Chocolate Cupcakes + Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
There’s something about eating peanut butter that always makes me feel like a kid again. I strongly suspect this something is the fact that our mother packed our lunches every school day from 1st grade until well into junior high, and I could probably count on one hand the times the sandwiches weren’t peanut butter and jelly. I’ve also had a long-term love of peanut butter on pancakes (which also make me feel like a kid, actually), Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, peanut butter fudge (sacrilegious in our house, but still), and chocolate-peanut anything (I was the weird kid who chose chocolate-covered peanuts over the rainbow selection of sugary confections when we went to the candy store).
I’m quite surprised it took me this long to make peanut butter frosted chocolate cupcakes.
Okay, confession…
I had another go at peanut butter buttercream back in the early days of the blog, I just wasn’t happy enough with it to post — and it was too rich to subject friends and family to numerous test rounds. Initially, I was going for super creamy and super peanuty. Yummy, right?! The issue was that it was a bit oily and melted far too easily to be pipeable…or not refrigerated until the moment you wanted to eat it.
But as my family — spurred on by my darling husband — have grown fond of saying to me now (while devouring baked goods amid a chorus of delighted moans, mind you), “Just keep practicing, you’ll get good at this baking thing yet.” Well, ta-dah, this one’s a keeper!
The cupcakes are light and still richly chocolaty (and don’t require a mixer!), and the frosting smells as good as it tastes. The bit of shortening lends stability and extra fluff, and more salty than I would want other frostings is exactly the right amount to enhance the peanut flavor. (Do yourself a huge favor and see the recipe notes about simplifying measuring with a kitchen scale — game changer! And if you’re frosting a cake or spreading rather than piping the cupcakes, there are tips for making the buttercream smoother you’ll find helpful.)
Lastly, if you have an opportunity, I highly recommend eating these with two-year-olds for the sheer entertainment value — at least if you’re not the one who will have to help them get the frosting out of their nostrils.
Enjoy!
These are some of the items I find especially helpful for this bake. (These are affiliate links.)
Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract
King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
Digital Food Scale from Greater Goods
Cuisinart 9-Speed Handheld Mixer
Chocolate Cupcakes + Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
makes about 18 cupcakes or one 9” round cake
INGREDIENTS
CUPCAKES
6 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa
1 cup + 2 tablespoons good all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water
FROSTING
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (95 grams) shortening — using a kitchen scale will allow you to add hard-to-measure ingredients without wrangling them in and out of measuring cups!
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250 grams) creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons good quality vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons heavy cream
CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS
With the rack set to center, preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and very lightly mist the liners with cooking spray.
Melt the butter and set aside.
Sift the cocoa and flour into a large mixing bowl (I prefer one with a spout), whisk in the remaining dry ingredients.
In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk the egg and sour cream until thoroughly blended. Whisk in the remaining wet ingredients until smooth.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until smooth.
Divide the batter into the prepared tins, filling no more than 2/3 full (45 grams per cup works perfectly for this one).
Bake for 20-22 minutes, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS
Place the butter, shortening and salt in a large mixing bowl, cream with a hand mixer until fluffy, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl several times.
Scrape the bowl, add the peanut butter and vanilla, and mix on medium-low until creamy and well-combined.
Scrape the bowl, add one cup of confectioners’ sugar and two tablespoons of the cream at a time, and mix on medium-low until well blended. Scrape the bowl and blend again, increasing the speed to high/medium-high speed, and beat for 30-45 seconds until very fluffy. (For smoother frosting, you can bring down both the whipping time and speed. Stirring and spreading the whipped frosting around the bowl with a rubber spatula to remove air bubbles helps too.)
Spread or pipe onto thoroughly cooled cake or cupcakes.
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