Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes made with moist chocolate cupcakes, peanut butter frosting, chocolate ganache, and Reese’s peanut butter cup! These peanut butter chocolate cupcakes are the perfect dessert!

Ingredients for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes

• Semisweet chocolate chips
• Dark cocoa powder: I love using Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder.
• Boiling water: Combine boiling water with chocolate chips and cocoa powder.
• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Baking soda: Leavening agent to help the cupcakes rise.
• Salt
• Vegetable oil: Or use your preferred neutral baking oil such as canola oil. 
• Eggs: Large eggs, room temperature. 
• Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract enhances the chocolate flavor.

Peanut butter buttercream frosting

• Unsalted butter: Room temperature for easy creaming.
• Peanut butter: Go with regular creamy peanut butter. I don’t recommend using natural peanut butter for this buttercream.
• Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar.
• Vanilla extract: For added vanilla flavor.
• Salt: Contrasts the sweetness of the frosting and enhances the peanut butter flavor.
• Heavy cream: Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream helps the buttercream whip up to be creamy.

Additional ingredients

• Semisweet chocolate chips + heavy cream: To make a chocolate ganache drizzle.
• Reese’s peanut butter cups: For decoration. For this recipe, I used six peanut butter cups and cut each in half.

How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes

To make the chocolate cupcake batter, all you need is a bowl and a whisk!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. Stir together chocolate chips, dark cocoa powder, and boiling water. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. Add cooled chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.
5. Add the remaining wet ingredients (vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract) and whisk until smooth. 
6. Portion cupcake batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes. 
7. Remove cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Peanut butter buttercream frosting

To make the peanut butter buttercream frosting, you will need a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer. If you are using a stand mixer, you can use either the paddle attachment or the whisk attachment – whatever your preference is!

1. Whip the room temperature butter for about 5 minutes until light, fluffy, and pale in color.
2. Add in peanut butter and mix until well combined.
3. Add in half of the powdered sugar and mix on the lowest speed until the sugar is combined with the butter. Then add the remaining half and continue to mix on low speed.
4. Add the vanilla extract and salt and continue to mix on low until combined.
5. Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl after this step to ensure everything is well mixed.
6. Turn the mixer to medium speed and whip the buttercream for about 3 minutes.

Chocolate ganache

Because we are only making a tiny bit of chocolate ganache to drizzle on the cupcakes, let’s just keep things easy and make it in the microwave. Simply combine chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 15 second intervals, stirring in between each interval, until the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth.

How to Assemble the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Now that all the components are made, it’s time to frost these cupcakes!

1. Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip filled with peanut butter buttercream frosting. Swirl the buttercream onto the cooled chocolate cupcakes in an “ice cream swirl” style, swirling outward and then upward.
2. If desired, chill the cupcakes for 30 minutes before adding chocolate ganache.
3. Use a piping bag or squeeze bottle to drizzle on the cooled chocolate ganache over the peanut butter frosting.
4. Add half of a Reese’s peanut butter cup on the side of the cupcake.