This snickers cake is a layered moist chocolate cake. It is filled with peanut butter frosting and fun size chopped snickers. It is topped with a salted caramel frosting and two types of drips! This cake is for the ultimate snickers lover and it would make the perfect birthday cake.
This ultimate snickers cake is the type that makes you say "Oh My God" when you eat it. It is THAT good. The three layers of rich chocolate cake are super moist. Even while cold, this cake is very moist.
Snickers bar are my favorite candy bars! Combing Snickers into a layered cake quickly becomes my favorite cake!
The filling is the best part of the cake. The peanut butter frosting plus snickers is a dream come true. I might need to make more recipes with the peanut butter frosting.
This cake takes some work to put it together, but it is worth it! It is perfect for any special occasion.
If you are looking for more cake recipes, try chocolate covered strawberry cake, layered blueberry chocolate cake, and Biscoff layered cake.
Why You Will Love This
- Moist Chocolate Cake- This chocolate cake is incredibly moist and soft even while cold in the fridge!
- Peanut Butter Frosting- That frosting is pure heaven. It is so yummy, and I definitely licked the beaters after mixing!
- Caramel Buttercream- This cake is covered in a salted caramel buttercream that is too good!
- Snickers in the Cake- There are snickers chopped up and inside the cake layers. It also gives the cake extra crunch.
- Two Types of Drips- There is both a chocolate ganache drip and a caramel drip.
Ingredient Notes
- All-purpose flour- This recipe uses all-purpose flour. You can also use cake flour.
- Dutch process cocoa powder- Use dutch process to get a richer chocolate cake. I use this one.
- Dairy ingredients- All dairy ingredients that say room temperature need to be pulled out 2 hours before baking. Cold ingredients would dramatically change the rise and texture of the cake.
- Hot water- Heat the hot water on the stove. It needs to be steaming. Hot water from the tap won't cut it. The hot water is what will make this cake so moist.
- Peanut butter- I use Jif creamy peanut butter. I don't recommend natural peanut butter, it will make the frosting like soup.
- Fun size snickers- I bought a fun size pack at my grocery store. I ended up needing two, so I could decorate the cake.
- Oil- You can use canola or vegetable oil.
- Chocolate Chips- You can use semisweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips. Milk chocolate chips will be too sweet.
- Vanilla extract- For best results, use a pure vanilla extract.
- Powdered sugar- Make sure to sift the powdered sugar to avoid a gritty frosting.
Step By Step Instructions
This cake batter needs no mixer! It can be made with two mixing bowls and a whisk.
STEP 1: First, mix the dry ingredients together. I use this sifter to make sure no flour lumps remain.
STEP 2: Next, mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Exclude the hot water. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Make sure to don't over mix.
STEP 3: Then, add in the hot water. The hot water needs to added very slowly. If you added in a lot, the hot temperature would cook the eggs. Go slow!
STEP 4: Pour cake batter into 3 8 inch cake pans. Bake for 20-24 minutes.
Can The Cake Layers Be Made Ahead Of Time
Yes they can! Wrap the cakes in cling wrap and store in the freezer up to 1 week.
Before decorating, take out of the freezer and let thaw for 1 hour. Too cold of a cake will affect the frosting texture and will cause it to sweat.
How To Make Peanut Butter Buttercream
To make the frosting, start with slightly cold butter. When it is slightly cold, it will be cold to stay firm, but not too cold. If it is too cold, it won't beat until fluffy.
Next, beat the butter and peanut butter together. Then, add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream.
This buttercream is honestly my favorite. I could eat it with a spoon!
Make sure to beat it until it is fluffy.
Tips To Make Salted Caramel
Making Salted caramel isn't as hard as it may seem! My recipe makes it pretty easy.
First, heat the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Don't touch it until you can see it start to melt. Then, use a metal whisk to stir. Don't use a whisk with rubber on it, otherwise it will melt the rubber.
Stir the sugar until all of the crystal sugars are melted. A grainy caramel is the worst. Keep stirring until all of it is melted. Watch the pot like a hawk.
Next, let it get amber in color. This takes barley any time at all. For me, it took 10 seconds. As soon as it's amber, take off the heat.
Add in the butter and heavy cream. This will cause the caramel to bubble dramatically.
Now, let the caramel cool completely before using in the frosting. It should be completely room temperature.
How To Make Caramel Buttercream
Just like the peanut butter frosting, the butter needs to be slightly cold. Let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
Then, beat the butter on high. Add in the powdered sugar. To avoid a gritty frosting, sift the powdered sugar before adding to the mixer.
Now, the salted caramel. It should cool enough to add to the frosting (completely room temperature)
However, when it cools, it can get too thick. Heat in the microwave for 10 seconds. It should be pourable.
Next, beat everything together to get a fluffy frosting.
Assembling The Cake
Here are all my tips and tricks to make this cake.
- Use a nice turntable for best results. A cheap turntable won't spin as smooth.
- Frost your cake on the cake stand you are presenting it on. Apply a little bit of frosting to the cake stand to keep your cake in place. Also prevents it from sliding around.
- Use a cake trimmer or a serrated knife to cut the tops of the cake off. I do this to keep them as level as possible.
- Place first layer of the cake bottom side down. Then, spread the peanut butter frosting over the cake using an offset spatula. Use the salted caramel frosting to pipe a double layer border, so the filling doesn't spill out.
- Load the cake with the snickers pieces. They need to be cut into small pieces. Then, repeat with the second layer. The third layer goes bottom side up, so the flattest surface is on the top of the cake.
- Frost the cake with the caramel frosting. To prevent crumbs getting in the frosting, apply the lightest layer of frosting as you can. Then, freeze for 15 minutes. This will lock the crumbs into place.
- Frost the cake into a semi naked look. This is done by scrapping the remaining frosting off with your cake scraper until peeps of cake come through.
- If you do the drips, freeze the cake for 10 minutes before applying. A cold cake will stop the chocolate from going everywhere.
- Before adding the caramel drip, freeze again for 10 minutes. This will set the melted chocolate and the caramel will go on top.
Topping The Cake
You can keep the cake bare with the drips. You can also add more snickers to the top of the cake. I also threw on some peanuts for added texture. You can make more frosting to pipe decorations on top.
FAQ
That's fine! I personally like a light layer of frosting, but jam the cake full of yummy fillings. If you want more frosting, double the recipe. If you want to pipe extra on top of the cake, triple the frosting.
No, you don't. This is a snickers cake though! This cake tastes just as good with no snickers.
I haven't recipe tested it. I strongly recommend going to a vegan bloggers page and get their recipe tested chocolate vegan cake recipe.
This has a lot to do with high altitude baking. Add 2 extra tablespoon of flour to the cake batter. This fixed that issue for me when I lived in Colorado.
Storing and Freezing
This peanut butter snickers cake needs to be stored in the fridge in an air tight container like a cake carrier. It will last up to 5 days. It tastes good cold too.
Freezing
Freeze the individual delicious cake slices by wrapping tightly in cling wrap and storing in an airtight container. Let the cakes thaw for 1 hour before eating.
Other Cake Recipes To Try
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Layered Chocolate Snickers Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 ¾ cup White granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Oil canola or vegetable
- 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
- 3 Large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup Buttermilk room temperature
- 1 cup Hot water
Salted Caramel
- 1 cup White granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon Unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup Heavy cream room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Frosting
- ½ cup Unsalted butter slightly cold
- ½ cup Peanut butter creamy
- 1 ½ cups Powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ cup Heavy cream
Salted Caramel Frosting
- 1 cup Unsalted butter slightly cold
- 3 ½ cups Powdered sugar sifted
- ¼ cup Salted caramel
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 10.5 oz Fun size Snickers cut the entire bag into small pieces.
- Snickers More for topping the cake
Chocolate Drip
- 1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup Heavy cream
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray three 8 inch cake pans with baking nonstick spray. Line the bottoms of the cake pan with parchment circles. Spray again.
- In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix in sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Whisk until combined.
- Heat the water in a saucepan until hot and steaming. Pour a little bit at a time into the batter. Go slow to not cook the eggs. It should be a runny batter.
- Divide the batter evenly in the three pans. Bake for 20-24 minutes. The cakes are done baking when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let the cakes sit in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let the cakes cool completely before decorating.
Salted Caramel
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the sugar. Let the sugar sit until it starts to melt, then use a metal whisk to mix the sugar. Mix until all the sugar crystals are completely melted. Let it sit for less than 30 seconds until the caramel turns amber in color. Take off the heat.
- Add in half of the room temperature butter at a time and mix. Adding the butter will cause it to bubble and steam a lot. Then, add half of the heavy cream at a time and mix. Add in the vanilla and salt.
- Pour the caramel into a glass measuring cup and let it cool completely before using.
Peanut Butter Frosting
- Set the butter on the counter for 30 minutes for it get slightly cold. Sift the powdered sugar while you wait.
- Using a mixer, beat the butter for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl. Add in the peanut butter. Beat until smooth on high. Scrape the bowl several times to make sure all the butter is combined.
- Add in the powdered sugar. Mix until combined, it will be thick. Add in the vanilla and heavy cream. Beat until creamy. Set aside.
Salted Caramel Frosting
- Set the butter on the counter for 30 minutes for it get slightly cold. Sift the powdered sugar while you wait.
- Using a mixer, beat the butter on high for 2 minutes until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl. Add in the salt and caramel. Mix on high for 2 minutes until combined and smooth. Set aside.
- Cut the snickers into small pieces. They should be small to be easy to cut the cake.
Chocolate Drip
- Pour chocolate chips into a bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat until hot and steaming. Pour hot cream over chocolate chips. Let it sit for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stir until melted and smooth. If any chocolate chunks remain, heat in the microwave in 15 second intervals.
Assembly
- Place a small bit of frosting on the board you are decorating on to keep the cake in place. Level off the cakes so they are perfectly flat. Place the first cake layer bottom side down.
- Spread half of the peanut butter frosting on the the cake. Pipe a double layer of caramel frosting on the edges of the cake. Use half of the snickers and compact them in the middle of the cake. Repeat with the second layer.
- Place last layer of cake bottom side up, so the flattest surface is on top of your cake. Smooth the edges of your cake and fill the holes with frosting. Apply a super light layer of frosting over the entire cake. It should be very light and you can see the cake through it. Freeze the cake for 15 minutes to lock the crumbs into place.
- Frost the rest of the cake in the remaining frosting. Use the cake scrapper for the semi-naked look. Bits of the cake will poke through. The cake has a light layer of frosting. Freeze for 10 minutes for the chocolate drip.
- Make the chocolate drip. Pour the chocolate over the cake. Use an off set spatula to push the chocolate over the edge of the cake for it to drip down. Smooth the chocolate on top of the cake. Freeze for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.
- Heat the caramel in the microwave for 10-15 seconds for it to be pourable. Place half ¼ of the caramel in a squeeze bottle or a piping bag. Drip the caramel down the sides of the cake on top of the chocolate. Pour the rest of the caramel on top of the cake. Optional: Top with extra Snickers.
Corina says
Hello, can I use a crunchy peanut butter instead of a creamy one?
Stephanie Rutherford says
Yes you can!
Steven says
My wife wanted this cake for her birthday. While she is a great Baker I had never baked a cake before. The instructions were very clear and it came out excellent. Everyone LOVED it. Fantastic recipe and I will definitely use Stephanie's recipes for Amy desserts I make in the future.
Allison says
So good!!!! I loved the flavor!!
Kristen says
The filling is honestly the best part!
Greg says
This cake is one of the most moist and delicious I have ever had. I am going to have this cake for my birthday every year from now on!
Zane Blane says
Why not use hot coffee instead of water?
Stephanie Rutherford says
You can use hot coffee if you would like. I personally don't drink coffee. I know it is crazy! So, hot water is easy to use. The cake is super moist and chocolaty!