Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Chocolate and peanut butter. It’s a simple yet classic combination that immediately stirs up an image of one of America’s favorite candies. So what if you took the chocolate part and turned it into a fluffy cupcake and the peanut butter became a creamy frosting swirled across that cupcake? Well, this might be cupcake heaven!
Equipment
- Electric mixer
- Muffin pans plus paper liners
- wire racks for cooling
Ingredients
- For the Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup shortening
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup water
- For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, measured after sifting
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven(s) to 350-degrees.
- For the Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes:
- Toss the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt together into a large mixing bowl, blending on medium speed until combined.
- Add the sour cream, shortening, vanilla, eggs, melted chocolate, and the water. Beat starting on medium speed until just combined, scraping bowl down as needed. Raise the speed to medium-high speed and beat for 3 minutes.
- Place paper liners into 22 wells of your muffin tins. Fill each about each about ¾ full with the cake batter. Using a large ice cream scoop makes this an easy task.
- Bake in a 350-degree oven for 22 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes then remove the cupcakes and cool completely on wire racks.
- For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- Cream the butter and the peanut butter together on medium speed until they’re well blended.
- Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, the kosher salt, vanilla and the cream. Beat together starting on low speed for about 30 seconds. Raise the speed to medium and continue beating until light and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the additional 2 tablespoons powdered sugar if needed for a thicker frosting.
- Spread a dollop of frosting on top of each chocolate cupcake.