Vegan Peanut Butter Cake
This easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cake recipe is a dream dessert for all peanut butter lovers! Old fashioned peanut butter cake is made dairy-free and egg-free and you won’t even miss it! You’ll love this light and fluffy homemade cake made with minimal ingredients.
Lately, I’ve been into making fun, easy vegan desserts. The latest on my list is this vegan peanut butter wacky cake. If you remember, I recently shared this Wacky Cake recipe and it’s been a huge hit!
The Best Peanut Butter Wacky Cake
Finding a recipe that is both easy and delicious is not always achievable. However, this vegan dessert recipe meets both criteria and a couple of others as well, such as affordable, and irresistible!
This recipe uses one round pan. What I love about this is that you can enjoy a slice or two with your friends or family, and not worry that you’ll eat too much of it. Not that anyone would worry about a thing like that. 🙂
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
- Lemon — We’ll use both the zest and the juice of the lemon.
- Oats — I used rolled oats for this recipe, but you can substitute instant oats.
- Chia — We’ll add some ground chia seeds to create a thicker texture. You can use whole chia seeds; I just prefer ground because it creates a smoother finished texture.
- Syrup — I used maple syrup, but you can substitute agave nectar.
- Milk — We’ll use almond milk for the best overnight oats! Substitute your favorite plant-based milk.
- Yogurt — I love adding some plant-based yogurt (plain, unsweetened) for an even more tangy flavor.
- Protein Powder — I add some vanilla protein powder for increased flavor and nutrients. If your protein powder is not sweetened, you may want to add an extra teaspoon or two of sweetener.
- Cornstarch — We’ll use cornstarch to thicken the lemon curd topping.
- Turmeric — A pinch of turmeric makes that lemon curd sunny yellow.
- Flour — I use all-purpose flour, but you can substitute whole wheat pastry flour (which is different than whole wheat flour).
- Sugar — Granulated sugar works. You can substitute coconut sugar for granulated sugar for a healthy peanut butter cake.
- Peanut butter powder — I used PB2 powder to make this recipe.
- Frosting — Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top or see below for some frosting ideas.
How to a Make Peanut Butter Cake From Scratch
- Stir together the dry ingredients, from the flour to the salt.
- Combine and stir the wet ingredients, from the oil to the vanilla.
- Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into a prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before inverting it onto a serving plate.
- Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar or top with Peanut Butter Frosting.
This easy peanut butter cake recipe is based on the famous “wacky cake” that originated in the Depression-era when ingredients were in short supply. Creative cooks took what ingredients were available and made do. Interestingly enough, dairy products were one of those scarce ingredients.
That’s why I refer to this as an old-school peanut butter cake. Of course, this recipe uses peanut butter powder, but it’s still pretty old school!
Peanut Butter Frosting
Here’s how to make a simple peanut butter frosting:
- Add peanut butter to a microwave-safe bowl.
- Heat for about 20 seconds, until spreadable.
- Stir in powdered sugar and peanut butter powder.
- Add vanilla-flavored plant-based milk and stir to combine. Continue milk until you get a spreadable consistency.
Here’s more on making vegan peanut butter frosting.
More Frosting Options
Marly’s Tips
- Be sure to preheat your oven before baking because once you mix the batter, you’ll want to bake it right away.
- Double this recipe to make layered peanut butter cakes. Add some Vegan Chocolate Frosting in the middle of the layers. It’s like a nutter butter cake…perfection!
- Be sure to coat your pan with vegetable cooking spray. Alternatively, you can place a sheet of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan (Use scissors to cut it to fit the bottom of your pan) and then spray the top with vegetable cooking spray.
- Drizzle the top with vegan ganache for a different look and flavor.
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Leslie
Soooo good! My grand-daughter is allergic to eggs and milk so this is a winner. Thanks for sharing it!
More Peanut Butter Recipes
If you love this vegan peanut butter cake, here are some more favorite peanut butter desserts to enjoy:
That’s it for this moist Peanut Butter Cake recipe. You can see why it’s a tasty go-to dessert recipe!
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Peanut Butter Wacky Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup peanut butter powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Powdered sugar of Peanut Butter Frosting (see belofor topping
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Spray a round or square 8-inch cake pan with vegetable spray. You can also place a piece of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan and spray the sides with vegetable oil.
- Combine in a large mixing bowl the flour, sugar, peanut butter powder, salt and baking soda. Stir to combine.
- In a smaller bowl, combine the vegetable oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
- Pour the water mixture into the flour mixture. Stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar or top with Peanut Butter Frosting*
(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)
Video
Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Here are some of the best peanut butter cake recipes to try:
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes by Healthy Happy Life
- Peanut Butter Banana Blondies with Peanut Butter Frosting by yours truly! 🙂
Whatever simple peanut butter cake you’re nibbling on, enjoy!
This post was originally published in 2016 and was updated to include new photos and new text in 2021.
If using regular peanut butter instead of powdered, do I have to lessen the amount of oil? Thanks in advance!
Hi Pavi. First, please know I haven’t tried this change myself, but if I were doing this, I would probably leave the oil as is, and reduce the amount of peanut butter to 1/4 cup. Also, I would use the creamy kind of peanut butter rather than natural peanut butter. I hope this helps!
Can i use something else instead of peanut butter powder? Its not available here
Hi Emma! I have not tried doing this with this recipe, but you could just substitute regular creamy peanut butter. I would reduce it to 1/4 to 1/3 cup at most. Let me know how it goes!
Can the peanut butter be substituted with almond powder?
Hi Sita. I haven’t tried this with almond powder (I have yet to see almond powder in the stores here), but I imagine it should work just fine.
I’ve made this a couple of times now and it’s delicious and so easy!!
This is by far one of THE BEST cakes I’ve made. I was a little worried having never cooked with pb powder before, but this cake is amazing! It’s so fluffy and delicious. Seriously, one of our family’s new favorites. I only had enough pb powder to do a half batch. I ended up cooking it in the microwave in my special little cake pan for about 3 minutes and it was perfection. I didn’t use the frosting, but added some mini chocolate chips instead. Definitely a keeper. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Marly! Do you think that the cake’s powdered peanut butter and the vegetable oil could be changed for simple peanut butter? I’d love to cook this cake, but I am last minute with it and have just the peanut butter at home!
I second that emotion!
Hi there! I just wanted to let you know I discovered your blog yesterday when searching for a vegan breakfast casserole, and I am in love with your blog! Your recipes are so creative and unique! I currently have about 8750 tabs open of recipes I need to try asap, such as crispy orange tofu, pepperoni pizza dip, and pecan pie muffins. And judging from your writing style you have such a fun personality! PS: High 5 to a fellow Kansas City vegan!
Hi Preeya! So nice to meet another vegan in KC! Shawn and I actually met at the KC Vegan Meetup Group. How fun is that! Oh, that vegan breakfast casserole…it’s one of our favorites! Hope you like the recipes! 🙂
Love.
Thanks so much, Regine!
Do you think the swap of powdered PB for cocoa would work in other applications? I am thinking cocoa powder-only brownies…
I have tried that swap in a couple of different recipes and it’s worked fine…except for hot cocoa. Yes. Seriously. I tried that. 🙂 And it didn’t work out so great, but I think that was because I was using PB powder that had been roasted. I still have hope!
cool idea to use powdered PB in a cake!! I am going to bookmark this, it sounds different and delicious!
Hi Amy! Thanks! I’ve been using powdered peanut butter just as I would use cocoa powder and it works! My preference is for the peanut butter powders that don’t use roasted peanuts. The roasted flavor doesn’t taste as good to me in recipes. Hope you love this cake!