Easy as Pie (& Other Lies): Candy -and- Cake: Reese's Cupcakes.

I've never really liked peanut butter. I've never hated it. I think it's OK. If there's something else around to eat, I wouldn't first go for peanut butter. Even when paired with chocolate as in Reese's candy, I'd still usually rather have a different candy or dessert.

I think these cupcakes might have changed my mind.

While I have a few recipes for vanilla or birthday cakes that I honestly think taste just as good using a doctored-up cake mix, I've never found the same to be true for chocolate cake. Even from-scratch ones can easily turn out dry and crumbly or simply... somehow not chocolate-y. I don't know if I've mentioned it on this blog before, but the first time I made this chocolate cake/cupcake recipe from Foodess, I knew it would become my go-to. I don't even bother looking for other recipes anymore. Although the recipe has a lot of ingredients, it's also an easy recipe to follow. I used Hershey special dark cocoa powder this time, but it does work just as well with regular cocoa powder. For these cupcakes, I used this peanut butter frosting which uses the same basic formula as a regular buttercream. The most tedious part of the whole process was unwrapping the Reese's candy to go inside the cupcakes and to top them, and even that doesn't take too long. (Of course, if you're making more than one batch, it might get old... )

What I did that worked well/would do differently:
1) Next time I would fill the cupcake tins with more batter before putting the candy pieces inside and cover with less batter. Having the candy so close to the bottoms caused some of them to melt in the oven and then harden on the liners after baking, making it difficult to remove them without tearing off the bottom of the cupcakes.
2) I used unsalted butter for the frosting. In a previous cupcake post, I mentioned that this does make a substantial difference with buttercream in both taste and texture. So if at all possible, use unsalted butter.
3) I used Jif creamy peanut butter. I don't have sponsored posts, so I'm not advertising either Jif or Reese's in this post, but I will say that it turned out exactly as I wanted. I'd at least use a smooth and not a crunchy peanut butter. I think while the latter might taste good for those of you who like their peanut butter crunchier, it might be difficult to gauge the ending point of your frosting and make it harder to pipe.

For the cupcakes...

I first mixed together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. I did use a spatula to stir from the bottom a few times to thoroughly mix the ingredients together.

Then, I mixed in the eggs (having the eggs at room temperature makes them blend better without overmixing), buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. At this point, the batter became quite thick.

I took the bowl off the mixer and stirred in the cup of hot coffee. At this point, the cake batter was much thinner.

I filled lined cupcake tins about 1/4 way full with batter, placed a Reese's miniature in the center of each, and covered with more batter, until the tins were roughly 2/3 full. Next time, I would fill each more like halfway or even slightly more and then top with just a little batter.

I baked at 375F for about 22 minutes, until the tops sprang back and the tines of a fork came out with just a few crumbs. I then immediately placed them in the freezer while I made the frosting (freezing right after baking holds in moisture).

For the frosting, I beat the butter and peanut butter together until thoroughly combined and smooth, about a minute.

I then added most of the confectioner's sugar, beat on medium speed for about two minutes, then added one tablespoon of milk, beat for about thirty seconds, then added the rest of the sugar and milk and beat for roughly another minute, until thick and smooth. If you want to test for consistency, put a scoop in the tip of a piping bag and see if you can squeeze it out onto a piece of parchment paper. If it comes out without applying too much pressure but still holds its shape, then go on and fill the piping bag more and decorate your cupcakes. If it's too thin or comes out of the tip almost on its own, scrape it from the parchment paper back into the bowl and beat in a little more confectioner's sugar (about a tablespoon at a time; there's probably no need to just dump another half cup in!). If you find you have to squeeze hard, do the same but add milk instead of sugar.