A Marriage Made in the Kitchen: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

If ever there were two flavors that were completely destined to be together, it is chocolate and peanut butter. In my opinion, they are such a perfect couple that they should never be allowed to separate. When I was recently making dessert for a friend’s party and she asked for chocolate cupcakes, I instantly knew I had to make a chocolate peanut butter combination. Thankfully she agreed.

I ended up making chocolate cupcakes, filled with dark chocolate ganache then topped with peanut butter icing. I crowned them with mini peanut butter cups and some chopped peanuts for texture. I’ve got one word for you: Yummy!

If you have never filled cupcakes before, you can refer back to my Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes blog entry for some tips on how to fill and ice cupcakes.

Here is a breakdown of the recipes I used:

I started out by trying a new chocolate cake recipe. Unfortunately, that recipe was a huge disaster and the cupcakes ended up looking like remnants of nuclear war instead of tasty desserts. I was limited on time and ingredients so I ended up going back to my old stand-by chocolate cake recipe. It is easy and starts with a cake mix as the base.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Step 1: Make Batter

You will need a chocolate cake mix, ½ cup of water, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, 1 cup of sour cream, 4 eggs and 1 small box of chocolate instant pudding. Click here for printable recipe instructions.

Step 2: Fill Cupcake Wrappers

You want to fill the wrappers with about 1/4 cup of batter. I use a scoop to get an even amount of batter in each wrapper.

Step 3: Bake and Cool

After baking, make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely before attempting to fill them.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling

Not everybody is a fan of dark chocolate so feel free to use milk chocolate if you prefer.

All you need to make ganache is 12 ounces of chocolate and a cup of heavy cream. Be sure to use a high quality chocolate bar since the flavor will totally depend on the type of chocolate you use. It sometimes helps to look for your chocolate in the candy section instead of in the baking section.

Step 1: Chop Chocolate

Use a large knife to chop up the chocolate bars into small pieces then place them in a bowl.

Step 2: Heat Cream

Heat the cream in a small pot, over medium-low heat, just until boiling.

Step 3: Melt Chocolate

Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate pieces. Let it set for about a minute to begin the melting process then use a spatula to stir it until completely mixed.

This is how it looks when you first start stirring.

This is when you know it is done.

Step 4: Cool

Allow the ganache to cool. It will thicken as it cools. Once it becomes the thickness of icing, you can put it in a decorating bag and fill the cupcakes. Click here for information on filling cupcakes. Don’t make the mistake I did though. I made it the night before than set it in the refrigerator until the next day. That was not a good idea because it got really thick. It ended up being more like a truffle than ganache. It still tasted good but was difficult to work with since it was so thick.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Peanut Butter Icing

And now for one of my all time favorite icings; peanut butter icing. This stuff is heavenly! The recipe, as is, makes 8 cups. If you think that is way too much then feel free to half it. I always make the full amount because I like to top my cupcakes with huge mounds of icing and I also always hope there might be a little left for me to enjoy from the bowl.

To make peanut butter icing you will need: 1 cup of unsalted butter, 2 cups of a good-quality peanut butter, 6 cups of confectioner’s sugar and ½ cup (possibly a little more) of half and half.

Click here for printable instructions for this recipe.

Once the cupcakes are filled, use a decorating bag and a large tip to ice the cupcakes. I used a Witlon 1A tip for these cupcakes. You can get instructions for icing cupcakes, as well as watch a video tutorial, in this blog entry.

After icing, feel free to add whatever yummy embellishments you like. I usually like to include items that tell you what is in the cupcake and also something that adds a little texture to it. I placed mini peanut butter cups on the tops of each of these cupcakes and then chopped some peanuts and sprinkled them on for texture.

And here’s what they look like on the inside:

For the party, I combined the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with lemon blackberry cupcakes on a glass platter. Click here to see my blog entry on the lemon blackberry cupcakes.

Well, now I need to make a run to the grocery store because I am craving chocolate and peanut butter again!

Until next time, God Bless and Sweet Dreams.