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I’m guessing you figured that Peanut Butter Love Week wouldn’t be complete without at least one cupcake recipe. I’ve whipped up an insanely rich and delicious cupcake recipe that is bursting with the peanut buttery goodness we all adore.
You’ve heard me reminisce about my father and brother and our mutual love of candy in several posts. Jared and I prefer our candy on the fruity side of the spectrum; Starbursts, Gummi Bears, and Hi-Chews. My dad is definitely more of the chocolate lover with a list of favorites that most certainly contain Reese Peanut Butter Cups, especially of the Easter egg variety. He claims they’re better than the traditional cups, and I must say that happen to wholeheartedly agree. Along with Snickers, he was and still is quite fond of placing (hiding) his Reese Easter Eggs in the freezer. He says they’re better frozen, I think he’s sneaky…little does he know everyone has been on to his game for a very long time.
I have made Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes before, but this time I they are so much better! The frosting had the perfect balance of sweet and salty and the baked in Mini Reese Cup was a little surprise of pure peanut butter bliss.
Just a fair warning to all you cake mix haters out there…I used my favorite doctored up cake mix for this recipe, but you can certainly use this as a framework and make adjustments according to whatever floats your boat.
Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
- 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
- 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso granules dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
- 24 Reese’s Miniatures; frozen (this prevents them from disappearing into the batter)
For the Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1.5 pounds (24 ounces or about 5.5 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 6-8 tablespoons heavy cream (if using milk, amount will be less)
Directions:
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and espresso water mixture. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.
- Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
- Press one frozen Reese’s Miniature into the center of each cupcake.
- Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched. There will be a small sink hole in the top of the cupcakes from the Reese’s Miniatures, that’s okay - you’ll cover that with frosting. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.
- Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.
For the Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream butter and peanut butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
- Add vanilla and 4 tablespoons of heavy cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 4 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
- Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish with chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
Notes:
- Frosting was piped onto cupcakes using the large round tip.
- Cupcakes are best served the day they are made, but will store in a sealed container within the refrigerator for two days.
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I am so glad I found this site. I first tried a Reese’s cupcake at a bakery in Petersburg, Illinois. I stop there each time I visit my daughter just to indulge. I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
Sherrie-
Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you love them!
-Jamie
Re question about thick batter – it IS very think but fluffy and it doesn’t make a mess. It kind of comes away from the spoon/spatula/sides of cupcake papers easily.
I made these for a birthday at work yesterday and they were absolutely decadent! The cake is extremely moist and flavorful (I used sugar-free pudding only because that’s all I had and it came out perfectly fine). The frosting was very ample, even when piped on. I have enough left in the freezer for a small cake. The pb cups did not sink at all. When I unwrapped them, I put them on a plate with flour on it and put them back in the freezer…just to be sure they didn’t sink. I used a half cup of strong coffee but you can’t really taste the coffee…just adds a dimension of flavor. Decorated with halved pb cups on some, Reese’s pieces or pb chips on others. They were the rage at work – thank you! We have a cupcake baker (side business) at work – these were way better than hers :).
Can you tell me what tip you used for piping the frosting? Thanks!
Amy-
I used the Giant Round Tip from Bake It Pretty! Thanks for stopping by!
-Jamie
OMG! This is pure heaven! I wish I could have one. I’d make a batch, but I’d eat them all!!
I want to make these this weekend but was wondering if they would still work without using the sour cream? What does it do? I would also like to make mini cupcakes instead of the big ones. Would this work? I am making them for 2 Christmas parties.
Thanks!
I made these cupcakes Friday to take to a couples get-together. Dinner progressed as usual with constant conversation until dessert time! Nobody said a word after biting into these heavenly morsels! Except for a lot of oohs, ahhs and hmmms….This is a perfect recipe! I don’t understand people wanting to alter this recipe in any way. The espresso powder is a MUST for bringing out the deliciousness of the chocolate. The whipping cream is also a MUST for adding a wonderful creaminess to the frosting! Please people…stop trying to think you can make it better! Make it just as it says and you will see the difference! Thank you, thank you for posting this!
Jamie, when you say “miniature” cups are you referring to the small ones that you have to unwrap or the ones that are truly mini and come all unwrapped in a bag? Thanks for another great recipe!
Melony-
Thanks for stopping by. I used the mini wrapped ones for this recipe. Have a great weekend.
-Jamie
This peanut butter frosting was amazing!! I made the martha stewart recipe before and it was quite disgusting. i threw it all in the garbage. i used my own chocolate cake recipe but used the same technique of putting the peanut butter cup inside. YUM!! major hit with the neighbors and family :)
I made these over the weekend. Very easy and no problems. I followed the cupcake recipe exactly. For the frosting, I used less sugar (only 1 1/2 lbs of sugar) and less vanilla (only 1tbsp) and I didn’t need any milk/cream. The icing was stiff enough to pipe onto the cupcakes. They are VERY rich and taste like you are eating a candy bar. Will make again for sure!