The Rachael Ray Show hosted Buddy from Cake Boss during Halloween week. I watched him make these cupcakes and knew that it would make great use of the leftover Halloween candy hanging around my house, AND be perfect for Peanut Butter Week.
You can find the information from the show here: Buddy Valastros Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
I followed the instructions for both the cake batter and peanut butter frosting.
I was pleased enough with the results from the cake recipe, but I won’t be including the frosting recipe here because it was a big…..
FAIL!
It called for granulated sugar and the directions read “mix until it has reached the consistency of damp sand”. I should’ve seen a red flag.
Consistency of damp sand tastes like well, peanut butter sand.
Chocolate Cake Recipe
1/3 cup melted unsweetened Baker’s chocolate
1/2 cup hot water
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup buttermik
Preparation
Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F.
Put the flour, sugar, butter, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can put the ingredients in a bowl and use a hand mixer with the blending attachments.) Mix on slow just until the ingredients are blended together, a few seconds, then raise the speed to low-medium and continue to mix until smooth, approximately 1 additional minute.
Stop the motor and pour in chocolate. Mix for 1 minute, then, with the motor running, pour in the hot water. Then add the eggs, 1 egg at a time, adding the next one after the previous one has been absorbed into the mixture. Stop the motor periodically and scrape the bowl from the bottom with a rubber spatula to integrate ingredients, and return the mixer to low-medium speed. After all the eggs are added, continue to mix for an additional minute to ensure the eggs have been thoroughly mixed in. This will help guarantee that the sugar is dissolved and that the flour has been thoroughly mixed in, which will help produce a luxurious mouth-feel in the final cake.
With the motor running, add the buttermilk, stopping the motor to scrape the sides and bottom. Continue to mix for another minute or until the mixture appears smooth. Before baking, be sure the batter is at 70-73°F or the cake will crown.
To assemble cupcakes, pour batter into a cupcake tin 3/4 of the way. Dip a quarter of a peanut butter cup in flour to prevent it from sinking to the bottom and burning and insert into the cupcake batter.
The frosting I used was found on the Wilton’s site.
Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups of confectioner’s sugar
4-6 tbsp milk.
Cream together shortening and butter. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Slowly add the sugar along with milk one 1 tbsp at a time until light and fluffy.
Once cupcakes are frosted, melt chocolate chips in the microwave then pipe drizzle over the top. Place half of a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup on top and grab yourself some milk, and you’re good to go!
Be sure to hop over to Mixing Mavens for more peanut butter goodness.
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