Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes and Chocolate Frosting (Cupcake Extravaganza)

I’m back! I just finished my first year of grad school so my finals took over most of my time in the last month but I am going to make up for it by posting up a couple of new recipes!

First off is a new cupcake recipe that my sister and I improvised a bit! We made these cupcakes and icing in addition to three other kinds of cupcakes and icings: Lemon, Red Velvet, and Carrot. It was our mom’s birthday yesterday so we made this for her birthday party and they were a big success! Enjoy!

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brewed coffee (or 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons of espresso powder or instant coffee granules)
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tbsp (1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) olive oil
1/2 cup of chocolate chips of your choice
1/2 cup of peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps (cocoa tends to clump up). In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee (or water plus coffee granules), vinegar, vanilla extract, and olive oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until they just come together. The mixture should be thin and rather lumpy. Now add the chocolate and peanut butter chips (you can add as much as you like!). Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds of the way full.

Place in oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

Frosting

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

While the cupcakes are cooking, make the frosting. Melt butter in a small saucepan and remove from heat. Stir in the cocoa until smooth. Sprinkle in about a third of the powdered sugar, stir, then sprinkle in about a half of the milk. Keep alternating with the powdered sugar and either milk or vanilla, stirring after each addition, until the frosting is the consistency you want, and smooth. If it’s too runny, add more powdered sugar. If too stiff, add a little more milk or vanilla extract. To pipe in a decorative pattern, scoop the frosting into the corner of a ziplock freezer bag. Use scissors to cut away 1/4-inch or so from the tip of the corner. Then just squeeze the frosting out of the bag onto the cupcakes in any design you like.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Even though there are a few step-by-step pictures this time, here was our final product: