Oh man, these cupcakes are just… in one word: magical. I remember the first time I made them back this past spring. I took them to work to share, and I got some great feedback from coworkers.

One of my former coworkers [who also enjoys baking, so we can clearly trust her judgment] said that the frosting was “to die for.” And another coworker’s response to the cupcake was, “holy butt nugget.” {I’m not sure what that means, but hey, it was meant as a positive response. Haha.}

I decided to make these glorious cupcakes again for my doctor’s office a few weeks ago. That’s probably kind of weird – a patient bringing baked goods to her doctor and staff – but they actually requested it once they found out that I bake. They were pretty excited when I walked in with a bright pink bakery box at one of my appointments.

These are moist, rich chocolate cake, topped with pretty and even more rich chocolate peanut butter swirled buttercream frosting. I couldn’t get my icing to look quite as pretty as Bakerella does in her photos, but I’m no Bakerella. To be fair, though, it is actually rather difficult to get two different types of frosting in a piping bag. I did my best, but the colors got a bit muddled together [which doesn’t always look appetizing, if you know what I’m sayin’… ha].

Also, in my experience, peanut butter sometimes does weird things to the consistency/texture of buttercream and baked goods. I probably didn’t add enough milk to my peanut butter frosting, so it looks slightly dried out. Don’t be like me.

I guess we can’t always decorate cupcakes perfectly. That’s okay. The important part is that they’re super rich and super delicious. Just make them. Even your doctor will [probably] approve. 😀

//   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //   //    //   //  

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirled Buttercream

Yield: Makes about eighteen cupcakes. 

Ingredients:

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water

For the Frostings:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tbsp. milk

Instructions:
Make the Cupcakes!
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line your cupcake pan with pretty liners (or just plain ones; I guess that’s cool too).

2. In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together [flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt].

3. Add eggs, oil, vanilla, and milk and mix with the dry ingredients until combined. Next, add the hot water and stir the batter until it’s completely combined. It will be a very liquid-y batter; that’s okay.

4. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3rds of the way full with the batter. Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Make the frostings:
1. Chocolate Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat 1/2 cup of unsalted butter until creamy. Add in 1 tsp. of vanilla, and mix it together again. Slowly add 2 cups of powdered sugar and the cocoa powder. Beat until combined.

2. Peanut Butter Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat 1/2 cup of unsalted butter and 2/3 cup peanut butter until creamy. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, and mix it together again. Slowly add 2 cups of powdered sugar, and mix until combined. Add 1 tbsp. or more of milk and combine until the frosting is creamy and smooth.

3. Pipe the frostings: Using a spatula, carefully place chocolate buttercream in one half of a piping bag fitted with a pastry tip, and peanut butter frosting in the other half. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Recipe from the infamous Bakerella.