Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Peanut butter and chocolate is a classic combination exemplified by the perfection of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I'm straying from my usual Chocolate Cupcake recipe because it has a deep cocoa richness. However, I want something a little lighter, and I think using chopped chocolate in the batter will add a certain candy-like quality that will be helpful in mimicking the aforementioned peanut butter cups. I'm adapting my recipe from Cait's Plate which I happened across yesterday while searching Tastespotting. Her recipe melts the chocolate, so I'm not adding in any extra chocolate; I'm simply changing the form of the chocolate already in the batter.

Chocolate Cupcakes
yield: 24 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 cup natural cocoa powder

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup greek yogurt

4 oz chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark pans) and line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.

On the stove top over medium heat, melt the butter. Mix in the cocoa until homogenous and let this mixture cool. Use the microwave in a pinch and a whisk will incorporate the cocoa perfectly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and greek yogurt. Add cooled chocolate mixture to combine. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually, scraping down the bowl of the mixture as necessary. Finally, fold in the chopped chocolate. The batter will be thick.



Fill muffin tins, and bake at 350 for 18 - 20 minutes until they pass the toothpick test. I use dark pans, and at 325 these took about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove after 10 - 15 minutes and cool completely before frosting.



Peanut Butter Frosting

2 cups creamy peanut butter (I used a mixture of Jif and a natural peanut butter)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

2 cups confectioners sugar
heavy cream as needed, about 1/2 cup

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter and peanut butter until fluffy and combined. Add in the salt and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar. The frosting will begin to get thick after the first cup or so. Add the remaining sugar followed by 1/4 cup of cream. Add more cream as necessary. You'll reach a point where the creaminess just happens. For me it was after a little more than 1/2 cup of cream. Beat the frosting until fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Frost cupcakes. I garnished with halved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Decadent? Yes. The cupcakes are incredibly rich, but the frosting is fluffy and not too sweet. You can definitely taste the salt. The frosting is perfection.



I'm going to make these again next weekend. The cupcakes are solid, but I think I may revert back to the sour cream in the original recipe. The batter was incredibly thick and I overfilled my cupcakes, so I'd like to get it right. The frosting, as I mentioned, was perfect, but there was quite a bit left over, so I'm going to modify the amounts next time. I hate throwing such delicious frosting away, but there was about a cup too much.