Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

We all have that one friend who seems to have a black hole for a stomach. You know, that person who can just keep eating forever. Oh, and the most frustrating thing: they always stay super thin! That’s my friend Wesley. For the last couple of years I’ve always baked something for his birthday party. When I asked him what he wanted this year, he said “something with peanut butter”.

And something with peanut butter he got. I’d been wanting to bake peanut butter cupcakes for a while now, so this was a good excuse! I put together a recipe, which went pretty well, but the actual baking went a bit less smoothly. I dropped the bowl with the batter, sending spatters of peanut butter-y goodness flying through my kitchen. (Disclaimer: I did not put those back in the bowl. Most of the batter simply stayed put.) Then my batter turned out to be much too dough-like, and I didn’t have any milk, so I threw in some yogurt, hoping for the best.

In the end, they came out perfectly! I decorated them with the frosting, and transported them to my friend’s house in my cake carry thingy while riding my bike. I almost hit about five different people because I found out my left brake wasn’t working very well, but it was fine. And then we went from my friend’s house to the party. Just before the entrance, someone (hint: it wasn’t me) dropped the cake carry thing upside down, smooshing the frosting and breaking the thing. I was a bit bummed, but they were still a hit, and I’d taken pictures before I left anyway, so all was well (seriously Esmé, it’s all good)! They kind of looked like turds anyway (it had to be said).

You’ll need… (for 12 cupcakes)

For the cupcakes

• 70 g butter
• 110 g light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring
• 100 g peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 160 g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 60 g chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons full-fat yogurt

For the frosting

• 170 g cream cheese
• 30 g butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring
• 100 g icing sugar
• 50 g dark chocolate (at least 72% cocoa)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

The rest

• muffin/cupcake tin for 12 cupcakes
• 12 paper cases (optional)
• piping bag with nozzle/tip of your choice
• and an oven, of course! These cupcakes need to be baked at 180 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mix together butter and sugar Put the sugar and the butter (either melted or softened) into a large bowl together and whisk (or mix with your electric mixer) until it’s nicely combined.

2. Add peanut butter and vanilla flavouring Add the peanut butter and whisk it through the mixture, and then add the vanillia flavouring and do the same. Whisk it through until it’s evenly mixed.

3. Add eggs one by one Now, add one egg and mix it through, and then do the same for the other.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking powder Take a second bowl and mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. I always sift my baking powder before adding it, because it’s usually quite lumpy. It’s best to also sift your flour, but I’m usually too lazy for that.

5. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix it all through until it’s evenly combined. I used an electric handheld whisk for this step.

6. Add chocolate chips and yogurt Now, add the chocolate chips to the mixture. At this point, I realised the batter was much too dough-like for cupcakes, so I needed to add some liquid. Because I didn’t have any milk, I made do with what I had and the three tablespoons of yogurt worked perfectly!

7. Divide batter over tin and bake! Evenly divide the batter (which is still quite firm, but that’s fine) over the paper cases, and then put your tin into your preheated oven. Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Take the tin out of the oven and let the cupcakes cool inside the tin. After about 10 minutes, take the cupcakes out of the tin and let them cool completely on a plate or a cooling rack.

8. Make frosting While your cupcakes are baking, you can get started on preparing the frosting. Put the cream cheese, butter and vanilla flavouring in a bowl and mix them together with an electric whisk. Add the icing sugar in parts and mix that through as well. Then, add the 50 g of melted chocolate (this will make for a fudge-like effect) and mix it through. Finally also add the cocoa powder and mix everything through until it’s a smooth mixture. If you want the frosting to be even more chocolate-y, you can add more cocoa powder, but be careful because you don’t want it to be too bitter.

9. Frost the cupcakes Once your cupcakes are completely cooled down, you can frost them. Transfer the frosting to a piping back with a tip of your choice (I used an open star tip). Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes which ever way you like. If you don’t want to mess around with a piping bag, you can also simply use a spoon to frost the cupcakes – that will work fine as well.

And that’s it! Enjoy your peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes!