Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm kind of in love with Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cups. So in love that at one time I had two HUGE packages of them in my pantry. SO in love that i was sneaking into the pantry and shoving multiple peanut butter cups in my mouth at one time. So deeply in love that I decided to use those cups to make cupcakes. I mean, chocolate cake + peanut butter cups + chocolate peanut butter frosting could equal nothing else but my biggest food fantasy.


So I took my dark chocolate cake recipe from my recipe box and started mixing. Then a ladled the batter into cupcake liners and pushed a tiny love cup peanut butter cup into each one. While they were baking I put together the chocolate peanut butter frosting. I had thought about making a chocolate frosting and a peanut butter frosting then swirling them together on the cupcake, but I was in a bit of a hurry to eat the cupcake so I didn't want to spend too much time on the schematics. So my impatience along with my lack of butter led me to make a combination frosting. YAY laziness! I'm not upset because the frosting turned out amazing anyway. And I made up for the lack of decorative frosting with MORE peanut butter cups, the solution to everything.

Chocolate Cake (adapted from Eat, Drink, and Be Merry blog)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dark cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp espresso powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened

2 large eggs, room temp.

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup buttermilk

24 dark chocolate peanut butter cups (plus more for decorating)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tins with liners.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugars together until light an fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until just combined. Add the vanilla and mix.

3. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the water/buttermilk beginning and ending with flour. Beat after every addition. Mix for 30 seconds until all remaining flour is incorporated into the mixture. The batter will be runny, but that's what you should expect. Fill each liner halfway with batter. Place a peanut butter cup in the middle of each cupcake, pushing down slightly. Spoon a Tbsp more batter in each liner to cover the peanut butter cup

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (test towards the side of the cupcake so you don't get peanut butter cup on the toothpick). Let cool in the pan. Then take the cupcakes out and set on a cooling rack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4-1/3 cup dark cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla

1-2 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream the butter until light and smooth. Add the peanut butter butter and mix until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat. Then add the cocoa, you may want to add up to 1/3 cup depending on how chocolatey you like it. Then slowly add the powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency.