Chocolate Sour Cream Cake (with Peanut Butter Frosting)

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There’s something magical about this chocolate sour cream cake with peanut butter icing. Check out how easy this cake recipe is, and how it got me to love chocolate cake.

Back in July, I wrote about how my first-born is leaving me forever. Ok, technically I wrote about how he turned 9 and how I missed his little baby cheeks.

I also posted pictures of him blowing out the birthday candles on top of his chocolate sour cream cake filled with fresh bananas and peanut butter frosting.

While the homage to my sweet boy was heartfelt, I had a few readers express their love of his chocolate cake!

I promised to post the recipe, and plain forgot. I blame the baby, because that’s what a responsible mom would do. Now, I’m making up for lost time.

As a disclaimer, this is a wonderful recipe that I adapted from one on the Hershey’s website. I put all of the ingredients I had on hand into my favorite recipe aggregator website, Super Cook.

They directed me to this delectable chocolate cake, and we had fun devouring throughout my son’s birthday week. The addition of sour cream to any cake yields a soft texture with a perfect crumb, and that’s exactly what you get with this recipe.

I decided to make it a 3 layer cake and add bananas. Sonny loves peanut butter, so a semi-homemade icing was needed. I’ll make sure to place that “recipe” in this post, as well.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

(adapted from this recipe from Hershey’s)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 8 inch round pans.
Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl or your stand mixer.
Add butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Evenly pour batter into the 3 cake pans.
Pick up each pan by about an inch and drop onto the counter. This will help to get the batter to distribute evenly and get rid of any air pockets.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick or butter knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Once cooled, remove from pans, frost with peanut butter icing (recipe below) and sliced bananas (optional).

Semi-Homemade Peanut Butter Frosting

1 tub vanilla buttercream frosting
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl or stand mixer. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed, then 2 minutes on high speed. Ice cakes immediately, or place icing in a tupperware container and keep at room temperature until you are ready to use it.