. BUT THAT’S SO EASY TO FIX. Learning new things is fun and cool and sexy I promise. When I was first starting out baking over 20 years ago (yuck. old.) I didn’t know anything about baking- let alone being able to riff and develop my own recipes. But, over time, through worign and exploring my own curiosities I made it here.
Growing up, when I was reading a new book and I came across a word I didn’t know the definition of, my mom would make me stop to look up the word in the dictionary so I could understand what I was reading (prob not a unique experience but ok). Use that energy when you’re baking. New ingredient you’ve never worked with? Google it. Don’t know what folding is? Take a pause to look it up. Gather as much information as you can before you even turn the oven on so you can move through the kitchen with confidence!!
Also, if you don’t think you’re ready to branch out and put your own twists on recipes. That’s so okay and so self-aware. This series is not me telling you that you HAVE to change things, just that you can. I think you reach a point where baking through other peoples recipes and experiences isn’t enough and you need to branch out and put your own twist and perspective on the food your making. That’s like the natural progression of being a baker. But, to get here, you need a solid base to jump from.
Yap yap yaaaaap, TLDR a lot of what you learn carries with you through the rest of your baking journey.
I originally talked about my go-to cake formula back on the strawberry matcha cake
And in this new sub series- we will explore flavor and creativity through cake. Each component of this cake can be flavored or swap a million different ways. I could make the “exact” same cake, in a hundred different flavor ways and each time it would feel new.
Today it’s a pb &j version. Because well, I’ve been on a big ole peanut butter kick. So I put together layers of einkorn chiffon, with a sweet milk soak, a peanut butter bavarian, raspberry jam and torched brown sugar swiss buttercream. Somethings are riffs- the chiffon, is my base chiffon just with a lil bit of einkorn flour for flavor. Instead of my vanilla pastry cream, my peanut butter honey pastry cream takes it’s place in the bavarian. And what once was a triple vanilla cake, then a matcha strawberry chiffon is now a peanut butter and jelly cake.
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PEANUT BUTTER N JELLY CAKE
*A printer friendly easy to read PDF version of the recipe will be available for paid subscribers at the bottom of this post xx*
TOOLS
Mixing bowls
Rubber spatula
2-8” aluminum cake pans- non of that non stick coated shit
Thin serrated knife
Whisk
Piping bags + tips
EINKORN CHIFFON
Bakes in 2- 8” round cake pans
This is my go-to chiffon recipe as of late, Hannah Ziskin’s for King Arthur, adapted by swapping olive oil out for neutral oil and subbing in a little bit of Einkorn for a honeyed almost graham cracker flavor. Should ya not have einkorn on hand you can totally go with 100% all-purpose flour here.
INGREDIENTS
115 grams whole milk
75 grams neutral oil of your choice
85 grams dark brown sugar
120 grams egg yolks (approx 6 large yolks)
180 grams egg whites (approx 6 large whites)
100 grams granulated sugar
100 grams all purpose flour
75 grams einkorn flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl combine the 115 grams whole milk, 75 grams neutral oil, 85 grams dark brown sugar, and 120 grams of egg yolks. Whisking until evenly combined and setting aside for later.
To the bowl of a stand mixer add the 180 grams of egg whites. Begin to whip the whites on medium speed with the whisk attachment until they begin to foam. At this point you’ll slowly add in 100 grams of granulated sugar to create your meringue, about 1/3 of the sugar at a time.
Whip the meringue on medium speed until stiff peaks form.
While the whites whip, you’ll combine the 100 grams all purpose flour, 75 grams einkorn flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Whisking to evenly combine.
Once the meringue is just shy of stiff peaks, you’ll add the wet ingredients from earlier to the dry ingredients. You don’t want this to sit too long or the flour will begin to hydrate and stiffen the batter making it harder to fold in the meringue, leading to a less tall meringue.
Once the meringue is at stiff peaks, you’ll fold it in the the prepared batter from earlier, 1/3 at a time. Folding in just until evenly combined. You don’t want to over work they egg whites as this will knock out all of the airy you adding by whipping resulting in a dense and almost rubbery cake.
Split the batter between 2 8” pans, 410 grams per pan. Do not use non-stick pans for this! And do NOT use any oil sprays or fats to grease your pans. You want the batter to be able to cling to and essentially climb the sides of the pans.
Bake the cake layers for 25-30 minutes until evenly golden brown on top and the cake bounces back when gently tapped in the center.
Remove the cakes from the oven and invert on to a cooling rack to cool UPSIDE DOWN. This is another reason why would don’t want to grease your pans, the cakes will fall out otherwise.
Once cooled remove from the pans. Run a knife or off set spatula around the edge of the pan to release the cake. Give the pan a nice firm whack on the the counter and the cake should release. (This video is here to help).
Using a thin serrated knife, cut the cakes in half horizontally to create 4 even cake layers. Individually wrap each layer and chill them in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to build your cake. Do not stack them on top of each other if you can avoid it.
CARAMELIZED HONEY PEANUT BUTTER PASTRY CREAM
Here you’ll want to use a deep dark honey for the best results flavor wise, something to really stand up to the peanut butter, I love avocado honey here. Ultimately, use whatever you want though. This is riffed form my peanut butter honey pastry cream recipe, the only change being the handling of the honey, which here gets caramelized. You can totally skip this step, it just adds a little depth.
INGREDIENTS
45 grams honey
375 grams whole milk
20 grams brown sugar
20 grams cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt
40 grams egg yolks (approx 2 large egg yolks)
50 grams creamy peanut butter
DIRECTIONS
Add 45 grams of honey to a 2-4qt saucepan, placing it over medium heat.
Heat the honey until it begins to bubble, deepen in color and light wisps of smoke begin to appear. This should 3-5 minutes.
Once the honey is caramelized, deglaze with the 375 grams of whole milk.
Bring the honey milk mixture up to a simmer.
While that comes to temp combine the 20 grams of brown sugar with 20 grams of cornstarch and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, whisking to break up any larger sugar clumps and evenly disperse the cornstarch.
To the brown sugar mixture, add 40 grams of egg yolks and whisk to create a paste. It’ll feel too thick and like there isn’t enough liquid. Stop whisking to let the ingredients settle (we’re essentially working with a Non-Newtonian fluid) before starting again, whisking until the mixture is lightly aerated.
Place 50 grams of creamy peanut butter into a separate medium bowl. Place a fine mesh sieve over the peanut butter and set this bowl aside.
Once the milk is at a simmer, temper some of the warm milk into the cornstarch + egg yolk slurry. Add a ladle full of milk to the mixture, whisking to combine it before adding another ladleful until about half of the warm milk has been added to the yolk mixture.
Return the milk + yolk mixture to the pot and cook while stirring constantly, over medium-low heat.
Cook until the pastry cream is thickened, it’ll reach a soft boil, where a few bubbles will pop on the surface, this indicates the cornstarch has reached peak thicken abilities.
Pour the cooked custard through the fine mesh sieve over the peanut butter.
Immersion blend the custard to fully and evenly emulsify the peanut butter into the cream.
Cover directly with plastic wrap to avoid a skin from forming and place in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours to chill before using.
TORCHED BROWN SUGAR SWISS BUTTERCREAM
This is my torched swiss buttercream subbing granulated for brown sugar, because those molasses notes pair incredibly well with the peanut butter. The amount of salt feels a little scary, but I promise this buttercream with allll that butter and sugar can handle it.
INGREDIENTS
250 grams egg whites
500 grams dark brown sugar
570 grams unsalted butter, room temp
12 grams diamond crystal kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla bean powder, paste or extract
DIRECTIONS
While you weigh out your ingredients fill a pot with about an inch or two of water. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
In a bowl that fits over the pot without touching the water, place your 250 grams of egg whites and 500 grams dark brown sugar. Whisk until homogenous.
Place the egg white mixture over the simmering water. Whisking constantly until it reaches 145F. Normally you would cook this mixture to 165F but since you’ll be applying a significant amount of heat to the whipping whites when you torch them you’ll reach 165F then.
Once at temp, move the egg white mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with 12 grams kosher salt and 2 teaspoons vanilla bean powder/paste. (Yes, you can use a hand mixer, just expect to be here for a while). Beat on medium high with the whisk attachment until the mixture just starts to become a very loose meringue. It’s right when theres enough air for the egg whites to actually turn white in the bowl.
At this point turn the mixer off and using a kitchen torch- toast the top layer of the meringue. Remove the flame and mix for 10 seconds. Stop the mixer and torch the top layer of meringue again. Remove flame and mix. Repeat this step as many times as you’d like for desired toastiness. I do this about 11-14 times.
Turn your mixer up to medium/high speed and allow the torched meringue to whip until stiff peaks form. Allow this to whip longer enough for the meringue to cool to room temp. So that way when you add the butter you’re not let with a soupy mess.
Add the 570 grams of unsalted softened butter to the mixer on low… and what I’m about to say might shock you but you can add the butter all at once. No need to add it in cubed pieces over the span of an hour, especially for this batch size.
Let the buttercream whip until it comes together. Then let it go for 10-15 minutes.
After using the whisk attachment switch to the paddle attachment for another 10 minutes.
SWEET MILK SOAK
INGREDIENTS
275 grams whole milk
15 grams granulated sugar
splash of vanilla extract
pinch of diamond crystal kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients and transfer to a squeeze bottle for easy soaking.
ASSEMBLY
Einkorn chiffon cake
Raspberry jam
Caramelized honey peanut butter pastry cream
250 grams heavy cream
Torched brown sugar swiss buttercream
Sweet milk soak
Cake turntable
10”+ cake board/plate
Piping bags + tips
Small offset spatula
Bench knife/cake scraper
DIRECTIONS
Pour the sweet milk soak into a squeeze bottle for easy soaking but, you can also use a pastry brush to brush it on too.
Load up your piping bag with buttercream and cut the end at about 1/2” thickness.
Whip 250 grams of heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold in your peanut butter pastry cream in 3 batches. You might need to hit the pastry cream with a spatula to loosen it before folding.
Place your cake board/plate on your turntable. Pipe a small dollop of buttercream to help secure the cake to.
Place the first layer of cake on the board.
Give the layer an even squirt of the sweet milk. Just enough to moisten the layers, not to where it’s sopping wet. Anywhere from 50-75 grams of soaking liquid should be plenty.
Using the piping bag create a dam of buttercream round the outer edge of the cake layer.
Fill the center of the dam with an even layer of raspberry jam, about 1/4-1/2 a cup of jam per layer. Top the jam with peanut butter bavarian and use a small off set spatula to evenly spread it over the jam.
Place the next layer of cake over the bavarian. Repeat soaking, creating a damn, laying down jam and bavarian for all remaining layers.
Once you’ve topped the cake with the final layer— cover the cake with a thin layer of buttercream, this is your crumb coat.
Place the cake in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes for the crumb coat to set- preferably overnight to give all the components a chance to mingle.
Once the buttercream crumb coat has firmed up, decorate the cake however you’d like.
Store the cake in the fridge until an hour and a half to two hours before serving. Pull the cake and let it come to room temp before slicing.
Enjoy!!
