Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes are my go-to cupcake recipe. They’re rich, dark, and incredibly moist. The Peanut Butter Buttercream on top is the perfect pairing for the dark chocolate flavor.
Even though I’m not solely a baker, I would totally go to that Cupcake Wars show with these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes. They’ve become my go-to when I need cupcakes for something, whether it’s for a party, to give to a neighbor, or to satisfy a chocolate cupcake craving.
What I love about this recipe is it’s easy to make, and you can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. I don’t usually have cake flour on hand, so it’s nice when you can use AP flour and still get an incredibly soft and moist texture.
In fact, the Chocolate Cupcake batter doesn’t have anything out of the ordinary in it, and the peanut butter buttercream only calls for 4 ingredients that you whip together in a bowl.
The reason I mention that is because usually I’m somewhat of a buttercream snob and prefer to make it without confectioner’s sugar so I can avoid the subtle grittiness that comes with it.
But because the peanut butter is such a big component of the buttercream, it’s much less noticeable, and the buttercream is plenty luscious, light, and smooth.
Or to say it another way: When you put the peanut butter buttercream in a piping bag, you’ll find yourself piping little tastes onto your finger, and think momentarily about piping some into your mouth (real talk, here).
Let me show you how to make them!
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes:
First whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt:
In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk (I’ve done this successfully with milk or almond milk mixed with a little vinegar), a neutral oil, one egg, and vanilla:
Add the wet to the dry:
When the flour is almost incorporated, pause for a moment:
Add coffee to the mixture, then finish mixing until the flour streaks disappear. The batter will be very thin:
Divide evenly into 12 cupcake wells:
Bake for 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean:
They will be so dark and chocolatey!
Let the cupcakes cool, then make the peanut butter buttercream by whipping together butter, confectioner’s sugar, peanut butter, and a little vanilla:
Pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes. Then, I like to drizzle a little bit of chocolate syrup or chocolate ganache on top and add chopped peanuts for garnish, but it’s totally optional.
Everything is so soft and tender, and the peanut butter buttercream is OH so smooth:
Enjoy!
More Chocolate Dessert Recipes:
Irish Cream Cupcakes with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream
Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Salted Caramel Chocolate Ganache Tart
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies from Love from the Oven
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes::
- 3.75 oz all purpose flour, by weight (3/4 cup, measured)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup whole buttermilk*
- 1/4 cup oil**
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup coffee
- chocolate syrup for drizzling, optional
- chopped peanuts for garnish, optional
For the peanut butter buttercream::
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 5 oz confectioner's sugar, by weight (1 cup, measured)
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Whisk to combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk to combine the buttermilk, grapeseed oil, egg, and vanilla. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry while stirring, and before the flour has disappeared into the batter, stir in the coffee. It will make the batter quite thin. Evenly divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups, but make sure they are no more than 3/4 full.
- Bake for 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack completely.
- To make the buttercream, beat all buttercream ingredients in a bowl until smooth and blended, about 3 minutes on high speed.
- Pipe on the buttercream as desired. Optional: drizzle with chocolate syrup, and sprinkle on some chopped peanuts. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting (Video):
Post updated in July 2018 with new photos, writing, and a video. Originally published October 2011
Hi, Joanne. So looking forward to making these cupcakes for a friend’s birthday. Have you made this frosting with natural peanut butter? It’s all I have in the house and while I could go out and buy the high-sugar variety, I would prefer not. What is your experience? Thanks!
Hi Carrie, sorry but I haven’t tried it with the natural. I don’t think I can say how it’d go without trying it myself. Natural peanut butter can be tricky!
Just made these yesterday using chunky natural peanut butter and everyone absolutely fell over the cupcakes! Great recipe! I used vanilla bean paste and substituted buttermilk with oat milk and white vinegar, as well as decaf coffee. Yum!
FOR MINI CUPCAKES: i followed the recipe exact. Made 36 mini cupcakes. Baked at 350° for 12 minutes. I also placed a tray of water in the oven underneath for added moisture because the first batch stuck to the liners too much. Have never made cupcakes from scratch but this recipe has mee feeling some kind of way. Will be using again.
I’ve made this recipe twice. These cupcakes are delicious and simple to make!! Everyone especially loves the frosting. I have noticed though that both times I’ve made these the batter spills over the sides while baking. Maybe I just need to not fill them as much, but I hate to waste tummy batter!! It’s not a big deal, just gives the cupcakes muffin top.
Just so no one else messes this up, the recipe calls for 1/2 cup PREPARED coffee. I used ground coffee and they did not rise and were way overpowering with the coffee flavor.
Thank you!!! I had no clue which to put in I was confused haha
I have made these twice now, both times were delicious! The first time I used water instead of coffee, and they still turned out amazing. Will make these many times in the future!
I made a double batch of these for a friend’s birthday and they were a HUGE hit. I substituted buttermilk with 1/2c. light coconut milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar.
They turned out beautifully! The peanut butter buttercream restored my faith in my ability to make icing at home. Thanks for a great recipe!
Cupcakes were delicious but didn’t rise as much as I was hoping. Frosting was so smooth and not overly sweet! I added a 1/4 tsp of espresso powder which worked nicely.
Is there a substitute ratio if I use cacao Powder instead of cocoa powder? I realize Cacao is all I have so wondering if it would be one to one substitute
If I were to use this recipe for a cake how long would the bake time be?
These didn’t rise enough and actually were sunken in the middle. And they overflowed onto the pan and I wasn’t able to get them out without ripping the top off. That being said, they did taste great…maybe better for cake? The frosting is delicious.
Maybe you added too much batter into the cupcakes because it did not cook throughly and overflowed.
Theses are great cupcakes
This recipe was a life saver! My sister and I made these for Father’s day and he loved them! The process was simple and easy and the icing was delicious and since my dad lives peanut butter he was obsessed
Cupcakes are delicious—I’ve made them numerous times!! Can this be made as a cake?