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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.
Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
I’m going to make these this weekend for a work event! Wondering if you think it would be okay to sub plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I usually use Greek yogurt in place of mayo and sour cream for just about everything.
FYI: I did it with Fage 0% yogurt and it turned out spectacular!
I made these yesterday for a friend’s birthday party and they were a HUGE success! Everyone raved about them; one girl said she doesn’t even like cupcakes but she LOVED these (she ate 2 and took a 3rd for the road, so I believe her). I didn’t put the Reese’s in the cupcake itself, but rather just diced it up and put it on top of the frosting. Amazing!!!! Thanks!
Melissa-
So glad to hear you enjoyed these cupcakes! Thanks so much for taking the time to report back on your success with the recipe. Have a great day!
-Jamie
I have to agree with your dad… Reese’s eggs are the BEST Reese’s product they produce. I love them for the sheer fact that they have more of the peanut buttery goodness than the normal Reese’s do.
I’m excited to try this recipe!! :)
Abby
Hi, The 18.5 oz. devils food cake mix already has pudding in the mix. would i still add more pudding mix or is there a brand without pudding i should hunt for? Thank you, Jo
Jo-
Yes, I still add the pudding. Have a great day.
Jamie
Hi! These look amazing. I want to make them for my boss’ birthday. My question is, would the cupcakes be ok if I made them 1-2 days before and made the frosting the day of? I want them to taste great so just let me know if you wouldn’t recommend that. Thank you!
Sarah-
Personally speaking, I wouldn’t go 2 days prior – 1 day would be fine though. Definitely frost them the day of. Have fun and let me know how they turn out.
-Jamie
hi! i’m going to make these cupcakes this weekend for my son’s birthday. i looked for the devil’s food cake mix, but duncan heinz and betty crocker both were less than 18.25 ounces. (it’s 16.5) can i still use it, or should i get find one that’s 18.25 ounces?
Min-
Yep, you should be just fine. Have a great weekend!
-Jamie
I am so excited to make these!!! I just have a question… when you talk about sticks of butter… It might be just here in Canada but we’ve got various different sizes of sticks of butter… are you referring to the small ones?
Amazing! … I found that the baking time was a bit longer — 25-30 minutes, otherwise the cupcakes would fall. Also, I used almost a full half pint of whipping cream to make the frosting really fluffy, and could have still halved the frosting recipe and covered all of the cupcakes. With all that frosting left over, I wound up making a simple chocolate cake just to use it all up! Instead of baking in Reeses cups, I topped with Reeses Pieces. Adorable! … Thanks so much for the post!
Hi! Can I leave out the sour cream? I have a mild dairy allergy so I try to omit it when possible. I plan to use goat milk for cow’s milk. What could I sub for the sour cream to get the right consistency? Thanks! P.S. Love the tip about using ice cream scoop for uniform size cup cakes!
Jess-
I wouldn’t suggest leaving out the sour cream as that adds to the moisture of the cake. Maybe just try preparing the cake according to the package directions? Sorry I am not more of a help!
-Jamie
Me and my sister in law made these for my nieces birthday. We omitted the espresso because it’s for kids, but we think they are sooooo delicious! Some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had! Thanks for sharing.