
Over the last few months, we’ve been catching up on the last several seasons of the Great British Baking Show, which means I’ve been seeing a lot of very delicious, very complicated things I have no confidence in making myself. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take elements of them to make on their own, right? I mean, who needs to make a 50-layer showstopper when you can just make one tasty cake?

In this case, I wanted to make a loaf-style cake, which is essentially just a cake baked in a loaf pan instead of the usual cake pan. Initially, it reminds you a lot of something like a teacake or banana bread, but it’s a lot lighter and softer than that. It really is a soft, fluffy cake.

I chose peanut butter as my flavor because I love peanut butter. Topping it with chocolate ganache isn’t entirely necessary — you could use an icing or frosting instead — but I think it works really well.

If you want to make this loaf cake for yourself, it’s fairly easy. And, if you want to get fancy with it, you can cut it horizontally, add layers of ganache, and stack it. I, as you might be able to guess, didn’t want to be that fancy with it. It’s still delicious either way!

Peanut Butter Loaf Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Equipment
- 2 Loaf Pans
- Stand Mixer
- Rubber Spatula
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1⅔ Cups Flour Sifted
- 3 Tbsp Corn Starch
- ½ Tsp Baking Soda
- 2 Tsp Baking Powder
- ⅓ Cup Butter
- ⅓ Cup Vegetable Oil
- ½ Cup White Sugar
- ¾ Cup Brown Sugar
- ⅔ Cup Peanut Butter
- 3 Eggs Room Temp
- 1½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup Buttermilk Room Temp
For the Ganache
- 1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350℉. Grease your loaf pans well.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and baking powder together.
- In your mixer, cream together the butter, oil, both sugars, and peanut butter. It'll take 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add int he eggs one at a time, mixing a bit in between them.
- At this point, stop using the mixer. Add in the flour mixture and fold it with your rubber spatula until ti's just combined. Try to avoid over-mixing to help keep the cake light.
- Divide the batter evenly into the loaf pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the loaf pans for at least 15 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.
- If you're making a ganache, just melt and combine the three ingredients until they're smooth and mixed. Let it cool a bit, then spread or pour it over the top of the cooled loaf cakes. Let it harden a bit, then slice and serve!