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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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Jamie, I made this for three different crowds now and each time, they have gotten rave reviews! In fact, the last time I made them, they were highly praised by a couple of friends that not only frequent gourmet restaurants, they also do their own gourmet cooking.
I garnish mine with one of those tiny Reese’s minis on top of the frosting instead of the chopped peanut butter cups.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting this recipe. I can’t wait to try some of your other offerings!
Cynthia-
I am so happy to hear the cupcakes turned out so well! Thanks for coming back and commenting on your experience with the recipe. Have a great day!
-Jamie
i have made these about 4 different times and each time they come out amazing! absolutly love them.
Darlene-
I am so happy to hear that you’ve enjoyed the cupcakes numerous times – they’re a family fave around here. Have a great weekend and thanks so much for reading My Baking Addiction.
-Jamie
Has anyone added peanut butter to the recipe? I want to add about 1/2 cup to the cake mixture for an extra kick.
Let me know if you have!
Thanks
These were so fun to make. the buttercream is amazing (hubby licked the bowl when I finished). I got rave reviews for them and a friend of mine from LA commented they were better than the bakery owned by a woman who won Cupcake Wars…
definitely going into my cupcake recipe book!
I just made these and they’re wonderful! I put in 2 tablespoons of espresso instead of the one (just because I love the taste of coffee), and i also omitted the peanut butter cups. These go really well with a nice big glass of milk.
Here’s a picture of how mine turned out!
http://i1073.photobucket.com/albums/w388/johnhfortune/535945d0.jpg
IM MAKING THESE CUPCAKES TONIGHT FOR MY BOYFRIENDS BDAY PARTY TOMORROW BUT I BOUGHT SNACK PACK PUDDING… DOES IT WORK THE SAME OR SHOULD I EXCHANGE THEM?
LET ME KNOW ASAP!
Wendy-
The recipe calls for the pudding mix (powdered form), so you will definitely get a different outcome than the recipe pictured here.
-Jamie
I’ve searching today for some peanut butter cupcakes and found these ones! Absolutely awesome! I will try these recipes! Photo is great also! Regards
I made these for my family reunion last weekend. I accidentally bought crunchy PB so I went ahead and used it for the frosting and I just cooled down 1/2 cup of that morning’s coffee instead of using the instant espresso. I had three different relatives tell me they were the best cupcakes they ever had in their lives! AND my mom asked if she could take a couple home AND my cousin’s teenaged daughter was delighted when told her she could take one home AND I saw my dad eat one and LICK HIS FINGERS.
I found the frosting recipe to be about twice as much as I needed – and I thought i was being VERY generous with it. Refrigerated the rest and will make another batch of these cupcakes for the office next week when our student worker returns.
Also – and the rest of you are probably smart enough to KNOW this already – the Reese’s miniatures are easier to unwrap BEFORE you freeze them. I would probably refrigerate them for 15 minutes first if the air is really warm and/or humid, then put them in a plastic bag and to freeze.
made these today and i love them! although i added just some water and left out the coffee and i think that 2 pounds of powdered sugar was way too much. i ended up with way too much frosting and 1/2 lb of sugar to spare. but it was still yummy and delicious and everyone loved them! i will just add less sugar the next time i make the frosting.
Lucy-
I’m with ya on the sugar. I’ve decreased the amount that I use now to 1.5 pounds, I’ll update this recipe to reflect the change. Thanks so much.
-Jamie
I should not be reading / lusting after these while I’m on a diet but …