Peanut Butter Cup Cakes

 Peanut Butter Cup Cakes 

So the other day I was feeling naughty so these little beauties came about. My love affair with Peanut butter was due to Reese's peanut butter cups, which after avoiding for a long while I tried and soon became addicted to. By addicted I mean ADDICTED. I went through so many in a month that I eventually went off peanut butter completely which given the calories in the little buggers was probably a good thing.  

So back to the cupcakes of deliciousness. These are a good chocolate cupcake recipe I have as a go to.  All that is different is adding peanut butter to the mix and then adding peanut butter to the frosting and then a layer of chocolate to really get it similar to a peanut butter cup.

You will need:

-100g of butter or margerine

-200g of sugar, whichever kind you prefer, I used caster

-2 eggs

-225g of self raising flower

- 2 or 3 tablespoons of peanut butter depending on how big of a fan you are
-2 tablespoons of cocoa

-1 cup of milk

-half a cup of water

I used crunchy peanut butter for this recipe but it works with anything :)

 Firstly combine your butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy. Then add your peanut butter and mix until smooth, or smooth-ish if you are not using smooth. 

Add however much you want really, I am not  the kind of person who follows recipes to the tee, I like to add my own bits and bobs. At least at this point I tend to know what works but only because I have learned from the fails. Trust me you did not want to be there. The only bad thing is that once this is cooked the taste of the peanut butter does decrease somewhat :(

Next beat in your eggs. Again keep going until it is smooth (ish)

mix in your flour and beat until everything is nicely mixed, if your beater is a tad naff like mine then add milk before this to stop it dying.  If mix is still looking mega thick or has the consistency of concrete then add the water. 

Finally add in your cocoa, do not forget to keep taste testing! 

My policy is always if you keep dipping in for tastes then its going pretty well. If you are anything like me as soon as its all mixed then the beaters are in my mouth resembling some sort of scary lollipop. 

Pop into cupcake cases, I used mini for this to try and make them last longer when it comes to the eating. 

Also for an added bonus courtesy of Hayden's mum i'm rocking some Pudsey bear cupcake cases. 

Bake for about 20 minutes but times vary depending on cupcake size, as I said mine are mini so just keep tabs on them and check them at intervals. Sorry I know that's not ideal. 
When these little beauties are cooking feel free to rock out to some music. For this I had on a upbeat playlist and wad dancing (terribly) round my kitchen. 

When things are done baking and have cooled off then its time for icing.
Beat up about 100g of butter and add in anywhere from 2-3 peanut butter. Taste test as this will not change like the cupcake mixture. Add in about 175g of icing sugar and beat until you have a nice peanut butter frosting. In times of need as I know icing sugar is pricey or it may be raining and you don't want to go get some, caster sugar works as well just needs a little more mixing. 

Ice your cupcakes with this, but do not pile it on, a good coating is all your going to need to leave room melted chocolatey goodness. 

Sorry picture is not great but all the cupcakes have a nice coating of peanut butter frosting.

After that take a bar of chocolate, up to you what you use, pick your poison really, and melt in the microwave. To keep it from burning add about 1 tablespoon of milk to the bowl. Nuke it for about 30 second, bring it out and give it a stir,  repeat until you have a chocolatey syrup type mix.  Ice over the peanut layer on your cupcakes, and try to let it cool. I didnt, a few cupcakes were unfortunately lost after this process. This was messy, I will warn you.

Fridge it and enjoy when its all set.

Once again sorry for picture quality but you can see a layer of peanut butter under the chocolate. Hope yours look better, but I assure you these still taste yummy :)