Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

Today I decided to try out another recipe found on Annie's Eats blog.... Chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter filling and frosting. Here are the results:



Dissected cupcake showing the peanut butter filling:





Same cupcake, different style frosting:




Overall, these cupcakes were a great success. They were pretty easy to make apart from having to clean the mixing bowl 3 times. The cake was really moist with a perfect chocolate flavour. The frosting was a really good peanut butter flavour with a hint of cream cheese sourness to balance out the sugar. The frosting was a little soft and liquidy for my liking (I prefer the look of frosting that is a little stiffer) but it tasted great. By far the best part of these cupcakes was the peanut butter filling. It tasted a lot like the filling in Reese's and I had to stop myself from eating it all just on it's own!! The filling is what made this cupcake special. I would happily make these again.



Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 24 although I ended up with 20)

Ingredients:

For the filling:
1 ⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
3-4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
½ cup creamy peanut butter
3¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

To make the filling, with an electric mixer, beat confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and set aside on a baking sheet. Refrigerate balls until firm.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a measuring cup, stir together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated.

Spoon a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Place a ball of the peanut butter filling in each cupcake well and top with the remaining batter so that all the cups are filled. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until smooth. Slowly mix in the confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth and well blended. Mix in the whipped topping until smooth and fluffy. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Keep cupcakes refrigerated.

Source from: adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Good Housekeeping