Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

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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.

Yield: 24 Cupcakes

Total Time: 42 minutes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 18-22 minutes

Print Recipe

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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Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes