These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes are the perfect combination of sweet and slightly salty. Chocolate sponge topped with a swirl of creamy peanut butter frosting drizzled with melty chocolate and finished off with half a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, the image of cupcake perfection.
When it's cold outside and I've spent the whole day making cupcakes at work, battled my way home through the biting wind which is ever present along the banks of the River Tyne before finally collapsing in the comfort of my warm house you'd think the last thing on my mind would be more baking. You'd be wrong, I'm forever getting back from a day of baking in the shop only to pull out my Kitchenaid and whip up something sweet and sugary. It's an addiction.
These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes came about when I looked in the cupboard and realised I had a bumper pack of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups sitting unused. Rather than alert Kris and watch them vanish in a matter of moments, I thought I'd do something special with them, and whats more special than adorning the top of a cupcake?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
- For the cupcakes:
- 175g unsalted butter, softened
- 175g soft light brown sugar
- 3 large, free range eggs
- 175g self raising flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 4tbsp cocoa powder
- 2tbsp whole milk
- For the frosting:
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 300g icing sugar
- 100g smooth peanut butter
- 2tbsp whole milk
- 50g plain chocolate, melted
- 6 Reese's peanut butter cups, halved
Cooking Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 175°C fan and line a cupcake tray with 12 liners.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Set aside.
- Place the butter and sugar in an electric mixer and mix until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the flour mixture in one go ensuring all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Mix the milk through the batter until smooth.
- Fill the cupcake liners to 2/3 full and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before removing to finish cooling on a rack.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.
- Mix the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale and soft. Add the icing sugar and the peanut butter and milk. Turn the mixer on low and gradually increase the speed. Whip for 5 minutes, if the frosting looks too stiff add a splash more milk until you reach a nice piping consistency.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled fill a piping bag, fitted with an open star nozzle, with the peanut butter frosting and pipe a cute swirl on each cake. Drizzle each cake with the melted chocolate and top with half a peanut butter cup.
