Peanut butter Surprise Cupcakes

I wasn't lying when I said this blog would be filled with cupcakes now. To kick off my official food blog I would like to present to you... Dadadadaaaaaaaaaaa.... PEANUT BUTTER SURPRISE CUPCAKES. Now, I'd like to say that I completely developed these recipes on my own. Yeah right. I'm no expert and I don't pretend to be one. I give credit where credit is due. I did, however, make them my own by combining recipes I thought looked good from various sources... so you could kind of say they were "adapted"... yeah... adapted is what I'll go with. Hopefully I'll start creating some on my own (which I will kind of have to do considering the high altitude here in Albuquerque, grrrr).

These cupcakes are the kind that make your eyes roll and your head tip back from pure dessert ecstasy. In Joe's world these are called "mouthgasms". He told me all the guys at his work were having them all over the place when he brought these bad boys in over lunch. Honestly, I don't blame them and I can totally relate. I ate mine over the kitchen sink... didn't even bother to sit down.

These cupcakes are a chocolate cake with a peanut butter ball center, whipped peanut butter butter cream, topped with a peanut butter cookie half. Too much peanut butter you say? There's no such thing... literally... no.such.thing.

I ate them with and without the frosting. The super moist cake was delicious on it's own.. as was the butter cream... but together they created something unimaginable... inconceivable... to die for. I will definitely be making these again as they didn't really puff up at all I'm wondering if it's because of the peanut butter center or perhaps I need to tweak the recipe due to the altitude. Either way they were still delicious and I look forward to being obligated to make them again. I'm sure the boys would have no objections to that!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake: from Annie's Eats

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour. 

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter (at room temp)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

Peanut Butter Filling: from  Pillsbury

1 egg

8 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Whipped Peanut Butter Butter Cream: from  Annie's Eats

8 oz cream cheese (room temp)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

To make the chocolate cake:

Combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl; whisk together. In  a small bowl, stir together milk, sour cream and vanilla extract. In a  mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture one at a time. With the mixer on slow, incorporate the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture by alternating with each. Begin and end mixing with the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.

To make the peanut butter filling:

Beat egg, cream cheese, peanut butter, and granulated sugar in the mixer until smooth, medium should do it. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until creamy. 

Line your cupcake tin with cupcake liners and spoon in the chocolate cake mixture to the bottom of each cup, about 1- 1.5 Tablespoons. Next use a Tablespoon and plop a dollop of peanut butter filling into the center of the cupcake liner. Finally top the peanut butter filling off with more chocolate batter and gently spread it completely over the peanut butter so there's no space between the batter and the side of the liner. Your cupcake liner should be about 2/3 full.

Bake for 18-22 minutes until you can poke a toothpick through and it comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the Whipped Peanut Butter Butter Cream:

Beat the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until thoroughly mixed. Slowly add in confectioners' sugar (unless you like a mess then just dump it all in). Finally fold in your whipped topping by hand.

For the Peanut Butter Cookie:

I had peanut butter mixture left over from my cupcakes so I used the rest and spooned about a Tbsp into empty cupcake liners after my cupcakes were baked. I left the oven at 350 and baked them for about 7 minutes. Once they were cooled I cut them in half and topped off my cupcakes!

Yields 22-24 cupcakes