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Have a peanut butter lover in your life? You have to bake them these Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes! Featuring moist chocolate cupcakes that are stuffed with a peanut butter cup, topped with peanut butter frosting, milk chocolate peanut butter ganache, and chopped peanuts, these are always a crowd-pleaser!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Hello my friends, happy Halloween! I hope you have some major fun on the books for this weekend. Tell me. How are you celebrating? Are you dressing up? Carving pumpkins? Trick-or-treating? My family is coming up to visit and I’m pretty sure we’re going to spend the entire weekend binging on old horror flicks and gobbling down fun-sized candy bars. We Halloween hard.
Given the holiday at hand, it’s probably no surprise I have candy on the brain. I love all candy (have you seen this leftover Halloween candy cookie cake?!?) but one of my favorites is peanut butter cups. How can you not love creamy sweet peanut butter drenched in a chocolate shell? I mean… H-O-W?
And these gorgeous cupcakes? They’re all about the peanut butter cup!!! It’s peanut butter chocolate time. ← Cue the happy dance.
This easy homemade peanut butter frosting is a far cry from that dull, overly sweet, tooth-ache-in-a-jar frosting you’re used to finding at the store. The best part? It’s made with simple, easy to find ingredients. For this frosting you’ll need butter, peanut butter, vanilla extract, salt, and confectioners’ sugar. That’s it! No yucky or hard to pronounce ingredients here.
You’ll beat the butter and peanut butter smooth, add in the remaining ingredients, and whip to fluffy frosting perfection. It’ll be ready in 5 minutes!!! Not too shabby.
These cupcakes are everything you could want and more! Bake, devour, and don’t apologize.
More Peanut Butter Recipes:
- Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
- Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cheesecake
- Soft Batch Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies
- Creamy Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
- Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
- Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzel Cheesecake Cupcakes
Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes:
- 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (160 grams)
- 1 cup unsweetened non-alkalized (natural) cocoa powder (112 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons *canola oil
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60%), finely chopped
- 1 cup (198 grams) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (142 grams) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup (227 grams) full fat sour cream
- 1 cup (227 grams) freshly boiled hot water
- 24 peanut regular sized butter cups
For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 1 and 3/4 cups (396 grams) unsalted butter, very soft
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups confectioners' sugar, more only if needed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
Milk Chocolate Ganache (Optional):
- 1/2 cup (85 grams) milk chocolate OR semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup (76 grams) heavy cream
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Garnish (Optional):
- 24 peanut butter cups
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Instructions
For the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line (2) 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Spray lightly with non-stick baking spray, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside until needed.
- Combine the oil, butter, and chocolate together in a large bowl. Heat in the microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring between increments each time, until the butter and chocolate are completely melted. Set aside and cool while you assemble the other ingredients.
- In a large bowl, combine both sugars, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until smooth and well combined.
- Gradually add in the melted chocolate mixture, adding a little bit at a time and whisking constantly.
- Gently fold in the flour in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix gently and stop when you can still see the lightest trail of dry ingredients.
- Pour in the hot coffee (or water) and let it sit for 30 seconds, then fold it into the batter until combined.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons of batter into the bottom of each cupcake tin, then press a peanut butter cup into the batter. Top with another 3 tablespoons of batter; each cupcake mold should be 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake, one tray at a time, for 16 to 18 minutes, or until the cupcakes have puffed up and a toothpick (or cake tester) inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting!
For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium-speed until completely smooth. Beat in the vanilla.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add in the sugar, adding a 1/2 cup at a time, beating until the sugar has incorporated into the frosting before adding more. Once all of the sugar has been added, beat in the milk.
- Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the frosting is thick and creamy.
- Finally, fold in the beat butter and beat on medium-high for 1 minute. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, to ensure all ingredients have been combined.
- Scrape the frosting into a piping bag fitted with an open star piping tip, like this one.
For the Milk Chocolate Ganache:
- Finely chop the chocolate and place it in a small heatproof bowl. Set aside.
- Warm the cream over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Add in the peanut butter and whisk smooth.
- Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 1 minute, then whisk smooth. Whisk in the salt.
Assembly:
- Pipe a swirl of peanut butter frosting on top of each cooled cupcake.
- Using a small spoon, slowly drizzle the milk chocolate peanut butter ganache over the top of each cupcake. Start with a little bit, and add more if desired.
- Decorate the edge of each cupcake with a few chopped peanuts. Then press a peanut butter cup (or two!) in the middle of each cupcake! Enjoy!
- These cupcakes are best eaten the day they are made, but will keep, covered and stored at room temperature, for 2 days.
Notes
- Vegetable oil or melted coconut oil would also work. Or any neutral flavored oil you have on hand.
- These cupcakes are best eaten the day they are made, but will keep, covered and stored at room temperature, for 2 days.
- I do not have an egg substitution for this recipe.
We made these cupcakes and HOLY COW!!!!!!!! They are freaking AMAZING!! Everyone that tasted them absolutely loved them, definitely will be making for gifts in the future! Even made our quarantine seem not so bad 🙂
So I know it’s been years since you posted this (and years since the first time I tried this recipe), but I just wanted you to know that it’s my go-to chocolate cake/cupcake recipe. People ask me for it all the time, and aside from the one time I didn’t measure the coffee and just dumped in a full mug, it’s been foolproof every time I’ve made it – cupcakes, cakes, mini cupcakes, cake pops, whatever. Seriously, this is the best. Thank you so much!!!
Can you please tell me what number piping tip you used for the icing? Thanks.
These are amazing. Inthink you could easily nnake a cake also. Frosting delicious..
These are amazing! Is it possible to make them ahead of time and if so, should I keep the frosting and cupcakes separate then frost right before?
These were possibly the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever made. A huge hit! Not overpoweringly sweet, rich chocolate taste, excellent texture. For the frosting, I used less powdered sugar than the recipe called for because I usually don’t like frosting very much and it was excellent.
These were such a hit! Absolutely the best cupcakes.
I have only tasted the batter and I can say this is the best cupcake I have ever made….ever.
My absolute favourite cupcakes… was wondering if you could use the chocolate cupcake and peanut butter frosting recipe for a cake?
So happy you love these cupcakes as much as I do, Katie! I would suggest using this cake recipe as your base, then topping it with the peanut butter frosting.
Thanks so much for this recipe. I took these cupcakes to work and everyone loved them. People told me they were the best cupcakes they have ever had. They were so moist and delicious.