Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes are my absolute favorite cupcake recipe. They’re rich, dark, and incredibly moist. The Peanut Butter Buttercream on top is the perfect pairing for the dark chocolate flavor. They only take about 30 minutes to make!
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. They are outrageously good.
What I love about this recipe is that it’s easy to make, but more importantly, you can use all-purpose flour here instead of cake flour. I get that sometimes you need specialty flours to make certain desserts, but I don’t usually have cake flour on hand, so it’s nice when you can use regular flour and still get an incredibly soft and moist texture.
The peanut butter buttercream is also excellent, and only requires 4 ingredients. Ordinarily I’m somewhat of a buttercream snob and prefer to make buttercream 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. I admit to having found myself piping little tastes onto my finger, and thinking momentarily about how acceptable it might be to instead pipe some frosting directly into my mouth (real talk here, haha).
Tips for Best Results
Use real buttermilk – The flavor of real buttermilk is unmatched. I know people often substitute milk with a little vinegar, but it’s not the same in terms of flavor or texture. Get the real stuff, and if you need to use up the leftovers, try these Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping, Lemon Buttermilk Pie or Buttermilk Pancakes.
Don’t overmix – One of the biggest secrets for great baked goods is to make sure you don’t overmix the dry and wet ingredients together. You want to stir until you no longer see bits of dry flour, but it’s okay if there are a few lumps here and there.
Use a quality cocoa powder – I know it’s cheap and widely available, but the standard Hershey’s cocoa is not the best choice here. I recommend higher quality options. Guittard is my favorite, but Scharffen Berger, Valrhona, and Ghirardelli are also good choices.
Step by Step Overview:
To get started on your Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes, begin with the cupcake batter. Whisk together the dry ingredients, which are all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt:
Recommended Cocoa Powders
Dutch-process or natural: Either should work here.
Recommended brands: Guittard Cocoa Rouge is my absolute favorite, but other recommended brands are Scharffen Berger, Vahlrona, and Ghirardelli. If you only have something like Hershey’s, it will still work here, I just think the flavor is better with higher quality brands.
In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, a neutral oil, one egg, and vanilla extract.
Try to use real buttermilk
I have successfully made this with a substitute of milk or almond milk with a small amount of vinegar, and it works out in terms of the chemistry. But milk with vinegar or lemon juice certainly does not taste like real buttermilk, so if possible, please try to use the real thing. True buttermilk really does taste better.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients:
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:
Coffee in the batter?
Coffee is a flavor that’s known to enhance the flavor of chocolate (and it’s great in this recipe). It’s not enough here to be noticeable to most people. However, if you absolutely don’t want to include it, you may substitute water.
Divide the chocolate cupcake batter evenly into 12 cupcake liners placed in a muffin pan:
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 extract:
Pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
How to Serve
While optional, I like to drizzle a little bit of chocolate syrup on top and add chopped peanuts for garnish. It looks beautifully visually and adds a little bit of extra texture. You could also sprinkle over some chopped mini peanut butter cups!
For a gorgeous table spread of desserts, I like to pair these with other indulgent goodies like Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats, Peanut Butter Balls, and Peanut Butter Pie.
Look at the interior texture of the cupcakes. Everything is so soft and tender, and the buttercream is OH so smooth:
For more rich and decadent desserts, next try Irish Cream Cupcakes with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream, Coconut Oil Brownies, or Salted Caramel Chocolate Ganache Tart. Enjoy!
Make-ahead Instructions
This recipe can be made entirely and stored at room temperature for up to 1 day, in the fridge for up to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You may also refrigerate or freeze the components separately, then assemble them right before serving.
Recipe Tips and FAQ
Keep in the fridge for up to 7 days, ideally stored in an airtight container so the buttercream doesn’t absorb off-flavors from the fridge.
Yes, these freeze beautifully! Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Make sure they are sealed tightly so they don’t get freezer burned or absorb off-flavors from the freezer.
According to the USDA, butter is safe at room temperature for two days. I personally do not recommend leaving these out for more than 1 day though. It’s better to store them in the fridge, then let them come back to room temperature by leaving on the counter for about an hour before enjoying again.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
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, 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
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
116 Comments on “Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes”
I seriously want these for breakfast!
I’m going to have to make these….I have wanted variations of buttercream but have had my head in books for school so I will take these to my new job when I start here soon!!!!
Thanks 🙂
these look amazing!! i was wondering if you could substitute egg for condensed milk or something else because my husband can’t eat eggs?
What kind of peanut butter do you use? The all natural stuff (which I love – and I drain off all the oil instead of mixing in) or the sugary stuff in a jar (Jif/Skippy etc). I always wonder when I see a recipe that calls for peanut butter. thanks!! 🙂
The cupcakes looks so rich and moist inside! Perfect!
Hi Joanne it’s me again sorry for many questions! 🙂
I just want to clarify the ff:
1. I don’t have brewed coffee, if I am going to use instant coffee powder, how many teaspoons should I mix with 1/2 cup of water?
2. In procedure #2, when you say “whisk to blend” I assumed you use wired whisk and beat by hand instead of electric mixer?
3. When you mixed the dry with the wet ingredients, are you still using a whisk or you switched into spatula?
4. Why do some chocolate cupcakes use oil, others use butter? I’m wondering what would be the difference of the two. Texture maybe? 2 weeks ago I baked two batches of cupcakes from 2 different recipes. The one that uses oil came out soft, moist and airy (I’m not sure if “fluffy” is the right term). The other recipe that uses butter came out moist but a little bit dense, yes it’s delicious but I’ve never eaten that kind of texture from cupcake bakeries before. But it’s the first time to make cupcakes and I’m not a pro so i’m not sure if my observations are correct haha. And since it’s my first time, maybe I didn’t creamed the butter enough as i’m scared to overmix (btw, I’ve read your creaming technique I wish I’ve read it earlier, very helpful!) Have you experienced this?
Thank you!
Hi Joanne,
Such a lovely site you have. Two question though.
(1) U didn’t use a mixer for this cupcake. Would it make a huge difference if I were to use one? Tried making muffins the other day and they turned out tough, but I guess the dangers of muffins comes from over-mixing. Never thought it would be the same for cupcakes.
(2) U mentioned in the previous comment that you can ‘make’ buttermilk by adding vinegar/lemon juice to the milk and let it curdle for 5 mins. Does it have to be a specific kind of vinegar? I only have apple cider vinegar (which I also use for my red velvets). Would that work?
Thank you so much!
Hi NM, you can use a mixer, but as you mentioned, just be really careful not to overmix. It’s very easy to develop too much gluten and then the cupcakes will be tough. For your other question, apple cider vinegar would work just fine since the flavor is relatively mild. I usually use white vinegar, but red vinegar and apple cider would be good too. I wouldn’t recommend a balsamic vinegar but the others are fine. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Joanne,
Cannot find buttermilk in our local stores or supermarkets…what can I do….help…please…wanna try these out soooo much..
You can try the substitute where it’s 1 cup of milk curdled for 5 minutes with 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice. I do that sometimes in a pinch.
These are a total failure. They are overflowing the cupcake pan and making a massive mess. Don’t make these.
Mary, it sounds like you overfilled the cupcake wells. I have to disagree about the recipe, the majority of people who have made these have success, and additionally, the cake portion is an adaptation of a very popular and well rated recipe by Ina Garten. If you’d like assistance in troubleshooting what you may have done wrong, you may choose to leave more details, but it sounds like the tin was overfilled.
I divided it up equally into 12 cupcakes, just like yours. They were an oozy mess all over my oven, like there wasn’t enough structure
Hi Mary, the structure comes very late in the baking process, as it’s a very, very liquidy and thin batter (that’s how it’s supposed to be, this is not a thick cake batter at all). It doesn’t sound like anything went wrong with the recipe aside from the cupcake liners being overfilled. The cupcake wells should be about 2/3 full to allow for rise.
Bravo to this exceptional delicious cupcake recipe!!! I have been making chocolate peanutbutter cupcakes for years and I’m always looking for a twist on this delicious cupcake, Well the peanutbutter butter cream is absolute heaven!!! Smooth, dreamy and just right in the sweetness!!! Perfectly done!!! Thank you:-)
Hi, I tried this and it’s superb Joanne! Thanks for sharing the recipe <3
Hi! I’m new to this baking from scratch thing and I’m excited to try your recipe, it looks delicious, but I have a question first. I saw that the recipe calls for 5 oz of powdered sugar and after which it says 1 cup. 5 ounces does not equal 1 cup, 8 ounces does. Should I be using the amount of ounces in the recipe or the amount of cups? Sorry if this comes off snotty or rude, that is the farthest from my intention. I am very excited to try this recipe for my family. I just want to be sure I’m making it correctly!
Thanks so much!!!
Hi Kelsey, no offense taken. Definitely go with the weight. However, be careful about conclusions about what 1 cup equals in terms of ounces. It can be between 5 and 8, depending on whether or not it is packed. 5 oz is standard for flour and I find that it is standard for confectioner’s sugar too. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you so much for explaining!!!
Thanks Joanne for sharing the recipe. These cupcakes is to die for, they are from heavenl ! I’ve been searching for this kind of moist, delicious, awesome cupcakes for a very long time, and finally found it, and I fell inlove with them. Thank you so much , really love your site, and I salute you for the helpful tips and wonderful recipes you shared!! I’m now your biggest fan. Thanks Joanne and more success to fifteen spatulas!
Hi Reggie, I am so glad!!! I love these cupcakes too. Happy cooking and stay in touch =)
I made these today – absaloutely delicious ! The only thing I found was even though I measured the batter of each cupcake , they all came out different heights with some even overflowing , so dont really know what happened there :s
I was wondering would it be ok to make this in a cake tin as opposed to cupcake cases??
Hi Zay, I’m so glad they turned out so well! Honestly I am puzzled by the different heighted cupcakes…that is very strange. My only guess is that it had to do with the way the heat circulated or something about the pan…because the cake mix should be pretty homogenous you know?
Yes you can bake it in a 8 or 9 inch cake pan…this recipe would make 1, and you can double it to make 2 and bake the cakes for about 35 minutes.
Hey Thanks for replying. I know Im puzzled over that one too but hey they were far too amazing so Im happy 🙂 Im making them again this week as I have frosting left over so will try the cake tin method……..good excuse to indulge in more :)) x
I stumbled on your blog when searching for fluffy vanilla cupcakes (they were fluffy and delicious!) and can’t wait to give these chocolate cupcakes a go!
If I only have large eggs, would I need to use 2 large eggs for the 1 extra large egg called in the recipe?
Can I also omit the coffee without throwing the recipe too much off-balance?
Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Indah, that’s great to hear! Don’t use two large eggs, just use one. Also, sadly you cannot omit the coffee with these…1/2 cup is a lot of liquid. Is it because you don’t like coffee flavor? It’s actually very light here…just enhances the chocolate flavor. You could maybe try to do 1/2 cup of boiling water mixed with some cocoa powder maybe? But you need that 1/2 cup of liquid. Good luck!
Hi Joanne,
I tried these yesterday and they were so so delicious! Thank you for sharing such a great recipe. I did use just one egg after doing some google-ing 😀 I also didn’t omit the coffee and you’re right it just nicely enhances the flavour without tasting too much of coffee. I was initially thinking of omitting the coffee, should I ever make these for kids. But I guess it’s quite a small amount anyway.
I have a couple of questions more if you don’t mind. One or two of the cupcakes kinda sunk a slight bit in the center – I’m wondering if I did something wrong? And were the chocolate chips supposed to melt during the mix? Mine just pooled at the bottom of each cupcakes since the batter was thin. I’m thinking maybe my 1/2 cup of coffee wasn’t hot enough..? *oops*
Thanks again. I had to stop myself from finishing off all 12 cupcakes by myself! lol
Hi Indah, Glad to hear they went well! Whenever something baked sinks in the center, that means it was underbaked (the structure hasn’t set, and the liquid didn’t bake into a solid crumb). However, it’s bad to overbake cupcakes, so if only 1 or 2 sank, I’d say that’s not so bad, it means you barely underbaked it.
No the chocolate chips don’t melt and they are supposed to go to the bottom, if you don’t want it to be like that you can omit them next time. Glad you enjoyed the cupcakes!
Thanks, Joanne 🙂
these are AMAZING make them they’re so nice!