Peanut Butter Cup/Chocolate Cupcakes: The Flavor of These "Turn It Up to 11"

Today is 11/11/11 so in honor of Nigel Tufnel I wanted to make a cupcake that turns decadence up to 11!  Anyone who has seen "This Is Spinal Tap" will know what I'm referring to.  And if you haven't seen it, you must!  I don't think I stopped laughing the entire movie.  It's an absolute must-see classic!!  But, back to the cupcakes.  These are chocolate cupcakes with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup on the bottom, with chocolate buttercream icing sprinkled with Reese's Pieces.

I began by making chocolate cake batter.  Next, I unwrapped the peanut butter cups and placed them in the bottom of each cupcakes liner.  Just for fun, I added some Reese's Pieces to three of the cupcakes (without placing a peanut butter cup on the bottom).

After filling each liner with batter I baked the cupcakes as directed.  As they baked, I started the buttercream icing.  I used a recipe by Williams-Sonoma.  It's fantastic and pretty easy.

Quick Chocolate Buttercream Icing

from Williams Sonoma

8 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

6 cups confectioners sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter

6 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt


Have all of the ingredients at room temperature. 

Put the chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler set over but not touching simmering water in the bottom of the pan.  Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  

Let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter,  milk, vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Increases the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then reduce the speed to low.  Add the chocolate and beat until combined, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute more.

If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until it is creamy but still holds peaks.  Makes about 4 1/2 cups.

Since I was only making 12 cupcakes, I cut all of the ingredient measurements in half to make half the frosting.  It was the perfect amount.  I used a piping bag and large tip to ice the cupcakes.

To garnish the icing, I sprinkled some Reese's Pieces on the top.  It is also nice that they are colored in fall hues, so this is a great time of year to make these!  Here's what they look like cut in half:

How delicious does that peanut butter cup look?!  They say that beauty is on the inside, and there is nothing more beautiful than the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter, as evidenced by looking inside these cupcakes!

As far as the cupcakes that had Reese's Pieces mixed into the batter, well, that didn't go too well.  The Pieces all sunk to the bottom and stuck to the liner.  I don't know how to correct that issue, but maybe there's a clever solution out there.  Anyway, if you like peanut butter and chocolate together (and who doesn't) these chocolate and Reese's cupcakes are the ones for you.

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Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins

Right off I'm going to say part of me wishes I didn't make these.  I have absolutely no self control around the holiday times when Reese's sells their peanut butter eggs, trees, hearts, and pumpkins.  It's a problem.  So, obviously I am taking a big risk learning how to make them in my own house.  But I did.  And they taste perfect.  And I'm sure I'm going to regret this day!

I found this recipe here and restrained myself as long as I could from giving it a try.  They are so simple you may or may not want to make them yourself.  It all depends on whether or not YOU have self control to stop at just one, or two, or....you get the idea.

Anyway, this is what you need:

Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Reese's Peanut Butter)

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups of melting chocolate

Mix together the peanut butter, sugar and butter.  If the mixture is too thick, add the 1-2 tablespoons of milk.  The texture should be stiff but pliable, like Play-Doh.  Place the mixture onto a flat surface and spread evenly until is the thickness you desire.

Next, use a cookie cutter or mold your own shapes to dip into chocolate.  I did not have a small pumpkin cutter, so I used a small Christmas ornament cutter, which I then shaped into a pumpkin myself.  While I was at it, I cut out a few trees to see how they would look.

Also, I could not help but use my small Buffalo cookie cutter to make some Buffalo's.  I love representing my home!  Once you cut out your shapes (continue remolding the scraps until you have used all of the peanut butter mixture.  I also made some ball shapes to make a truffly version.), place them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.  Use a toothpick stuck in the side of your shape to dip them into melted chocolate.  I used Merkins melting milk chocolate wafers.  Melt them in a microwaveable bowl for 30 second intervals on Power Level 2 until all chocolate is melted smooth.

After letting the excess chocolate drip off, place the dipped shape onto waxed paper and remove the toothpick.  Dab a bit of chocolate onto the hole where the toothpick was.  I made the mistake of placing my shapes on a baking rack.  I do not advise this, as my shapes stuck to the rack and were not only difficult to remove, but also many of them tore.  The ones I placed on waxed paper had excess chocolate melted around the edges, but they came off the paper with no problem and held their shape wonderfully.

How GREAT are these??!!  And they taste so, so, so delicious!  Really, in a blindfolded taste test I would not be able to tell the difference between these and the real thing.  See, this is a problem.  Give them a try yourself, you won't regret it.  Or, you might!