Peanut Butter Maple Frosting

I wanted to try these cupcakes (which quickly became my favorite new chocolate cupcake recipe. Period), but needed a frosting to top them for the finale viewing party for my favorite reality dating show I was going to that night (I live for Mondays). Canned frosting really is good, I mean, I used to steal cans of it from the pantry growing up and hide out in my room with a spoon....if ya know what I mean.

To this day, I still crave a spoonful of chocolate or rainbow chip frosting whenever graham crackers are mentioned.

I shot my girlfriend a text with my dilemma: peanut butter, salted caramel, or orange vanilla bean?

I was envisioning the chocolate orange combo they sell during the Holidays, but she ex-nayed the orange-ay. I had quite the hankering for some peanut butter chocolatey goodness with all the Reese's peanut butter eggs floating around, so peanut butter it was.

P.S. Did you know they make dark chocolate Cadbury eggs? Are you kidding me right now?

 

I wanted to add some extra dimension to the peanut butter and I thought about drizzling some of the jar of Salted Dark Caramel I had in my fridge, but decided it was too messy, and I'm kinda carmeled out at the moment. Then, I remembered the maple extract I had in my pantry, and it was a moment of brilliance. My friend asked me what was in the frosting, she couldn't quite put her finger on it...

Don't try to put your finger on it, Sarah....just put it in your mouth.

Peanut Butter Maple Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 c salted butter, room temperature (or use unsalted and add more salt)

1 c creamy peanut butter

1 t vanilla extract

1 t maple extract

1/2 t coarse salt

3 c powdered sugar

1/3-1/2 c heavy cream

Directions

1. Cream butter in mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Mix in peanut butter.

3. Add vanilla and maple extract, salt, and powdered sugar.

4. Add cream, starting with 1/3 c, increase up to 1/2 c to achieve desired consistency.

Frosts 2 dozen cupcakes

 The next day, one of these babies was my dinner and it was just fine with me.

Pin It

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Doesn't fall make you want to stay inside, bake delicious things, and get fat for the winter?  I only make these beauties in the fall.  They are a special treat we look forward to...and they are definitely an indulgence!  Peanut Butter cups in the batter, chocolate peanut butter ganache, and more peanut butter cups as garnish!  Sinfully delicious - hence the skull cupcake liners!  Theses are a semi-homemade treat because you start with a cake mix - I love a shortcut with gourmet results!

I couldn't even make it through the photo shoot without taking a bit of one of these guys...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 devils food cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (plus another cup or so for garnishing)

Instructions

Mix cake mix, eggs, sour cream, water, milk & oil with a hand or stand mixer on slow for 30 seconds until combined.  Scrape down the sides and beat for another 2 minutes.  Stir in peanut butter cups.  Fill 24 cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of the mixture.  A trick I like to use to ensure that all cupcakes are the same size is to fill them using an ice cream scoop as a measuring cup. I hate it when I end up with big overflowing cupcakes and small ones that don't even reach the top of the cup - and this puts an end to that problem!

Bake at 350 degrees for 19 minutes.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Top with ganache (recipe below) and peanut butter cups.  I usually just put a heaping spoonful onto each cupcake and let it drip off the edges. The ganache will firm up after a few minutes at room temperature.  Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

Ingredients

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Instructions

Place chocolate chips in a medium mixing bowl.  In a small heavy sauce pan heat the cream just to boiling.  Pour hot cream of top of chocolate chips and whisk until smooth.  Stir in peanut butter.

Pin It

Rainbow Cupcakes

 

I saw a friend's blog...she made rainbow cupcakes and they looked SO good. Sydney and I had the perfect excuse to make the yesterday. A Birthday!

I searched the internet for all types of recipes, and there really are all types of recipes. add sprite, add creme, add crazy complicated stuff. I just wanted simple.

This is a simple one I found. and it worked out great.

I ended up using a rainbow cake mix leftover in my pantry.

and I totally ran out of butter for the frosting. so instead of it all being powder sugar and milk (and 1/2 tsp of butter) I used some cream cheese and my secret frosting weapon....almond extract.

recipe from familyfun.go.com

Ingredients

• White cake mix (we used an 18-1/4-ounce box)
• Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)

• Baking cups
• Whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.

   RAINBOW COLOR	DROPS OF FOOD COLORING
   Purple	9 red and 6 blue drops
   Blue	12 drops
   Green	12 drops
   Yellow	12 drops
   Orange	12 yellow and 4 red drops
   Red	18 drops

   
   
   
2. Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order shown. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.
3. Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped-cream cloud.

Pin It