Birthday=excuse to bake. This week I'm baking for a Reese's Peanut Butter cup-loving friend. I scoured my cookbooks (I have a surprising amount of cupcake books, including Martha's Cupcake book and 500 Cupcakes) and the web to find the perfect chocolate + peanut butter + Reese's Peanut Butter cup cupcake recipe and I settled on this one I found on Loves to Eat who was inspired by this amazing looking cake on Annie's Eats. Wow. You've got to follow that link...that's one good looking cake. I will make a mental note to make this for D's next birthday; he's also a chocopeanutbutterholic. I made him this cake from Smitten Kitchen for his last birthday. A-friggin-mazing. But, I digress.
I really don't have anything to add to this recipe, except to say that it is awesome! I made mini cupcakes instead of regular sized to minimize lips-to-hips damage. Of course, eating four of them sort of nullifies those benefits. For mini cupcakes, I baked them for about 15 minutes on 350 degrees. I'd start watching them after 10 to 15 minutes, first visually, then pressing lightly on the top to see if it springs back, and finally sticking a knife through one of them (that's always the one I get to eat!). I'm going to guess it's the buttermilk that makes the cake turn out so fluffy and light. These are not super moist, dense, or hostess-cupcake-y, so if that's what you want, look elsewhere. They are a nice base for the rich yet fluffy and delicious peanut butter frosting by Ina Garten.
Without further ado, here's the recipe. I changed the format of the directions because I found the huge paragraph hard to follow from the computer screen.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional, but delicious)
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional, but delicious)
For decorating:
1 ½ – 2 batches Ina Garten's Peanut Butter Frosting (see below)
miniature Reese’s cups, halved, quartered, or chopped
1 ½ – 2 batches Ina Garten's Peanut Butter Frosting (see below)
miniature Reese’s cups, halved, quartered, or chopped
Directions:
1. Line mini-muffin or regular-muffin tins or spray with Pam and preheat the oven to 350°.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.
4. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter.
5. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.
6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter.
7. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
8. Divide the batter into cupcake trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and a knife comes out clean. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
9. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the peanut butter frosting.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.
4. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter.
5. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.
6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter.
7. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
8. Divide the batter into cupcake trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and a knife comes out clean. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
9. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the peanut butter frosting.
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
I do have something to add to the frosting recipe. DO NOT LEAVE THE ROOM while you are beating the frosting on high speed, under ANY circumstance!!! Especially to try and find your piping bag. D called over to me as I was searching for my cake decorating stuff that the texture on the frosting was "changing rapidly" so he turned it off. By the time I got there, it was a chunky, oily mess. Of course, I tried to revive it by adding more powdered sugar which formed a huge clump, then by adding more heavy cream, which made it even more oily. Here is the photographic evidence. If I had a Food Network show, it would surely be on the theme of rookie baking mistakes. Sigh. Even though I know better, sometimes I just forget. This is truly gross looking.
Save yourself the hassle of making the frosting over and watch it, then TURN IT OFF as soon as it's nice and creamy. The worst thing is this has happened to me with peanut butter frosting before! I think there's something about the balance of peanuts and oil in the peanut butter---over beat and everything starts to separate. Anyhow, I threw this out (it was too yummy to stay in the fridge for future use, this would have become de facto dessert) and started over and it turned out perfectly.
Since mine were mini-cupcakes, I just put a quarter of a mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup jauntily on top of each cupcake to indicate the flavor. Cute as can be and tasty too!
I do have something to add to the frosting recipe. DO NOT LEAVE THE ROOM while you are beating the frosting on high speed, under ANY circumstance!!! Especially to try and find your piping bag. D called over to me as I was searching for my cake decorating stuff that the texture on the frosting was "changing rapidly" so he turned it off. By the time I got there, it was a chunky, oily mess. Of course, I tried to revive it by adding more powdered sugar which formed a huge clump, then by adding more heavy cream, which made it even more oily. Here is the photographic evidence. If I had a Food Network show, it would surely be on the theme of rookie baking mistakes. Sigh. Even though I know better, sometimes I just forget. This is truly gross looking.
Save yourself the hassle of making the frosting over and watch it, then TURN IT OFF as soon as it's nice and creamy. The worst thing is this has happened to me with peanut butter frosting before! I think there's something about the balance of peanuts and oil in the peanut butter---over beat and everything starts to separate. Anyhow, I threw this out (it was too yummy to stay in the fridge for future use, this would have become de facto dessert) and started over and it turned out perfectly.
