This banana peanut butter jelly cake takes my favorite childhood flavors and combines them into an awesome layered dessert!
AMA. RBTL. FOMO. TBH. YSK. SMH.FTFY.
I feel lost with all these new abbreviations and acronyms. It makes me feel old and outdated. Sometimes I feel like Phil from Modern Family who thinks LOL means lots of love and WTF means why the face.
And in case you’re wondering, here’s what the foreign language above means: Ask Me Anything, Read Between The Lines, Fear of Missing Out, To Be Honest, You Should Know, Shaking My Head, Fixed That For You.
I’m not a fan of all this internet slang. The list continues to grow everyday and I’m trailing far behind. For the most part, it confuses me more than it makes communicating easier.
When I text message friends, I spell words out completely, use punctuation when needed, and over use exclamation points. If that makes me uncool, so be it.
I prefer to stick to the easy abbreviations are super straight forward. Take PBJ (or PB&J). We’re all on the same page when it comes to that meaning, right?
Peanut Butter Jelly Cake
I cannot count the number of PBJs I’ve consumed in my lifetime. Too many, especially because I continue to enjoy them today. The combination of peanut butter and jelly is a flavor I may never tire of.
Sometime in elementary school (maybe 3rd or 4th grade) when I started packing my own lunches, I made my first banana peanut butter jelly.
It was one of those lightbulb moments when I felt like a child genius. Add sliced bananas to your PBJ!
It was just a monumental when I found out that banana and Nutella were delicious together.
I had that same ah-ha moment when I first envisioned this cake. I’m taking my favorite childhood flavors and turning it into a cake!
Assemble Banana Layer Cake
This uses the same banana cake recipe from this peanut butter banana BACON cake. It’s a strong, yet moist cake that’s perfect for stacking.
- Spread a layer of raspberry jam between each layer and follow with a creamy layer of peanut butter frosting.
- Add layer of creamy peanut butter frosting.
- Add another cake layer and repeat spreading jam and frosting.
- Crumb coat top and sides of cake. Add final layer of peanut butter frosting. Garnish with crushed peanuts and crushed freeze dried raspberries.
Use your choice of fruit jam
I prefer my PBJs with raspberry jam. Use your choice of fruit jam.
Grape, strawberry, apricot, blueberry, and blackberry work great.
If you’re interested in homemade jams, try these out:
- Homemade Raspberry Jam
- Fig Jam flavored with vanilla bean
- Quick Chia Strawberry Jam
- Blueberry Refrigerator Jam
I decorated the assembled banana peanut butter jelly cake with crushed honey roasted peanuts and crushed freeze dried raspberries.
Can you tell I love using freeze dried fruits? I have a stock pile of every freeze dried fruit I can find.
Kids and teens can have their puzzling and confusing lingo and their regular PBJ sandwiches. Everyone else, come with me. We’re eating this banana peanut butter jelly cake!
Banana Peanut Butter Jelly Cake
Ingredients
Banana Cake:
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 ripe medium bananas, mashed
- ⅓ cup whole milk, room temperature
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup smooth peanut butter*
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-5 Tablespoons heavy cream
Other Components:
- ½ cup raspberry jam
- freeze dried raspberries*, as needed
- chopped honey roasted peanuts, as needed
Instructions
Banana Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two 6-inch cake pans with parchment and lightly grease the sides.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter. Add sugar and brown sugar and mix until well combined. Add eggs one at a time. Add mashed bananas. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and milk. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Mix until just combined.
- Divide batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a few minutes before unmolding. Transfer to wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- Cream together softened butter and smooth peanut butter. Add confectioners sugar, vanilla, and 3 Tbsp of heavy cream. Mix together until smooth. Add addition cream if frosting is too thick.
Assembly:
- Split each banana cake into two equal layers. You should end up with four cake layers.
- Spread ⅓ of raspberry jam onto the first cake layer. Follow with a layer of peanut butter frosting. Add another layer of cake and repeat adding jam and frosting. Continue to repeat until the fourth layer of cake is on top. Do not add jam to final cake layer.
- Crumb coat the top and sides of the cake with peanut butter frosting. Let chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow frosting to set. Coat the top and sides of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. Garnish assembled cake with crushed peanuts and crushed freeze dried raspberries.
Notes
- The peanut butter frosting works best with homogenous peanut butter like JIF or Skippy. Natural peanut butters may cause the frosting to separate when chilled.
- Freeze dried raspberries are available at Trader’s Joe, Target, and Whole Foods Market. You can also buy them online.
Ha! You are not alone in all that abbreviation slang–I seriously can’t keep up with it! I totally can keep up with this cake though! It looks amazing!!
I can see why it was a favorite! This sounds amazing!
So many beautiful and perfect layers, this does sound absolutely delicious!
A cake kids dream about! Yum!
This looks awesome! I think I eat more PB&J sandwiches as an adult than I ever did as a child, I love them! I am yet to try adding banana though, this cake looks like the perfect way to give the combination a try :)
Oh my goodness, this looks HEAVENLY.
Oh my gosh, those abbreviations. Thank you for explaining them! I had no idea what some of them were! I just learned what ICYMI meant (in case you missed it) and now I find myself sometimes using it to make myself feel hip. It doesn’t work. But this cake. This cake is seriously amazing. Even just the way you decorated it. I can’t even imagine how great it tastes.
Prettiest cake ever!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an abbreviation on Twitter and had to google it. Nothing makes me feel older.
Your cakes always blow me away and this is no exception! Completely delicious and I need it now!
This is probably a really stupid question but would these cakes freeze for me to defrost them later on for icing? It looks gorgeous and I want to make it for the other half for his birthday but won’t have time to bake and ice during the week so was hoping to do the baking over the weekend.
Hi Becky, you can make the cake layers ahead of time. Make the cake as directed, let them cool to room temperature, and then tightly wrap in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. I suggest making the icing/frosting the day you plan on assembling the cake. I hope that helps!
This recipe looks amazing! I have a kiddo with some special needs and PB&J is one of the only things he eats constantly. I am excited to make this for him. Thanks so much for sharing!!!