I always say if you can't decide on a dessert, go with chocolate cake. Better yet, chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. Rich, dark, and moist chocolate cupcakes topped with fluffy, creamy, and smooth peanut butter frosting. It's so simple yet irresistibly delicious!
The Best Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Every year for Father's Day, I try to come up with a dessert my dad would love, and every year I end up making these chocolate PB cupcakes because I know he loves it! How could he not? The cupcakes themselves are ridiculously soft, fluffy, and moist - even when kept in the refrigerator! Because let's face it, we're nearing summer and we're not about to risk having our silky smooth peanut butter frosting melt away by keeping our cupcakes on the kitchen counter. Nope.
Tips for making chocolate PB cupcakes from scratch
As somebody who's made countless numbers of cupcakes, I tend to think that making cupcakes from scratch is easy peasy (unless they're vegan). If you're not the type to bake cupcakes any opportunity you get, here are some tips to keep in mind when making chocolate peanut butter cupcakes:
Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature. Room temperature ingredients will emulsify better. What does this mean? A nice crumb, no air pockets, and you won't end up with a wet layer at the bottom.
Don't overmix your batter. Overmixing your batter can overwork the gluten in the flour and result in a tough cupcake. So, stop mixing as soon as the batter is smooth!
Use non-natural peanut butter. I love my natural peanut butter, but I swap it out for the non-natural kind I grew up eating when I'm making frosting. Natural peanut butter tends to cause the frosting to separate. Greasy buttercream, anyone? No thanks.
How to frost your chocolate cupcakes
To pipe, or not to pipe, that is the question. I think the answer lies in who these cupcakes are for. Are they for Mom's birthday? Use a closed tip to create a fluffy frilly mound.
Are they for Dad of Father's Day? No need to pipe. If your dad's anything like mine, he's not about the visuals. Save yourself some time by using a knife or offset spatula.
Customize your cupcakes
These chocolate PB cupcakes on their own are very simple, so you can jazz them up by customizing them to your liking!
Top them with a Reese's cup. Need I explain? It's a no-brainer.
Top them with salted pretzels. You could swap out the chopped salted peanuts for chopped salted pretzels. You get that same salty crunch, which is a nice contrast to the soft cupcake and frosting.
Add some caramel. Swap out the chocolate drizzle for a caramel drizzle! Or, you could core out the cupcake before frosting it, fill the hole with caramel sauce, and then frost the cupcake for a caramel surprise when you bite into it!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcakes
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup cake flour
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 7 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup sour cream (greek yogurt is a great substitute)
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup warm water
- ¼ cup olive oil (any neutral flavored oil will work)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut butter frosting
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk (heavy cream also works)
Garnish
- ¼ cup dark chocolate, melted (optional)
- ¼ cup salted roasted peanuts, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Chocolate cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C) and line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, cake flour, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, instant espresso, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add the egg, sour cream, whole milk, warm water, oil, vanilla and stir until just combined.
- Pour the cupcake batter into a lined cupcake pan about ⅔ of the way up, and bake them for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for a minute before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Peanut butter frosting
- In a bowl, cream together the unsalted butter and peanut butter. Beat until pale and fluffy. If it looks too soft, stick it in the fridge for 10 minutes before beating again.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar a little at a time and beat again. Add the milk if necessary.
- Pipe or spread the peanut butter frosting onto the cooled chocolate cupcakes and garnish with chopped peanuts and melted chocolate.
Nutrition
More cupcakes
- If you want a chocolate cupcake topped with chocolate frosting, you have to try my super moist chocolate cupcake recipe!
- These vanilla cupcakes are so moist and fluffy, and you'll never know they were dairy-free.
- If you're up for something unique, try these corn cupcakes topped with a blackberry corn buttercream frosting!
- Vegan banana cupcakes are so moist, delicious, and easy to make. You can't tell they're vegan at all.
- Are you gluten-free? Make this gluten-free chocolate cake! It's my favorite cake for all occasions.
Links included in this post might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product using these links, I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you 🙂
Debbie says
Is it bad that I could stuff a whole one into my mouth and not care? 😉
Ai says
Of course not! Wait... is that not how I'm supposed to eat my cupcakes? 😛 lol