Peanut Butter Jelly Cake

Baked cake

Vanilla Cake
2 1/2 c. cake flour, plus more for flouring pans
2 c. sugar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 stick butter, softened
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs, room temperature
1 c. whole milk
Butter, for greasing 2 cake pans
Raspberry jam (or whatever flavor you like)

Peanut Butter Frosting

Baked cake, top trimmed

1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
4-ish Tbsp. cream
2 tsp. vanilla

Buttercream Frosting
1/4 c. butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbsp. milk
Powdered sugar 

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 F.

Piping peanut butter frosting

Put the flour, sugar, oil, butter, baking powder, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer on slow just until the ingredients are blended together, then raise the speed to low-medium and continue to mix until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.

With the mixer running, add 1 egg at a time, adding the next one after the previous one has been absorbed into the mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl periodically. After all the eggs are added, continue to mix for an additional minute to ensure the eggs have been thoroughly mixed in.

Peanut butter frosting layer

With the mixer still running, add the milk, 1/2 a cup at a time, stopping the mixer to scrape the sides and bottom between the two additions. Continue to mix for another minute or until the mixture appears smooth.

Grease two 9 inch cake pans with butter, and flour them.

Piping the jam layer

Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake until the cake begins to pull from the sides of the pan and is springy to the touch, 25-30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes. The cakes should be at room temperature before you remove them from the pan. Put a piece of parchment paper on a

Jam layer

cookie sheet or counter. Turn the pans over and turn the cakes out onto the parchment. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to decorate. If your cakes have become domed during baking, trim the tops to make them flat.

To make the peanut butter frosting: Mix all the ingredients together until nice and creamy.

Second layer added

To make the buttercream frosting: Mix the butter, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of milk together. Add 1/2 a cup powdered sugar. Mix together. Add more powdered sugar, a quarter cup at a time until you reach the thickness you want. If your frosting gets too thick, add another tablespoon of milk, but no more than 4 tablespoons total. Continue to balance sugar and milk until you're happy with the consistency.

Starting to frost the cake

To assemble the cake: Lay down one cake layer on a flat surface. Using a piping bag, pipe the
peanut butter frosting over the top of the cake. Make an edge around the perimeter to keep the jam from flowing over when you pipe it in.

Using a different piping bag, pipe the raspberry jam over the peanut butter frosting.

Top the jam with the second cake layer.

Frosted cake with peanut butter frosting design

Frost the whole cake with the buttercream frosting, using a piping bag if you want. Make sure the cake keeps cool until you serve it, or it will start melting.

Cake recipe courtesy of Buddy Valastro
Peanut Butter Frosting recipe courtesy of Robyn Fox